78 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
MANUFACTURE OF SALT BY DIRECT HBAT. 
Most of the salt put upon the market from Kansas is made by 
evaporation of the brine by direct heat. After the well has 
been bored it is cased with an iron pipe about five and five- 
eighths inches in diameter. Inside of this is a smaller pipe 
which is of sufficient size to allow water to pass between it and 
the larger pipe. The water that is forced down dissolves the 
salt, which is forced to the surface through the inner pipe, and 
is stored in convenient tanks till it can be evaporated. The 
brine is evaporated either by the ‘‘pan process,’’ ‘‘ grainer proc- 
ess,’ or by the ‘‘ vacuum process.’’ 
THE PAN PROCESS. 
In the pan process the brine is evaporated by direct heat. 
The pan consists of a wrought-iron vessel about 125x 25 feet and 
about 12 inches deep. A coal fire (usually ‘‘slack’’ is used as 
fuel) is built beneath one end of this pan, and the products of 
combustion pass under the whole length of the pan. The brine 
is allowed to trickle into the pan in aslow but constant stream. 
The first division of the pan, and in some cases several divi- 
sions, are so arranged that the brine can be retained there till it 
had been evaporated sufficiently for it to deposit some of its im- 
purities, especially the calcium sulfate. When this has been 
accomplished, the brine, which is now saturated with salt, is 
allowed to flow into the last division of the pan, where the heat 
is not so intense. Here the salt crystallizes out and falls to the 
bottom of the pan. It is removed from the pan by being 
scraped out by workmen with long-handled rakes upon the 
platform at the side of the tank, where it is left for some time 
to drain before being shoveled into carts for transfer to the store- 
room. Here it stays for several weeks, or until it can be 
shipped, and it drains still more through the perforated floor 
provided for this purpose. Each pan is raked once in two 
hours. Although each pan and furnace form a complete set 
for making the salt, it is customary in the larger ‘‘blocks’’ to 
place a number of these pans side by side, and the product is 
then all dumped into a common storeroom. 
