European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1958, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T h e stars and stripes feat i s e o t i o n i libyan workmen attack a huge Mound of Salt after drying in open. Rail Spur is used to transport Salt for processing. Air Force photos Zellaha ancient Salt Lake at wheelus if 1 roads in the Tripoli area providing Access Tir wheelus air base apparently Don t Lead to this big air Force installation. They Lead to Zellaha according to sign posts in both arabic and English. Why in the Middle of wheelus is a Salt Lake. Zellaha Means Salt Flats and the Flats still exist the basis of a libyan government controlled Industry which operates Side by Side with the big air Force Busi Ness at wheelus of training tactical air Crews for combat proficiency. The Salt Flats were there first and wheelus simply grew around them. Just when the Flats originated As an Industry is not known but they probably Date Back to the time when Tripoli Tania from Tripoli moaning three cities was a part of the roman Empire. Writings of the roman period refer to Salt produced in Tripoli Tania. This Salt was exported in ancient times and was prize for its Quality. Latter Day historical references provide More continuity. In the 1780s, the sister in Law of Richard Tully esq., British Consul to the court of the Pasha of Tripoli de scribed in her letters to England a visit to the Salt Lake at Tagura a Village which once included part of the area of present Day wheelus air base. Her collected letters Are a Rich source of first hand observation son Tripoli a Century and a half ago. Today modern transportation and conveyor equipment Are used in the handling of the product but the manufacturing process is the age old one of evaporation and crystallization. The motion of the sea forces brine into a Long masonry intake which juts into the Mediterranean from the wheelus Shore. From Here it flows through a canal until it reaches a system of Sluice ways which Dis tributes it Over the various evaporation Beds. Water Gates and baffles control the flow and Long Dykes separate the various Beds in such a Way that different stages of the evaporation and harvesting processes May be in operation simultaneously. One bed May be ready for harvesting while the evaporation process is just Start ing in another. This gives continuity to production and enables the Industry to have a steady output. From the air Thebes still in the evaporation process have the Bright Sheen of polished mirrors on the ground the Beds ready for harvesting Are like Fields of freshly fallen Snow. Simple hand methods Are used for the harvesting. Libyan workers strip the bed of its thickly accumulated Deposit of Gem like Salt piling it into Small conical heaps. Next a movable Section of railway track la Laid in the bed. And the Salt is shovelled saturday november 15, 1958 into cars for the initial stage of its journey toward commercial outlets. Hand propelled trucks shift the Salt Toa huge engine driven conveyor. High Hills of fresh Salt Are created during the har Vest and these in turn Are moved by railway toward their eventual outlets. A single track railway Spur enters wheelus by its own special Gate bringing a note of modern animation to the age old scene. The slow steady production of Salt is car ried on in close proximity to the Busy operations of sleek supersonic aircraft the fighters fighter bombers and fighter interceptors which rotate to wheelus from . Bases in Europe for combat proficiency training at the Safe weapons Center. The contrast is Sharp but the neighbourly relationship of the two activities is a sym Bol of the cooperation Between libyans and americans which has made Wheelu Sair base possible. Zellaha is part of the tradition of an area which is one of the most colourful and interesting in North Africa. It was the name used for the location centuries ago it was also the name of the italian fighter base which preceded the . Air Force base and it is the name carried Over towhee us today because of habit and associations which go Back to ancient Roma times. Libyans work Industry dating Back to roman Empire at . Tripoli air base Zellaha has produced Salt since Early roman Era. Hand propelled cars take the Salt from Zellaha Beds to its storage Points. The stars and stripes Page 11