2018 10 03 - 2018 10 08 Covered Wagon RV Park, Strataca Salt Mine, Heritage Center, Cap'n Jacks Pub

Covered Wagon RV Park, Abilene, Kansas - 4 October 2018 

Getting ready for our next adventure. Things have turned a little cooler from the warm, steamy weather we encountered when we arrived in St. Louis.

Strataca Underground Salt Mine/Museum, Hutchinson, Kansas - 5 October 2018 (Happy Birthday, Kristen)

The good news about this side trip is that it really does not matter what the weather is topside. The temperature down below is a constant 68 degrees year-round. As you can see in the background above, it was seriously foggy when we started out today. So foggy, in fact, that we needed to rely on GPS since we couldn't see the cross streets at 65 mph until we were past them.   

It's about 50 degrees but with no sun out we didn't spend much time outside. This is still a working mine but that portion is several acres away from this entrance. 

After securing our hard hats, we are all set for the plunge. The elevator is a double decker which allows them to load 15 people in a car, raise or lower to the second car and load more 15 more people. They can also use it to lower equipment or supplies.  See you down below, 650 feet takes about 90 seconds.

After passing through a frozen aquifer and countless layers of rock and silt, the 6-ton hoist delivers us for our self-guided tour through the discontinued portion of the mine. This area was mined when it was opened, back in 1923. The walls are layered with salt and mud. This mine mostly provides road salt for many states around the country and livestock salt for inclusion with feed (instead of a salt lick). 

This area has not been worked since the 1940s and 50s. The Permian Room formed by the Permian Sea long ago. But do not touch the walls or ceiling. The salt is sharp and will cut skin, allowing salt and bacteria into the cut. OUCH!!

Bob found this salt rock but it's just not the right size to take home. 

The original company that started the mine was the Carey Salt Company. While some aspects were mechanized early on, there were many jobs which were done by hand, like loading the salt into the carts for the final ride up the hoist and out of the mine. 

The slogan down here is, "Whatever goes into the mine, stays in the mine". It is time consuming and labor intensive to remove things once they have been sent down. It's easier to just leave it unless it is absolutely required. There were piles of left over items, from cone paper cups (a plentiful item), cigarette packages, light bulb packaging, two thumb gloves (wear it til the palm wears out, turn it over and wear it again), even shoes. Everything, except metals and rubber, are well preserved.  

This mine area is now used to store records, movie props (Iceman, Batman and Mr. Smith).  

Row upon row of movie canisters (Shawshank Redemption, for example). Also considered was storage of spent nuclear reactor rods. Salt dissipates heat very well but this mine is actually shrinking so that storage was moved to a different salt mine. 

As each area was not needed and airflow needed elsewhere, the miners blocked up certain tunnels with old dynamite boxes filled with salt and stacked three deep. Now, with the demise of dynamite and use of  ammonium nitrate and fuel oil there were no more boxes. The sheeting behind the fallen boxes are lighter, easier to install and less porous.

You can schedule events from weddings, corporate meetings (both benefit from lack of cell service) and local Dinner Theater event. 

Bob tried his hands with a pick ax. Not nearly as effective as the massive machinery the salt mines use. 

Heritage Center, Abilene, Kansas - 6 October 2018

The 1901 C.W. Parker Carousel - Charles Wallace Parker moved to Abilene with his family and bought a used carousel in 1892. While making repairs, he would replace the manufacturer's name with his own. The mechanism use to drive the carousel is a steam engine outside with a drive belt from the red wheel through the open door. The interesting thing about this carousel is that the horses rock back and forth and have no poles. 

Big red barn housing farm implements.

A lumber sawmill. The wheel to the left was driven by a John Deere tractor. 

Princess Phone looks familiar, Betty.

Inside displays included rooms full of old telephones and other items.

A carpenter's toolbox, very similar to the one we had in our basement in Florida, Chicago and St. Louis from my dad's grandfather.

High Plaines Camping, Oakley, Kansas - 7 October 2018

As we drove into the campground, I kept looking at the sign for Cap'n Jack's Pub because it looked so familiar. Then it came to both of us. On our very first trip after leaving Sioux Falls a year ago, we stopped here overnight and ate pizza at Jack's. Surprisingly good food and well reviewed in the area.

Now, if it would just STOP RAINING!