The vast majority of the potash through Eastport comes south in unit trains that get offloaded for export at Terminal 5 on the Willamette River (near its confluence with the Columbia) just north of Portland. I saw an O-EOT5 come south by my house just two days ago. There are also occasional unit trains through Eastport headed for Little Mountain, UT, and for the export terminal at Longview, WA. Longview was a more prominent U.S. export destination for this potash traffic lane back before the Portland terminal opened. Manifests also bring loose blocks of potash south, these cars winding up at fertilizer plants all over the West, including the one at Interstate, ID, just a few miles from my home, and quite possibly down to California.
The Bonneville Salt Flats have been reducing in thickness for years due to Potash mining by Intrepid Potash in Wendover Utah. The Salt is taken off the Flats and moved across Route 80 at Around Exit 4 to the other side into settling tanks were the potash is removed. In 1949 the salt was 12 inches thick today it is barley 1 inch thick. Most of the potash I'm told goes to Japan.
Save the Salt for Land Speed Racing.
Could go back out and mine guano off deserted islands...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
The large underground Picaddilly Potash mine near Bathurst NB is being closed due to depressed prices and exports to China declining. Most was shipped by rail to the St John NB harbour for export. Saskatchewan potash costs are 1/3 those in NB. Early settlers would burn the trees and then sell the potassium-rich potash as their first "cash crop".
CN just ran their first Saskatchewan-St. John potash train (symbol B730) this week, presumably as a replacement for the supply from the idled mine. I believe it will be exported through the port there, so in the future this will likely be a winter-only move with shipping via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway taking over during the ice-free season.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
I believe that early in last century the soap making companies also used Potash for their products. I know Bon-Ami in Connecticut used it.
JJB
Potash /ˈpɒtæʃ/ is any of various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.[1] The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era. The word potassium is derived from potash.[2] Potash is produced worldwide at amounts exceeding 30 million tonnes per year, mostly for use in fertilizers. Various types of fertilizer-potash thus constitute the single largest global industrial use of the element potassium. Potassium was first derived by electrolysis of caustic potash (aka potassium hydroxide), in 1808.
Potash /ˈpɒtæʃ/ is any of various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.[1] The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era. The word potassium is derived from potash.[2]
Potash is produced worldwide at amounts exceeding 30 million tonnes per year, mostly for use in fertilizers. Various types of fertilizer-potash thus constitute the single largest global industrial use of the element potassium. Potassium was first derived by electrolysis of caustic potash (aka potassium hydroxide), in 1808.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
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