52 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



Solar Salt Manufacture in the United States 



Solar salt is produced in California and Utah. 

 The Utah industry operates on the shore of Great 

 Salt Lake. Here the water is much denser than that 

 of the ocean, and, since the climate of Utah is arid, 

 solar salt can be produced rapidly. 



The California industry is located near San Fran- 

 cisco in Alameda and San Mateo counties, and in 

 the southern part of the State near Long Beach 

 and near San Diego. The waters of San Francisco 

 Bay are less salty than those of the ocean; yet be- 

 cause of the absence of fogs, and the adaptability 

 of the marshlands to the construction of salines, 

 the solar salt industry has thriven there. The San 

 Diego Bay region is an unusually fine location for 

 salines, as it is a long, narrow arm of the Pacific 

 Ocean. The inflow of fresh water is very slight, and 

 consequently the salt content of the water at the 

 southern end of the bay is somewhat higher than 

 that of the ocean. The net annual evaporation of 

 this district is unusually high, about fifty inches. 



The American methods of pumping the water and 

 handling the salt are modern in every regard. Large 

 centrifugal pumps, capable of handling thousands 

 of gallons of sea-water a minute, are used on many 

 salines to pump the water to large reservoirs, which 

 are called storage, intake, receiving, or tide ponds. 

 On other salt farms, sea-water enters the works at 

 high tide through canals provided with flood-gates 

 that open and close automatically as the tide flows 

 and ebbs. After the bay water has deposited its 



