The Stassfurt salt industry

Abstract

The salt deposits of Germany occur over a vast area in the northern portion of the Empire, and beds of various Potash salts are found capping these in many localities, especially in the plains surrounding the eastern and northern slopes of the Harz Mountains, though they have also been worked at places as far south as near Eisenach, and as far north as Jessenitz on the frontier of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The town of Stassfurt, where the oldest and most important mines are situated, lies about 30 kilometres south of Magdeburg in the Prussian province of Saxony. At many points in this district the underground waters reach the surface as brine springs, and the soil itself is sometimes so impregnated with salt that it is characterised by a flora of a markedly littoral type, comprising for example such species as Salicornia herbacea L., Triglochin maritima L., Spergularia salina Presl., Glaux maritima L., and Aster tripolium L. The brine springs of Stassfurt gave rise to an important salt industry from a very early period, and are said to be mentioned even in the beginning of the thirteenth century, while it is known that in 1452 wells were sunk to a considerable depth in order to obtain a more copious supply of brine than was afforded by the natural springs. But by the year 1839 it had become no longer possible profitably to extract the salt from the brine springs, and it was plain that either the industry must be abandoned altogether or new