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Did you know that Kansas has salt mining? The Strataca Salt Mine Museum is near Hutchinson, KS, often called Salt City! The mine has a different name (see below.) We toured the mine and the museum and learned about its history and the man who started it all. The mine is deep underground and provides a home for purposes most people don’t expect. Follow along for reasons why you should visit. (If you want to start at the beginning of this tour, check here for the full overview. Don’t worry; you can get back here quickly!)
Overview of the museum and salt mining in Kansas
Strataca is not a mine; it’s a museum about salt mining and industry. The above-ground portion has artifacts and stories about the history of salt. We quickly went through it and nearly immediately went to the underground mine. The museum, initially named Kansas Underground Salt Museum, started in 1961. In 2013, the museum became known as Strataca. And here’s the link to their website.
We took the elevator 650 feet down into the mine. Inside, you can see the layers of salt on the walls where excavation has occurred over the years. A former mine worker was our docent for the time we spent. Since he worked there, his knowledge told us all we wanted to know. (Or maybe, all he wanted us to know!)
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The mine opened in 1923 and still has plenty of salt for mining. The main products here are rock salt, used for winter road salting, and livestock salt. I hope the livestock don’t have blood pressure problems! For high-quality salt, a process involving water dissolves and washes out the impurities, and then it is dried out, with the remainder being pure salt.
The mine operated under a lease as Carey Salt Mine, which still operates the mine under the name of Underground Vaults and Storage Company. Salt mining continues here, as there is still “a lot” of salt to mine! The “Vaults” part of the name comes from the underground storage area. At 650 feet below the surface and with salt, the rooms maintain a stable temperature and humidity (dry) level. Perfect for storing documents and original copies of film and video recordings. By the way, the naturally maintained temperature is 68 degrees. If you go deeper, the temperature increases slowly as the molten core gets closer.
Here’s the link to this salt mine.
A bus from Muskogee State College in Oklahoma shows buses for transporting workers and visitors in the past.
Pictures from Salt mining in Kansas
The salt block is on display for museum purposes. The walls look like this or show a near-white color in some places due to more salt at that location. The floors are very smooth, considering how they are just scraped out. If they get wet, the salt dissolves, and the floor becomes uneven.
Want to see a shop for my road trip photos? You can have them printed as wall art or puzzles. They also work on coffee mugs, t-shirts and more! So, take a look. Maybe you'll see something you will like!
The mining continues in another area, separated by some distance from here. The mine covers about 980 acres, or about 1.5 square miles. If the chambers were laid end to end, they’d stretch for 150 miles! Natural pillars 40 feet square are kept intact to support each corridor.
You’ll be amazed at the processes they use to extract salt and to view the other museum items on display.
The two top pictures and the middle left show mining equipment used in the mine. The middle right and bottom left show record storage, which is part of their business. They provide rental space for media requiring temperature and humidity control environments. They have the original storage of Hollywood movies from years ago. When you go, ask about which movies are stored and what the cost for the storage is. (I thought you should never end a sentence with a preposition!)
Computers from the 1980s and 90s are ancient by today’s standards. You’ve heard of “dog years” as being about a 7:1 ratio with human years. Computer years are more like 20:1. A five-year-old computer is equivalent in age to a 100-year-old human! Having worked with and around computers for my career, I’ve used that analogy for the computer age.
For example, the 3370 data storage, about 2.5 feet square and 4 feet high, stored 571 MB of data. That’s about 0.1% of the storage on my current smartphone!
There are well-known movies stored here. You will have to visit there to see what they are! This was an amazing visit!
Classic Rock Recollection
“Salt of the Earth” by The Rolling Stones
Let’s drink to the hard-working people
Let’s drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Written by: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
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