A Museum Worth its Salt

Tour Hutchinson's Kansas Underground Salt Museum, the only working salt mine tour in the Western hemisphere.

The world changes dramatically at 650 feet below ground. It’s all rock walls and ceilings. Crystallized salt sparkles in the light. The temperature is a perpetual 68 degrees with 40 percent humidity. Cavernous rooms, carved from decades of manual labor, stretch into darkness. Long-abandoned tools rest against thick pillars.

At the Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, visitors can tour a museum unlike any other in the Western hemisphere. Wielieczka, Poland and Salzburg, Austria are the only other places in the world that offer tours of working mines. It’s easy to see why Hutchinson’s $10.5 million museum has already garnered national press, including attention from The Today Show, Good Morning America, the Food Network and the Discovery Channel. We recently visited Hutchinson to see the subterranean museum for ourselves.

The museum is housed in a metal building with a roof shaped like a plane’s wing. Located near the intersection of U.S. 50 and Airport Road, it appears completely industrial, far from a typical museum. We entered a small gift shop where a guide named Shirley escorted us into a side room to watch a short film about the mine’s history. After the film, we received hard hats and self-rescue units. (This part of the introduction was slightly nerve-racking, but it came as some comfort to learn no one has ever used one of the self-rescue units in 50 years.) We then stepped onto the elevator and began our descent 65 stories below the earth’s surface.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft, we boarded a white tram that took us into the mine. Along the way, Shirley recounted the mine’s history—Ben Blanchard’s accidental discovery of the salt deposit in 1887; Hutchinson Salt Company (formerly known as Carey Salt Mine) opening in 1922; the government’s shutdown of public tours in the mid-’60s; the ongoing demand for tours during the next four decades; and the Reno County Historical Society’s announcement of plans for the Kansas Underground Salt Museum on May 2, 2002.

During our tour, workers were still building the underground exhibit area, gift shop, restrooms and event center, so we continued into the mine. Along the way, the guide pointed out long-defunct mining equipment, including ore carts, drills, dynamite boxes and other ancient items that miners have found in recent years.

We continued “The Dark Ride.” A 20 million candle-watt flashlight and the cart’s headlights provided the only sources of light. Along the way, Shirley pointed out natural formations, such as sinkholes, floor heaves and crystallized salt formations. At one point, she flicked off the flashlight to show us “mine darkness.” The room plunged into complete black. “Mine darkness is so dark that your eyes will not adjust,” Shirley explained. The thought of getting lost or trapped in the mine surely crossed a few visitors’ minds at this point, but she quickly assured us that the museum is taking many safety precautions. After about 45 minutes, we finished the tour and returned to the elevator. Several college students stopped to taste the salt on the walls despite Shirley’s protests. (They said it tasted like table salt.)

While waiting for the elevator, we turned to admire the mine once more. We had to remind ourselves again that the cavernous area was entirely man-made. About then, an elderly woman next to us smiled and whispered, “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”

Wanna Go?

What: The Kansas Underground Salt Museum
Cost: $13.50 for adults; $8.50, children
Contact: undergroundmuseum.org, 620-662-1425
The museum is one of many attractions in Hutchinson, Kansas, a city about 310 miles west of Springfield and 45 minutes from Wichita, Kansas.

Where to Stay

Grand Prairie Hotel & Convention Center
1400 N. Lorraine St.
Hutchinson, KS 67501
620-669-9311
grandprairiehotel.com

Prairie Moon Bed & Breakfast
1403 N, Main
Hutchinson, KS 67501
620-662-8343
prairiemoonbed.biz

Where to Eat

Blue Duck Bistro
216 N. Main
Hutchinson, KS 67501
620-669-0120
blueduckbistro.com

Airport Steak House
1100 Airport Road
Hutchinson, KS 67201
620-662-4281

Other Attractions

Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center
1100 North Plum
Hutchinson, KS 67501
800-397-0330
cosmo.org

Yoder, Kansas
yoderkansas.com
Tour this nearby Amish community, and see a blacksmith shop, harness shop and more.

To learn more, visit the Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce website at hutchchamber.com.