Samut Sahkon Salt Mines

Down memory Lane

The Salt Farms in Samut Sakhon Gone! Disappeared

As you drive from Bangkok to Hua Hin, you will get to see many stalls selling salt along the highway. Then right behind the stalls and off the road you will see the many flat ponds, mostly white in colour. They look like rice paddys or shrimp lagoons but the locals knowing the background of this place can tell the difference,

Samut Sakhon is a leading province for sea salt farming in Thailand. The picturesque salt farms with white fields sprawling across the border with Samut Songkhram have provided a back drop for many holiday snapshots.

Sea salts are produced in Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkram and Petchburi Province while Rock Salt are mined in Udon Thani and Saon Nakhon in northern Thailand

This page is about Sea salt Almost all of the salt used comes from brine salt-farms, and the largest number of these brine salt farms are located close to Bangkok, along Highway 35 in Samut Sakhorn.

My first encounter with this place was during our maiden trip to the area in 1996. Years later, I brought my wife. We made another stop over at this place for a story. Since I first time I spotted the place and the many trips thereafter this was a familiar sight to me i.e along the left side of Rama II Road.

Some historical figures about this place - In 2011, there were 12.572 rai of salt mines run by 242 families in Samut Sakhon alone. More than 90% of the salt were used for industrial purposes such as caustic soda for cloth dying, leaching of paper pulp and metal melting. Only 10% goes into the dining table.

Having did that brief introduction, let's now look at pictures how the place or activities were like at that time.

Part 1 The discovery

1. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

One of the stalls we pick along the busy Rama II Highway

2. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

A shot and close look at the packages of alt on display

3. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

Yes! more pictures as souvenirs

Part 2 Working of the Mine

4. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

Just behind the road side stall the adjoining farm ponds. Very rudimentary structures to facilitate moving around. This is what we saw in the first glance. Then we learned about how the mechanic of the farm working,

4. Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

Salt is farmed only once in a year starting in September after the rainy season. The salt process would last seven moths until the following year.

First is the preparation of the pond - After the rice crop was harvested, the farmers cleaned the sunken fields, tamp down the top soil to prevent water filtration during crystallisation. The ponds must first be conditioned for use

The processes of salt farming

Fresh sea water was pumped into a special holding pond. This is the first step and this first salt field called the "prathieb". Here the stagnant sea water got heated up in the sun, some evaporation and for the salinity level reach between 6-7 degree -i.e. to initiate its saltiness.

These "treated" water was then released into the second field called "na tak". Same evaporation process takes place, his second field has to nurture the salt to reach an 18-20 degree level. The second filed is called "na chuea" targetting a 24 degree level.

Finally it would be released the 4th and last field for the end process

From the looks of the water, the reflection shows this could be one of the earlier

7 Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

Now we could understand why the fields we lined up one after another

9. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

Salt farm are also divided into various plots. One more procedures during the maturing process. One is the seperation of substance such as gypsum, a by product which crystallised earlier and removed in the early stages

10. Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

Salt harvesting was done in January. For the farm to break even, a farm size of 25 rai was used as a benchmark for profitability. Weather plays an important role too, the hotter and drier season increases the output

5. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

When the fields are ready for harvest, workers rake the salt into small piles. These workers were paid a contractual sum of 2.500 Bahts per Rai

6. Samut Sakhon Salt Farm

Small piles accumulated into large mounts

8. Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

Surprisingly the amount of crystal salt generated by each pond was beyond our imagination, The water did hold so much of minerals

12 Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

Board providing

Part 3 Updates

Scene from year 2022

13. Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

Thanks Stephen for wandering down the road and letting me have this important landmark picture

As the country modernizes and easier jobs beckons their children, salt farmers are finding that there is no one left to carry on their business. The Government and Local Town council got together to see how they could help. But right now more abandoned salt fields were developed for ware houses, housing estates and restaurants

14. Samut Sahkon Salt Farm

This the last picture and also the punch line for this page. Those exciting finds, the interesting scenes and the good feeling of bumping into some happening that we are not aware of. All gone!

The industry has slowly drifted into oblivion What was good memories to us will not be encountered again. This warehouse is the example of having replaced the roadside stall that we were so excited with and the pictures we made at the top of this page

Well - Government officials are trying hard to keep the industry afloat .

I find this an appropriate article to write upon. A topic of "Vanishing Trade" which is close to my heart. My old writing done about the few dying industries in Malaysia, written in 1999 I have not gone to renew and re write them But now as a gift, I found this story about dying trade in Thailand

What a pity! Such an interesting stop over site just vanished from the map. Actually it is difficult for die nard to scout for a similar site now after seeing old publications on the internet about this place

But if you are that hard core and happens to be around Petchburi I got one coordinates you could try

N 13° 26.778 E 100° 05.935

Good Luck