Right.
The salt we eat is usually white, too, of course, but there are different varieties around the world. Apparently there is red table salt (not salt peter) in the Kanawha Valley--what I'm not sure about is whether or not that was the kind being mined by solution.
Warren
-----Original Message-----
From: Warrenwolff <[log in to unmask]>
To: VA-ROOTS <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, May 24, 2011 4:50 am
Subject: Re: Salt - western Virginia
When I was a mere high school kid, I made gun
powder using salt peter I bought under the
name potassium nitrate at the local drug store.
It was white.
Warren Wolff
-----Original Message-----
From: wnapier <[log in to unmask]>
To: VA-ROOTS <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 8:14 pm
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] Salt - western Virginia
Both the Confederate and Union troops relied on salt that was found in the
Kanawha River valley. Per Wikipedia (gasp!), they used red salt. I don't know
if it's red salt or not, but I do know that there was a lot of salt mining along
the Kanawha in the Charleston area that was done by solution mining -- drilling
wells to the salt layer, pumping in water, bringing it to the surface by another
well (at least that's how I understand it).
According to the W.Va. Geological and Economic Survey, the northern panhandle
and north central West Virginia have huge salt deposits that are several
thousand feet down.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sally Phillips <[log in to unmask]>
To: VA-ROOTS <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 3:05 pm
Subject: Re: Saltpeter Revisited
Sorry! Of course there's Saltville. Never mind. I think my exhausted brain
needs to go home. --Sally
--- On Mon, 5/23/11, Sally Phillips <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Sally Phillips <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [VA-ROOTS] Saltpeter Revisited
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, May 23, 2011, 3:31 PM
Saltpeter again! If a slave was tasked with "mining salt" in Virginia from
1863-1865, is it fair to assume he mined saltpeter? Do we have other salt
mining sites in Virginia?
Many thanks for all the help with saltpeter in Virginia. I now know more about
saltpeter than I ever thought I'd care to know!
Sally Phillips
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