This reminds me of a discussion I overheard a few years ago inside the
historic entrance to Mammoth Cave, next to the abandoned saltpetre
works. Someone asked "how could there be significant deposits of
salpetre when we don't see any bats here now?" Rick Olson and Rick
Toomey launched into
...@tx.rr.com; vivb...@att.net
Subject: Re: [ot_caving] Re: [Texascavers] RE: Here's a fun one
When I was a kid, I visited Mammoth with my mom and dad. At the time, old
saltpeter mining gear was still in the cave - like vats and wooden pipes. I
wonder if that stuff is still there?
=WaV
O
When I was a kid, I visited Mammoth with my mom and dad. At the time, old
saltpeter mining gear was still in the cave - like vats and wooden pipes. I
wonder if that stuff is still there?
=WaV
On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 11:58 AM, David wrote:
> This is an interesting thread.
>
>
> According to Wik
This is an interesting thread.
According to Wikipedia,
The U.S. Congress passed legislation that would allow U.S. citizens to take
possession of unoccupied
islands containing saltpetre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Chincha_g
Vivian said:
>when you speak of "cave earth" or "dirt" you really mean guano, right?
No, dirt from the cave floor. The saltpetre was extracted from the dirt
on the floor of the cave by putting it into big vats and leaching it with
water. The water was then boiled down to crystalli
So, just curious, but when you speak of "cave earth" or "dirt" you really mean
guano, right?
-Viv
-- Original message from "Minton, Mark" :
--
Bill Steele posted from TAGNet:
>A particular saltpeter producer in Jefferson County, TN made up 40,000# of
>gunp
Bill Steele posted from TAGNet:
>A particular saltpeter producer in Jefferson County, TN made up 40,000# of
>gunpowder during the War of 1812 and sent it to Andy Jackson so he would help
>win the war. My question is, what is the percentage of nitrates that thie
>shipment had, in pounds? A
