| Salt Occupations |
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| Lumpman : (Open Pan). Started work at 3 or 4 in the morning, stoking the furnace before he could begin. - The furnaces which provided the heat for the pans had to be kept stoked. The pans which the lumpman worked on were the 'fine-pans' that is, for fine salt cystals. Each of this type of pan had its own furnace and chimney, and as the final product depended closely on the state of the fires, the attention of the lumpman, was essential. A lumpman's job was also to fill the wooden moulds with salt from the 'fine-pans' and turn it out as a hard block or 'lump' of fine salt crystals. Hence his name and the alternate name for the fine pan of 'lump-pan'. He was paid according to how much salt he produced in this manner. His shift was commonly 12 hours, although if there was 'a rush on' it could be 16 hours. Waller - ancient name for a saltmaker- : (Open Pan). Under the charge of the lumpman and working in the same hot, humid conditions, raking salt to the side of the pans and transferring it via the 'dogs' (slot-bottomed iron shelves just inside the salt pan and above the brine surface, where initial draining took place) and then with long-handled shovel shaped sieves called skimmers, to the hurdle-boards (walkways) placed around the pans, where piles of salt (the draft) continued to drain and and was then (depending on the grade) either moulded into blocks or wheeled in barrows to the bankside to be loaded onto boats known as Flats. Wallers were hired by the day. Rock-Getter: (Rocksalt) A mining man engaged in drilling, (by hand until the 1880's) blasting, cutting and otherwise 'getting' the rock with pick and shovel; the roof and pillars being dressed to ensure no loose rock had been left. Ferrier: (Rocksalt) Also working 'at the rock-face' : A man who loaded mined rock-salt into the tubs: tub-shaped carts, on wheels running on tram rails with two or three 'in-train' behind a pony; to be transported away from the salt-drift.. Boys were often employed to lead and look after the ponies. Ponies: (Rocksalt). Having been taken down the pit while young (& small), the ponies lived and worked for the rest of their lives underground. They had underground stables, usually in a corner of the 'main hall'. Driftmaster: (Rocksalt). Responsible to the mine owner or the persons leasing the rights to mine a Salt Drift in a particular mine. For controlling the gunpowder &c. and its supply, and for hiring and paying the Rock-Getters, Ferriers and others, who usually worked in 'gangs'. Towards the end of the 19th century, the employment of the men became the responsibility of the mine manager. Fireman: (Open pan). Besides the lumpman working on his own 'fine'-pans, there were also 'common'-pans; used to make coarser salt. Although at one time both kinds of pan were more or less the same size, this changed over the years ; generally speaking common pans were twice as long as fine pans. The common -salt required slower burning fires, which were banked-up, and required less frequent attention. Therefore a Fireman would have charge of a row of several common pans. (One Common-pan could be 80 feet long). Pan-smith: (Open pan). Originally, a man who physically made the pans for making salt in. In very early days they might be made of lead. Later they were made of iron. In the 19th century they were constructed of iron plates rivetted together. These would vary in size and thickness depending on their final position in the saltpan: if they were to be directly over the heat from the furnace, they were smaller and thicker. |
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