Salt

Salt. . , HISTORY , Today we take salt for granted, but until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought after commodities. Salt was once considered so valuable that it served as currency. Salt has been searched for, traded, and even fought over., HOW DID THE SALT GET HERE? , The expansive deposit of salt beneath Seneca Lake was created by the evaporation of sea water more than 300 million years ago. It is part of a huge vein of salt in the shape of a crescent that extends from West Virginia north to Ontario, Canada, and then swings down again to Detroit, Michigan. The salt is located between 1,800-2,400 feet below the earth's surface., THE DISCOVERY OF SALT IN WATKINS GLEN , Salt was discovered in Watkins Glen in 1882. The Watkins Oil Well Company was drilling for petroleum when it discovered salt. Even though the salt deposit at Watkins Glen had been discovered in 1882, it wasn't until eight years later that the first brine-producing well was put to actual use. Impurities in the brine had made it difficult to dry the salt. Successful commercial production of salt from the huge underground beds was slow to develop., FUN FACTS, Did you know? , The first real producer of salt in Schuyler County was the Glen Salt Company, which opened on the west shore of Seneca Lake in 1883. In 1904, the International Salt Company's Glen Salt Works acquired the Glen Salt Company. International Salt Company rebuilt the plant, developed large scale brine wells through a hydraulic mining process, and expanded its evaporation sections to increase output. Today it is operated by the US Salt Corporation, a privately-owned company based in Kansas City, Missouri., The Watkins Salt Company was established at the south end of Seneca Lake in 1898. It was owned and operated by the Clute family until its sale to Cargill Incorporated in 1976, which continues to operate the facility today., We brine-not mine-our salt through a process called hydraulic fracturing. Pipes are sunk at two wells, some extending more than a half mile into the earth's crust. Water from Seneca Lake is forced down one well under high pressure. The rock is dissolved. The saturated brine is raised through the second well. As the underground dissolving progresses, the pumping pressure is reduced. Using electrical power and heating, the brine moves from holding tanks to evaporators. The faster the water is evaporated, the finer the grain of salt. During the process, impurities are eliminated[.] A relatively dry salt results. Brine contains approximately 2.6 pounds of salt per gallon. About 800 gallons of brine will produce a ton of salt.