In 1913, there was no air conditioning. There were no…
5 reactions
In 1913, there was no air conditioning.
There were no electric fans. There was only the heat—and the salt.
This grainy photograph captures a moment that saved lives.
These are flat rail cars, usually reserved for hauling tons of raw salt through the underground tunnels of Hutchinson.
But during the deadly heatwave of 1913, they carried a different kind of cargo: people. Mothers, infants, and the elderly sat side-by-side on these wooden platforms as they were lowered into the deep. Five hundred feet below the burning Kansas plains, the air was a constant, miraculous 65 degrees.
For a few hours every night, the noise of the world vanished, replaced by the sound of hundreds of people finally breathing easy. It was a subterranean refuge, a sanctuary of salt where the temperature never wavered. This was the true 'Salt Train,' a testament to human ingenuity when nature turns deadly.
#wilgman
There were no electric fans. There was only the heat—and the salt.
This grainy photograph captures a moment that saved lives.
These are flat rail cars, usually reserved for hauling tons of raw salt through the underground tunnels of Hutchinson.
But during the deadly heatwave of 1913, they carried a different kind of cargo: people. Mothers, infants, and the elderly sat side-by-side on these wooden platforms as they were lowered into the deep. Five hundred feet below the burning Kansas plains, the air was a constant, miraculous 65 degrees.
For a few hours every night, the noise of the world vanished, replaced by the sound of hundreds of people finally breathing easy. It was a subterranean refuge, a sanctuary of salt where the temperature never wavered. This was the true 'Salt Train,' a testament to human ingenuity when nature turns deadly.
#wilgman
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