9781422285626

SALT NORTH AMERICAN NATURAL RESOURCES

John Perritano

NORTH AMERICAN NATURAL RESOURCES SALT

North American Natural Resources Coal Copper Freshwater Resources Gold and Silver Iron Marine Resources Natural Gas Oil Renewable Energy Salt Timber and Forest Products Uranium

SALT NORTH AMERICAN NATURAL RESOURCES

John Perritano

MASON CREST

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D

Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2016 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

MTM Publishing, Inc. 435 West 23rd Street, #8C New York, NY 10011 www.mtmpublishing.com

President: Valerie Tomaselli Vice President, Book Development: Hilary Poole Designer: Annemarie Redmond

Illustrator: Richard Garratt Copyeditor: Peter Jaskowiak Editorial Assistant: Andrea St. Aubin Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3378-8 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3388-7 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8562-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perritano, John. Salt / by John Perritano. pages cm. — (North American natural resources) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4222-3388-7 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-4222-3378-8 (series) — ISBN 978-1-4222-8562-6 (ebook) 1. Salt—Juvenile literature. 2. Salt industry and trade—Juvenile literature. 3. Salt— Environmental aspects—Juvenile literature. I. Title.

TN900.P48 2015 553.6’32—dc23

2015005876

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 7 Chapter One: History 9 Chapter Two: Extraction 19 Chapter Three: Science and Uses 28 Chapter Four: Commerce and Economics 38 Chapter Five: Salt and the Environment 47 Further Reading 57 Series Glossary 58 Index 60 About the Author 64 Photo Credits 64 Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout the series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field. Note to Educator: As publishers, we feel it’s our role to give young adults the tools they need to thrive in a global society. To encourage a more worldly perspective, this book contains both imperial and metric measurements as well as references to a wider global context. We hope to expose the readers to the most common conversions they will come across outside of North America. Key Icons to Look for:

Major Salt Deposits in North America

N

Major Salt Deposits Site Mentioned in Text

Davis Strait

C

Hudson Bay

A

N

A

D

A

Hampton Corners Mine

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A E D S T S O F

Onondaga Peoples

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Detroit

Finger Lakes

Jamestown Settlement

Guerrero Negro

Lake Peigneur Avery Island

PACIFIC OCEAN

Gulf of Mexico

M E X I C O

0 km 500

1,000

0 miles

500

Caribbean Sea

0 km

500

1,000

1,500

0 miles

500

1,000

INTRODUCTION I t comes in shakers and bowls, in licks and packets. Sprinkle it on popcorn, and everyone wants a handful. Shake it on steamy, buttered corn, and you can have a picnic. Tiny and white, crystalline and abundant—most everything tastes better with a shake or two of salt. Yet there’s more to the tasty spice than you might think. Salt preserves things, for example. Long before there were refrigerators, people poured salt on fish, meat, pork, and other foods to keep them fresh. The ancient Egyptians used salt to stop mummies from rotting. Salt has also stoked the fires of economies. The

ancient Romans paid their soldiers in salt. The earliest trade routes involved salt. British troops stole salt from George Washington and his troops during the

Salt comes in a wide variety of consistencies and colors. (Ralf Roletschek/Wikimedia)

7

American Revolution to weaken their ability to fight. Nations have risen and fallen all because of salt. Salt is the only mineral we can actually eat, which is amazing considering we also throw it on sidewalks, roads, and driveways to melt ice and snow. What’s more amazing is that salt is a compound of two dangerous elements—sodium and chloride. Sodium is an unstable metal that can easily burst into flame, while some forms of chloride can be deadly. But together, they are salt, a product that is essential for life. That’s right. Without salt, humans cannot live. That’s why many civilizations prized salt more than gold. Humans need salt for breathing and for proper food digestion. It helps transport oxygen and nutrients to our organs and cells. Without salt, our bodies would shut down. So please, pass the salt.

8

Chapter One HISTORY

A t the ancient salt mines of with wooden clubs, much as they have for at least 400 years. When the men finish, they load the crystallized mineral onto the backs of camels, and then the real journey begins. Nomads guide the 100 or so animals over 500 miles (800 kilometers) of hostile desert to the city of Timbuktu. The humans and the animals will cross this foreboding landscape in two weeks or more, transporting the salt blocks over a centuries-old path. Taoudenni, in the African nation of Mali, workers cut slabs of salt

brine: water that contains a significant amount of salt. commodity: an item that is Words to Understand something from a source, usually by separating it out of other material. factions: dissenting groups. nomads: people who move from place to place in search of food, water, or pastureland. pan: a shallow basin on Earth’s surface. bought and sold. extract: to obtain

9

10 Salt

Salt tablets arranged for shipping in Mali, Africa.

