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Almost everyone enjoys food that has been properly salted, and many of us relish
salty snacks like potato chips and salted nuts. Humans do require a bit of salt
to keep their bodies functioning properly, although we probably do not need as
much as many of us consume.
Animals also require salt in their diets.
Long before the settlers came on the scene, Indians were getting salt from salt
lakes, salines and salt springs on the High Plains of Texas. Spanish settlers
also looked to Texas for salt, and eventually salt became the most continuously
produced commercial mineral in Texas. In fact, there is a large salt dome
measuring roughly 2-1/2 miles long by 2 miles wide near Cypress. It is located
approximately four miles south of Hockley off Warren Ranch Road.
This salt dome was discovered by the Texas Company, an oil firm, when they were
drilling for oil in 1916. They hit salt, but never oil. Geophysicists are
always interested in salt because where there
’s a salt dome there’s a strong likelihood of hydrocarbons being present, which could mean oil is
there. But that has not been the case with the Hockley Salt Dome. Drillers
found very little oil, but they found a bonanza of a salt mine. The Hockley
Salt Dome became a very prolific salt mine and produces anywhere from 300 to
900 tons per day.
Mining operations take place at a depth 1,500 feet below the
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earth’s surface. Geologists and other scientists who have visited the mine describe it
as cavernous in size. Equipment such as trucks, front-end loaders, salt
crushing equipment and more, plus the workmen, all have room to operate in the
mine. The air in the mine is hot with temperatures in the upper 90s; it is also
dry and dusty, resulting in workers each drinking an average of three gallons
of water on their shift.
Operations in the salt mine have been ongoing since 1931. The salt mined today
is primarily used in animal feed products. If you happen to buy feed and
mineral supplies for your livestock or to nourish the deer on your deer lease,
you may very well be buying products that originated in the Hockley Salt Mine.
You can learn more Cypress history through a visit to Cypress Top Historic Park
located at 26026 Old Hempstead Highway in Cypress. Cypress Top is one of
Commissioner Steve Radack
’s Harris County Precinct 3 Parks. Museum buildings are open every Tuesday from 9
a.m.-4 p.m. for drop-in visitors. Cypress Historical Society docents conduct
tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. To schedule a group tour for a different day
and time, please call this Precinct 3 office number:
281-357-5324. You may e-mail Jane Ledbetter at
janel_54@att.net if you have questions about this article or Cypress genealogy and history.
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