| Show WEST BUYS UTAH SALT I 1 I 1 man bool C ysmal coi Seffa if ut op tv W r f 44 V A Z I 1 harvesting soft near e great salt lake by 1 1 A CLAYTON CLAY TON JR ALT like gold occurs almost S SALT everywhere in waters ol of tile the sea in the earths strata in rocks yet its prof profitable flable extraction is rare utah is one of 0 tho tha places where it occurs occur s in abundance comprises an important resource ant and supports a major industry the great salt lake Is the center i of one ot of alie worlds greatest deposits with enough salt to supply future generations for thousands of years rears the saline content of its water varies from to 2510 23 and the brine is so dense that the human body floats easily on its surface it contains no life so easily is salt abl obtained front from the lake ahat that there has been little incentive to exploit the numerous beds and ami domes in other parts of utah salt pi production is one of the states oldest industries the first settlers gathered the crystals left by evaporation in the natural basins around tile the lake in ili 1860 and after dams were built to impound the water As the demand increased production was organized and much capital invested invest eJ the inland salt company was formed in 1889 it was succeeded in 1899 by the inland crystal salt company which in 1927 became the royal crystal salt company the salt lake chemical company a subsidiary of the diamond match company began operations on the southern shore of the lake in 1916 primarily to produce potash tor for w war ar purposes the lI morton Torton salt e company took over that property in 1918 and has operated it since as a salt plant whether tile the salt in the lake originated through evaporation or volcanic action or both Is 13 in dispute the lake averaging only 15 feet in it depth its pro proportion port on of salt I 1 varies front from year to year with the rainfall though sodium chloride common salt Is the solo sole commercial iner cial product of the lake steps are under way vay to recover sodium sulp sulphate liate whose proportion is next to the sodium chloride ind thus establish a new industry in utah variation in the density at which different chemicals precipitate permits selective concentration segregation of salt of the highest purity and the removal of magnesium calcium and other unwanted elements during the evaporation season from april to mid september brine is pumped at the rate of gallons a minute 21 24 hours a day from tile the lake into a flume from settling ponds it passes after five or six days to concentrating ponds of acres each the saturated brine brina flows by gravity to 20 crystallizing ponds each of 10 area here the salt crystals form and the bit terns other chemicals in solution are run oft off before they reach tho the saturation stage A permanent floor 0 of salt is maintained in ili each pond in the late rail fall after a pond has been thoroughly drained ord ordinary i plows drawn by tractors loosen the tha new salt from the floor with scrapers and conveyor it is stacked by a railroad siding and weathered until needed at the mill an average annual crop is about tour four inches of salt the mill has a capacity of 0 tons a season from a receiving storage bin the salt passes passe s through a rotating min kiln drier heated healed to deg and to a cooler from which it goes to the stock bin various sets of 0 rolls crush and size it into nine sizes each ot of which occupies a separate bin bill thence it is fed automatically into sacks and packages lor for marketing the territory served by salt industry extends from denver colorado to washington oregon and part ot of california covering the black hills in south dakota and the rocky mountain states it gives steady employment to more than people with it 11 payroll ot of more than a year and spends further amounts for the supplies power and fuel tt it requires the bulk ot of the output going to other states brings much new money into ut utah all local salt companies pay the railroads about one half million dolls a year tor for transport ati ii salt Is pressed into blocks sometimes with the tha addition of phosphate for livestock feeding smoked it is used for the complete sugar cure of meat ineat and with iodine it is recommended by the medical profession tor for the prevention of goiter over 40 ot of the school children of utah are said isaid to bo be afflicted with this thyroid deficiency A special kind of salt is iodized ionized for animals since sinca the early days of utah salt has been mined in sevier and sanpete counties abere the mineral occurs in beds overlain with ten feet or more of earth this salt is recovered by stripping or quarry mining some salt was obtained from the great salt bed nt wendover miles west of 0 salt lake city but commercial production is no longer maintained there intricate selling problems and I 1 the restrictions imposed by freight rates constantly confront the industry in utah on their solution and friendly consideration at home depends an important market tor for labor and source ot of revenue |
