Visitors to the Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas, begin their adventure on The Dark Ride, a tour through an area of the mine that highlights many special features of the mine. At a period during the ride, visitors will experience total mine darkness. |
At the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, visitors examine the varying layers of salt strata, noting the water trapped inside the formation. The Museum is located 650 feet below the Earth’s surface in Hutchinson, Kansas, and features exhibitory highlighting the mining process, geology, mine transportation, and the Underground Vaults and Storage business. |
The exotic subterranean salt caverns of the Kansas Underground Salt Museum were mined for salt in the 1940’s. Located 650 feet underground in Hutchinson, Kansas, the mine and museum are located in part of the largest salt deposit in the United States. |
Nature is
present even in the salt world, 650 feet underground. Floor
heaves are just one of a couple of natural occurrences common
in the underground environment. Along the Kansas Underground
Salt Museum's Dark Ride, visitors learn more about the
impressive subterranean expanse of salt. |
In the early
days of the mining industry, miners used dynamite to blast
salt from the pillars. At the Kansas Underground Salt Museum
in Hutchinson, Kan., visitors are able to see the evolution
of the mining industry as itıs reflected through the museum
exhibits |
The Kansas Underground
Salt Museum features a large exhibit area that recreates the
storage environment of Underground Vaults and Storage, a secure
storage facility that also occupies part of the mine space
underground. Underground Vaults and Storage is known for storing
old movie films and television shows for Hollywood movie theaters,
including the Wizard of Oz .
|
Items are delivered to the
secure storage facility, Underground Vaults and Storage, carefully packed
and shipped on pallets and often delivered via a climate controlled vehicle.
Located in a private area of the mine, Underground Vaults and Storage is
not open to the public, but several movie costumes and artifacts are on
display in the museum gallery that was designed to depict their underground
business.
|
The transportation gallery at the Kansas
Underground Salt Museum features a variety of equipment used to haul salt.
For many years, salt was hauled by the rail system in carts like the one
pictured. Once an area was mined, the rails were moved with the operation,
preventing the establishment of a continual rail system though the mine. |
Today’s miners at the Hutchinson Salt Company no longer use the rail system, although the equipment remains in the mine, including this cart featured in the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, the only museum of its kind in the western hemisphere. |
