Morton Salt, Chicago
Morton Salt is apparently North America’s leading producer of salt and have been based in Chicago since being founded in 1848. The roof of the factory has the company name, along with their slogan “When it Rains It Pours” and the “Morton Salt Girl”, a drawing of a young girl waking in the rain, accidentally dropping salt behind her.
It took me a while to work out the meaning of the logo and slogan (the salt will pour even when there’s moisture in the air) but during my Googling I found this bizarre tattoo of a dedicated Morton Salt fan.
Thanks: Steve, El Warren & Doug
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Chicago has fresh water lake, how do they get sea water to make salt?
Na + Cl = salt
K., I don’t know about Chicago, but here in Detroit we used to mine it from underground deposits left from a prehistoric seabed.
Until ~100 years ago, salt’s propensity to attract moisture meant that it had to be stored in a small box and served with a spoon. The Morton company developed a way of keeping moisture out, enabling the salt to pour and therefore allowing it to be kept in shakers on dinner tables. They’ve exploited that development in advertisements ever since.
Morton’s Salt mine is located on Week’s Island in South Louisiana. Its hard to see the Salt Dome (I honestly don’t know where it is from the air), but this is the plant.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
The “island” or dome is sort of visible if you zoom out like this:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Salt domes are huge underground bell-shaped masses of salt, only the tips of which reach the surface. The gulf coast is dotted with them. A more famous salt dome is Avery Island, best known for Tabasco hot sauce (which is bottled there) and its jungle gardens.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
I love the tattoo! It looks like his armpit hair is the rain cloud.