Operation of the Spring

Operation of the Spring. . , (left panel:), Operation , After the Morrisons and Boones agreed to join in the salt manufacturing venture, Nathan Boone and two Frenchmen traveled from St. Charles to test the salinity of the springs. The land actually belonged to James Mackay by a Spanish grant since 1797 although he seemingly did not produce salt from the springs. Salt production began in 1805. In a letter dated Dec. 10, 105, Territorial Governor James Wilkinson left the earliest written record of the operation: "…and I am info[rmed] the salt works of a son of Dan[iel] Boon, about one hundred and fifty miles up the Missouri have been broken up…and I have also been informed that a party of bad men, have killed or carried away the cattle and destroyed the salt works of Boon.", It appears that the two Boone brothers began full time production with 12 kettles obtained from Charles Gratiot's salt works on the Meramec River and about 40 more obtained from Nashville, Tenn. Daniel Morgan sold out his share in 1810 and Nathan in 1812. Following this, James and Jesse Morrison continued producing salt until their partnership was dissolved in 1827 leaving James in sole possession. James appears to have continued in the business until 1833 when Mackay's claim was finally confirmed by the United States and Mackay's heirs assumed the property. , The Process , Based on general knowledge of salt production as well as archaeological and historical research on Boone's Lick, this was the salt production process. Reservoir boxes were built around and over the springs. Water wheels, probably driven by human power, lifted saline water from the reservoir boxes. The water wheels elevated the saline water, or brine, and poured it into a series of aqueducts to carry the water to the furnaces. , Salt Furnaces , To obtain salt from brine (salt water), evaporation was required. By boiling the brine in salt furnaces, the process could be accelerated. Archaeological evidence of the furnaces indicates that early furnaces were built on top of the ground, probably largely from limestone. Later, a pit was dug into the ground approximately six feet deep with a slanting base, four and one-half feet wide and up to 30 feet long. The upper edges of this pit were topped with stone on which the kettles were set. Wood was burned in the pit and a venting arrangement was present at one end. Some of the furnaces had a chimney while others did not. After the salt was sufficiently concentrated, workers raked or shoveled out the moist salt. The salt was then dried, packaged and shipped to St. Charles for sale. , Salt Kettles , Probably several different styles of kettles were used during the operation of the Boone's Lick. Smaller kettles were typically used in the beginning, and larger kettles were used as the amount of processing increased. Capacities of kettles mentioned as used at Boone's Lick include 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 to 60, 80 and 100 gallons. Jesse Morrison stated that his 50 gallon kettles weighed 300 pounds each. , Boone's Lick Salt Manufacturing Co. , Beginning in 1869, a 1,001 foot deep well was bored near the lower saline spring, presumably to secure saltier water in greater quantity. This was part of the preparations for modernization of the spring operations. In 1873, the company chose a committee to take samples to the eastern United States to find out if the salt concentration was high enough to make manufacturing worthwhile. The committee returned with an unfavorable report of low salinity, and Boone's Lick was too far from the major metropolitan centers to ship economically. At this point the company abandoned the salt production idea. , The Oyster Plan , The third and final effort to use the salt springs began around the turn of the century with a business venture aimed at propagating saltwater fish and mollusks, particularly oysters. The enterprise collapsed before it got underway because no fresh water could be found nearby in which the oysters could spawn. , (right column:), The Reservoir , The spring box appears to have been constructed by digging out the spring, laying the sill for the box and anchoring it by driving vertical supports through it deep into the ground. The plank walls were then erected and pegged to the vertical supports and to the corner supports. As the sills and supports contain mortises, it appears that the system for raising water from this reservoir to the aqueduct system was mounted over the reservoir. This elevation system appears to have used a large wheel system, probably powered by human labor. Around the reservoir box, the remains of a log cabin were found and under that was a hollow log with a plug in order to drain the reservoir when necessary. , Water Distribution System , Little remains of the brine transportation system. In the vicinity of the furnaces, several postholes were recorded that appear to represent a portion of this system at the area where brine was emptied into the kettles. How this operated is unknown, however. The aqueduct system itself is represented by sections of half logs hollowed to serve as troughs. These were found scattered throughout the site, with the largest number recovered in the upper spring area., Processing and Shipping , As the water in the kettles was boiling, the bitter compounds, known as "powder scratch" or "bittern" would settle to the bottom. This was removed as quickly as possible with a tool called a bittern pan, which resembled a large pie pan with a wooden handle. The water was allowed to almost completely boil away. The salt was scraped out of the kettle and dried. It was said that a large kettle would yield a bushel and a peck (about 60 pounds) of salt at each boiling. Initially, the salt was shipped down the Missouri River in dugout canoes and later by keelboat to St. Charles where it sold from $2.00 to $2.50 per bushel.