Stories of persons and places in Europe . away the floor of the chamber that has been dug out too near it, andlets the contents down into another with a force that carries down severalmore, and creates general destruction. Each chamber, as the water eats away its roof and leaves a layer of clayupon its floor, keeps rising until it reaches after a time what has been thefloor of the one above it; but that too has been creeping upward, and sothey go on until the salt in that portion of the mountain has been all extrac-ted. The brine from the salt chambers is led down the sides of the mountainthro
Stories of persons and places in Europe . away the floor of the chamber that has been dug out too near it, andlets the contents down into another with a force that carries down severalmore, and creates general destruction. Each chamber, as the water eats away its roof and leaves a layer of clayupon its floor, keeps rising until it reaches after a time what has been thefloor of the one above it; but that too has been creeping upward, and sothey go on until the salt in that portion of the mountain has been all extrac-ted. The brine from the salt chambers is led down the sides of the mountainthrough wooden pipes to the salt pans, or evaporating house in the val-ley, sometimes miles away. When the wood necessary for boiling thebrine is exhausted in one valley, the pans are set up in another, and the brinecarried there, as it is more expensive to cart fuel to the evaporators than it isto lengthen the pipes enough to carry the brine a distance of forty or fiftymiles if necessary. The salt pans are composed of small plates of iron,. DOLOMITE MOUNTAINS. 256 Persons and Places in JEurope. stoutly riveted together ; are about two feet deep, forty feet long and fifteenwide, and are laid upon pillars of fireproof brick. Beneath them a tremen-dous fire is kept up for a fortnight day and night, the salt being taken outas fast as it crystalizes and fresh brine run in. While the fire is raging a leak sometimes occuis in the pan, which mustbe mended without putting out the flames. A man shod with pattens, highenough to keep his feet out of the boiling brine, wades through to the break,and repairs it with the hissing, steaming brine and roaring fire all aroundhim. There are many salt deposits all over Austria, but one of the most re-markable is the great bed of rock salt in Gfalicia, near Cracow. It extendsover a distance of several hundred miles, but only a portion of it is wor, Wieliczka numerous shafts have been sunk, and galleries at seven differ-ent levels quarried out. Fr
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