Our tour of the salt mine did not begin in a comfy elevator with elevator music. It began in this two layer hoist that rattled and banged down 650' to the mine.
Galen standing next to a huge chunk of salt. The salt from this mine is not used for table salt, but other mines in the area are. The salt from this mine is used to make animal feed, salt roads in winter, make ice cream, etc. The mine covers almost 70 miles and there is enough salt in it to last 2000 more years.
We were allowed to mine our own little bit of salt.
There are all sorts of safety precautions taken. We each wore a hard hat and carried a little three-pound machine that would allow us to breath for 90 minutes if there was an accident in the mine. The mine is very clean: No gasses, no dust, and the machine hasn't been used once in 50 years. But anything made of metal that stays in the mine too long stays forever because it would almost immediately disintegrate in the open air.
