MORTON SALT MINE
ONE TIME
LONG AGO BUT NOT SO FAR AWAY I TOOK MY YOUNG FAMILY ON A TOUR OF THE
MORTON SALT MINE AT GRAND SALINE, TEXAS.
IT WAS
AFTER I WENT TO WORK FOR GENERAL MOTORS IN ARLINGTON. WE WOULD GO
BACK TO GLADEWATER TO VISIT RELATIVES AND DRIVE DOWN HIGHWAY 80.
THIS WAS BEFORE THERE WAS AN INTERSTATE 20. HIGHWAY 80 WENT THROUGH
GRAND SALINE.
ON ONE
OF OUR TRIPS HOME I STOPPED AT THE SALT HOUSE IN GRAND SALINE. THIS
IS A HOUSE THAT WAS MADE OF BLOCKS OF SALT CRYSTAL FROM THE MINE.
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HAD THEIR OFFICE IN IT.
AS WE
TALKED TO THE LADY IN THE OFFICE, SHE TOLD US ABOUT A TOUR THE MINE
OFFERED TO VISITORS. WE DECIDED WE WOULD TAKE THE TOUR AND DROVE
OUT TO THE MINE. WHEN WE GOT THERE A MAN TOLD US WE WERE THE ONLY
ONES TO GO ON THE TOUR THAT MORNING SO WE COULD LEAVE THEN.
HE LED
US TO THE ELEVATOR THAT TOOK THE WORK CREWS DOWN INTO THE MINE AND
DOWN WE WENT. AS WE DESCENDED INTO THE MINE HE TOLD US A LITTLE
ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE MINE.
AS EARLY
AS 1825 THE INDIANS WOULD COME TO THIS LOCATION AND GATHER SALT FROM
A SEEPAGE OF WATER FROM THE GROUND. LATER A WELL WAS DUG AND THE
WATER FROM THE WELL WAS PUT IN SHALLOW PANS AND ALLOWED TO EVAPORATE
AND LEAVE THIN CRUSTS OF SALT IN THE PANS.
IN 1891
MAJ. BYRON PARSONS BOUGHT THE PROPERTY AND ORGANIZED THE LONE STAR
SALT COMPANY AND INSTALLED STEAM PIPES IN THE EVAPORATING PANS,
WHICH GREATLY INCREASED THE OUTPUT, BY THEN THE DAILY PRODUCTION WAS
17,000 POUNDS A DAY. IN 1929 THE MORTON SALT COMPANY BOUGHT OUT THE
LONE STAR SALT COMPANY AND EXPANDED ACTIVITIES BY OPENING A MINE TO
PRODUCE ROCK SALT.
IN 1931
THE MINE BEGAN OPERATIONS AT 700 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE. ROCK SALT
WAS CRUSHED, SCREENED AND SEPARATED INTO NINE DIFFERENT GRADES. THE
BEST GRADE WAS ANALYZED AT OVER 99% SODIUM CHLORIDE. LAST YEARS
PRODUCTION WAS 1,191,621 TONS.
THEN HE
STOPPED THE ELEVATOR AND WE GOT OFF. HE TOLD US WE WERE IN THE
SECOND LEVEL OF THE MINE AND THERE WERE FIVE LEVELS SO FAR. WE WERE
IN A LARGE ROOM WITH CEILING TWENTY FEET HIGH. THERE WERE TUNNELS
RUNNING OUT OF BOTH ENDS OF THE ROOM.
THE
FLOOR WAS SALT CRYSTAL, THE CEILING WAS SALT CRYSTAL AND THE WALLS
WERE SALT CRYSTAL. AS WE STOOD THERE THE GUIDE TOLD US THAT ALL
FIVE LEVELS WERE STILL BEING WORKED. JUST THEN A LARGE TRUCK CAME
BY US CARRYING CRUSHED SALT CRYSTALS. THE TOUR GUIDE TOLD US TO
STAY CLOSE TO THE WALL SO WE WOULD BE OUT OF THE WAY.
I LOOKED
BACK AND ANGELA HAD PLACED BOTH OF HER LITTLE HANDS ON THE WALL AND
WAS LEANING FORWARD. SHE STUCK OUT HER TONGUE AND LICKED THE WALL.
JOHNNIE SAW HER AT THE SAME TIME AND REACHED OUT AND GRABBED HER BY
THE ARM AND ASKED HER WHAT SHE WAS DOING? SHE PUCKERED UP AND
STARTED CRYING AND SAID, “I JUST WANTED TO SEE WHAT IT TASTED LIKE.”
THE
GUIDE SAID IT WOULDN’T HURT HER, IT WAS ONLY SALT, AS HE LAUGHED.
WE STARTED ON DOWN THE TUNNEL AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS A LOUD
BOOM. JOHNNIE TOOK OFF RUNNING BACK THE WAY WE HAD COME AND THE
GUIDE WENT RUNNING AFTER HER. HE CAUGHT UP WITH HER AND GRABBED HER
ARM.
HE TOLD
HER THAT EVERYTHING WAS ALL RIGHT, THAT WAS JUST SOME BLASTING AT
THE END OF THE TUNNEL AND IT WAS A LONG WAYS FROM US. JOHNNIE TOLD
HIM THAT SHE HAD SEEN ALL OF THE MINE SHE WANTED TO AND WAS READY TO
GO BACK TO THE SURFACE.
HE LED
US BACK TO THE ELEVATOR AND WE WENT BACK UP TO THE SURFACE. I
THANKED FOR THE TOUR AND WE GOT INTO OUR CAR AND LEFT. AS WE DROVE
OFF I LOOKED BACK AT SUSAN AND SHE HAD A LITTLE PIECE OF SALT
CRYSTAL SHE HAD PICKED UP DOWN IN THE MINE AND SHE WAS LICKING IT.
I DIDN’T SAY ANY THING TO JOHNNIE, I JUST SMILED AND KEPT DRIVING.
NOW
EVERY TIME I SEE A BOX OF MORTON’S SALT WITH THAT PICTURE OF THE
LITTLE GIRL HOLDING AN UMBRELLA WITH THE LOGO “WHEN IT RAINS, IT
POURS” I THINK OF THE TIME MY FAMILY TOURED THE MORTON SALT MINE.
THE NEXT TIME WE WENT THROUGH GRAND SALINE WE … BUT THAT’S A WHOLE
NOTHER STORY FOR A DIFFERENT TIME.
BY
LOREN
MOORE
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