|
|
Salt of
the South
Page 2
by Clay Coppedge
Page 1
|
The
Confederate Salt Works at Lometa
operated in a manner common to France and Germany but almost unheard
of in the south.
The process began with water pumped from the springs into a trough
placed on a 40-foot high scaffold. This was done by means of a horse-drawn
rotary lift. The water was then spread over cedar boughs to partially
evaporate. The briny remains dropped from the trees into two rows
of vats, 25 to a row, situated under the trees. A rock chimney provided
the draft.
In such a manner, the Confederate Salt Works produced about a bushel
of salt for every 20 bushels of brine. A bushel of salt sold for about
a dollar.
The Lometa operation produced a great deal of the salt used by the
southern army, especially after a series of Union raids on salt works
in Florida and Louisiana depleted Confederate supplies.
The Swenson Salines (or Salt Creek) rises about three-and-a-half miles
northwest of Lometa and flows 12 miles to the Colorado River. Indians
are believed to have used Salt Creek for hundreds of years before
Anglo settlement. They used it as an infirmary and what might be viewed
today as a crude day spa.
Texas
had its fascination and frustrations with salt long before and after
the Civil War. The Chisholm Trail zigzagged like it did not only to
pass by watering holes but to take advantage of salt licks.
The people of San Elizaro and other villages along the Rio Grande
River near El Paso used a salt basin in northeastern Hudspeth County
as a road to transport salt. When Anglo politicians claimed ownership
and tried to levy fees, war broke out - that old taxation without
representation thing again.
The
Confederate Salt Works in Lampasas County continued for a few years
after the war. Cyras James, William Kea and Thomas Seale were operating
a salt work there as late as 1870, but it was abandoned soon after
that.
The site of the old salt works is on private property now, along with
three graves that are believed to be a man, woman and child who used
to live near the works.
A historical marker commemorating the salt works is located about
half a mile west of the junction of U.S. Highway 183 and 190. |
|
|
