Our tour started “topsides” where we all donned hard hats and re-breathers. They were happy to tell us that in the history of the mine, no one has had to use the re-breather.
To get down to the mine, we all piled in an elevator and rode down the mine shaft. It was extremely dark. And quiet.
Then I heard someone softly say “ I think it’s a crab”. That was when we realized that my clearance rack t-shirt from PEI actually glows in the dark. Ha! We all got a laugh out of that once I pointed out that it’s actually a lobster.
Once at the bottom, most of the exhibits were self guided. That’s great because Paul is interested in completely different things from me.
While he was checking out the equipment they used, I was looking at trash. They have a saying- “What Goes in the Mine, Stays in the Mine”, including all the trash- which they now call “artifacts”. The salt preserves even the trash for many decades!Interesting that NO food or drink are allowed on the tour- not even water, because the floor is made of saltcrete. Instead of using sand to make concrete, they use salt, and make saltcrete, so yeah, if you spilled your water, the floor would dissolve.
One of the displays that interested me the most was about salt and iodine. Before the early 1900s, IDD, (Iodine Deficiency Disorder) was the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. Scientists were looking for a universal vessel for getting iodine into the world’s population, and that’s where salt comes in.
We all need salt. Actually, we need about 1/2 teaspoon of salt a day. In 1923, a scientist at University of Michigan figured out the chemical process to put iodine into salt and within a year, iodized salt was the norm. I’m probably one of the few people who buys noniodized salt. That’s because iodine can cause thyroid imbalances and I have had Graves Disease, a thyroid disease. I’ve been in remission but my doctor has advised me NOT to have iodine because of that.
If you’ve ever seen the show Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe actually did a show down here in the mine. The car that they drove him around in is still here.
There were two “rides” that took us deeper into the mining operation. One was a train ride and the other was a glorified golf cart train that was called the Dark ride. The only light for most of the trip was the light from the tour guide’s helmet ( and of course, Paul’s flashlight!). We learned the history of the mine, and she told us a few stories- it was actually pretty entertaining.
One of the characteristics of salt is as a preservative, of course, and parts of the mine are now used for storage. At a constant 68 degrees and low humidity, the mine is perfect for storing fragile and/or important items. Over 8 million boxes of items are stored here. Hollywood keeps prints and film here, including the original of The Wizard of Oz.
Data is also stored here. Several states, and some countries, keep back up data here. This computer was used for data storage until the 1960s. It looks impressive and huge, and it stored less data than an ipod nano. My, how times have changed.
Once we were back above ground, our plan was to drive to Liberal, Kansas, park the trailer for the night, and drive in to look around the famous town, but we were too tired. Instead, we decided to do a ‘drive-by’ on our way out of town in the morning. A famous person is from Liberal Kansas- her name is Dorothy Gale.
She and her dog Toto were picked up by a tornado years ago. They had quite an adventure before making it back to Kansas.
