Technology in the Wilderness

Outside the visitor center at Breaks Interstate Park stand some large artifacts from Southwestern Virginia. The huge iron kettle mounted in stone is a salt kettle.

A plaque tells us that:

This cast iron kettle unearthed in 1961 at Saltville, Virginia, was one of those used for evaporating water from brine in the manufacture of salt. It was probably cast at Marion, Virginia about 1860 and buried to conceal it from the Federal troops who captured Saltville in 1864.

And then there's the moonshining exhibit!

Now if you should come across a real moonshine still while walking in the woods, it won't be labeled like this one is! And you should probably react just as you would if you came across a rattlesnake: slip away quickly and quietly!