11 Chapter One: History

But these days, the twin developments of modern technology and climate change have altered this ancient journey. It’s become too hot and dry even for camels to travel so far for so long. Increasingly, men now load gasoline- powered trucks with salt, which shortens the travel time considerably.

Salt by the Numbers Chemical formula: NaCl Phase at room temperature: solid Melting point: 1,475°F (801°C) Boiling point: 2,575°F (1,413°C)

“Whenever I see a [truck] take the salt, I am very upset,” the leader of one camel caravan told a reporter. “The salt caravan is not something just for money, it is tradition . . . for me [the trucks mean] the end of [our] culture.” Whether transported by beast or machine, salt is still central to lives of people, and this fact underscores the importance of the mineral in society. The history of civilization is, in part, the history of salt. Shifting Diets Our early ancestors were hunters and gatherers who got their fill of life-sustaining salt by eating the salt contained in the animals they hunted. However, as they settled into towns and villages and became farmers, their diet shifted to the crops they grew, so that they ate less meat. Eating less meat meant eating less salt. Yet people still needed salt. They craved it as a seasoning and as a preservative. Although they probably didn’t know it at the time, salt regulated many of their bodily Salt, Religion, and Superstitions Various cultures have used salt as part of religious rituals. The ancient Romans rubbed salt on newborn babies to keep evil spirits away. The ancient Greeks and Hebrews also used salt in paying homage to their gods. Even today, some people use salt to ward off evil spirits. It is said that demons and other evil spirits cannot cross a line of salt sprinkled on the ground. In some European countries, people toss salt into the coffin of a dead person to keep the devil away.

12 Salt

Salted fish is a traditional part of Cantonese style of Chinese cooking. To preserve the fish, fishermen would salt it and leave it in the sun to dry.

functions. Without salt, people became dehydrated, and their blood sugar levels were unbalanced. They couldn’t work as hard or as long without salt. They followed herds of animals, which led them to fields of salt. Eventually, these trails became trade routes upon which great cities were built. People traveled vast distances on these routes in search of salt. Salt was scarce and not easily found, which made it a prized commodity . People prized salt mostly because it preserves food. Like a sponge, salt soaks up moisture. The dryness makes it harder for bacteria and mold to grow, which helps to stop food from rotting.

13 Chapter One: History

The Chinese were one of the first civilizations to extract salt from the earth. Some 8,000 years ago, in what is today the northern province of Shanxi, an ancient saltworks bustled with activity. The area was the scene of constant fighting, with warring factions trying to control Yunchen Salt Lake, a reservoir of salty water. Each summer, the lake water evaporated, allowing people to harvest crystals of salt. Trade Routes The earliest written account of salt mining was published in China some 4,700 years ago. The writer described 40 kinds of salt, along with the various ways to mine the Salt and War Throughout history, tempers often flared as governments established taxes on salt and created monopolies over its trade. Wars were fought in China and parts of Africa over these monopolies. The Chinese government paid for the construction of the Great Wall of China, designed to keep out invaders from the north, with salt.

The Great Wall of China.

14 Salt

mineral. Slowly, China’s rulers began to understand the economic importance of salt, and they imposed taxes on its consumption. Nomads moving westward carried salt to far-flung destinations, introducing it to Egypt, Greece, and other regions. Eventually, salt trade routes began to spread like a spider’s web. One of the most important routes crossed the Sahara Desert. Eventually, these trade routes linked Africa with Asia and Europe. Much of the trade centered on gold and salt: the Sahara was brimming in salt, but gold was scarce. On the other hand, sub-Saharan Africa was rich in gold, but poor in salt. Traders from each region created economies based on the gold-salt trade, often exchanging a pound of salt for a pound of gold. Africa was not the only region to benefit from the salt trade. Egyptian traders loaded their ships and sailed the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas, bringing salt to Greece. The Romans established a lucrative salt route up the Tiber River, connecting the great city of Rome to the salt pans of Ostia. The Romans prized salt so much that officers cut a soldier’s salt ration in half if he fought badly, as this meant he was “not worth his salt.” In Venice, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, traders traveled to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and exchanged exotic spices brought from Asia for salt. One of Venice’s most famous residents, Marco Polo, returned from China in 1295 and regaled his fellow Venetians with tales of the salt coins he found. Not only did people use salt as currency and a way to flavor and preserve food, but they also used it to heal wounds. (For more on this, see chapter three.) New World Salt Salt played an important role in the European exploration and colonization of the New World. The first Europeans to arrive in North America found Native Americans harvesting sea salt on the island of St. Maarten. Native Americans were no strangers to salt making. They had been harvesting it years before the Europeans arrived. The Onondaga peoples, who were members of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, produced salt crystals by boiling brine from salt