Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series called “Sunflower Summer Adventures” documenting the summer activities of the Frey Family using the Sunflower Summer App. The app, administrated by Kansas Tourism, provides Kansas families free tickets to more than 200 attractions across the state.
Video: https://youtu.be/6vlIfXETOSM?si=E43bfJ8B1spF39XU
By Chad Frey
Newton Kansan
We planned our second Sunflower Summer Adventure in hushed excitement, almost not believing the opportunity that was in front of us.
That disbelief came, in part, from calling ahead to Strataca in Huchinson only to find out that the day we called they were full to the brim. We could go, but chances are we would not be able to do and see everything we wanted. The former Kansas Underground Salt Museum was just too busy that day.
As advised by the museum staff, we waited and planned a trip on a day we could get there early, within the first hour of business.
On that day, we pointed our van westward and headed down U.S. 50 to Hutch. This Sunflower Summer Adventure was picked by the parents, however the excitement of seeing something new and unique spread quickly to the kids.
Strataca is about as unique of an experience as can be found — constructed in a salt mine, it is the only salt mine accessible to tourists in the United States.
The museum is located in the Hutchinson Salt Company mine which began operation in 1923 as Carey Salt Company.
Each trip to the museum starts the same way, with a safety video followed by a 90 second ride in an elevator. That elevator takes each group down 650 feet below the earth’s surface.
The Hutchinson Salt Company mine covers about 980 acres — tour takers are reminded often that includes about 200 miles of tunnels tucked around natural pillars of solid rock salt which are each 40 to 50 feet square, left intact to support each corridor or room.
During a train ride and “Dark Ride” included in the baseline “Salt Blast Pass” ticket ($38 for 13 and older, $31 for age 8 through 12) riders are allowed off the vehicle once – near a pile of salt rocks that can be bagged and taken home.
Those rides also take tourist past floor heaves and sagging ceilings – and at least one room that has collapsed over the course of the last 70 years in the history of the mine.
The mine is built within one of the world’s largest deposits of rock salt, formed 275 million years ago.
The air is very dry, and the temperature stable. As result, parts of the mine have been converted into storage areas. The museum, which features machinery used during the last 70 years in the mine, places some of the more unique items stored in the mine on display.
This summer on display are an original Superman costume from a television show, an original Batman costume from a movie and movie memorabilia and props.
Also on display is a data storage system, and an original newspaper published the day after the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
The Sunflower Summer app provides a one-time free admission to Strataca. That admission includes two rides, but does not include the “Salt Safari Shuttle,” where riders venture further into the raw mine and can pick up some sizable pieces of salt to take home. Sunflower Summer app users can upgrade their admission of $13 each to ride the shuttle.
To discover more about the Sunflower Summer program, visit SunflowerSummer.org.
