Salt.
In conjunction with the strata banks of north Holston Valley the
celebrated wells of salt exist that have been used for about a century at
Saltville, in Washington County, and during the late Civil War supplied
nearly the whole Confederacy east of the Mississippi with the indispensable
article of salt, of the greatest purity. No diminution in supply or
quality has ever been detected. The production now is about half a million
bushels annually.
The rock at Saltville, possibly 200 feet thick by an unknown length,
may have a different origin from that of the gypsum—possibly may be due
to deposition in a secure basin from brines flowing constantly from the
salt-bearing groups of rocks known to be in the sub-carboniferous series.
The brines are of an unusual degree of purity; have been drawn upon for
many years by the salt works of Saltville, making over 500,000 bushels of
salt annually, without any appreciable diminution of either strength or
quantity.
The brine is drawn from artesian wells about 200 feet deep, rising to
within forty feet of the surface. This brine comes from a solid bed of rock
salt 200 feet below the level of the Holston, and borings have been made
into it 176 feet without passing through it. The supply of brine is not
affected by any operations yet carried on, and at one time during the Confederate
War 10,000 bushels of salt were made there every day for six
months. The present yield is about 360,000 bushels a year, using wood
for fuel. When improvements contemplated bring the coal that is but 40
miles off to these works, there will be a very large amount of salt made
here, as it has the advantage of being so far inland.
The copper ores of Floyd County make it possible to here locate successfully
alkali works. Professor Leibig mentions the fact that a well has
been bored in Tazewell County, and adds: "It must be borne in mind
that the salt wells of Eastern Kentucky get their water from the conglomerate
at the bottom of the coal measures." Therefore, there must be a
salt-water bearing formation several hundred feet below the coal bed at the
bottom of this lode. Salt has been made at works in the southeastern
part of Lee County, on the waters of Clinch River. There is no doubt an
abundance of brine, throughout the region in the formation above named.
