2-888-362 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Evaporating House and Salt Pan, Marston Salt-Pit, [Cheshire], 1850. 'To crystallize the brine to perfection requires care in the evaporation - a proper regulation of heat, and an absence of agitation of the brine during the process. Various temperatures are employed, according to the quality of the salt required. If the salt forms a scum or scab upon the surface, and does not fall readily to the bottom of the evaporating pan, the evaporation of the whole is impeded...Four kinds of salt are made: the stored, or lump salt; the common salt; the large, grain flaky salt; and the fishery salt, sometimes called the large grained...Each pan is capable, on the average, of making twenty-five tons of salt per week, from which statement a calculation can easily be made of the total yield at full work of the Cheshire mines'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.