Ian Frazier: New York City's Salt Mountains: The New Yorker A person pacing off the length of the salt mountains at the Atlantic Salt Incorporated docks, not far from the ferry terminal on Staten Island, walks a third of a mile before getting to the end of them. Their sides are sloped, about four stories high, and mostly covered with heavy vinyl tarps held down at regular intervals by sandbags filled with salt. Workers walk on a narrow path on top, and look small up there. Next to the salt mountains are the dove-gray waters of the Kill Van Kull, traversed by towering container ships, tugboats, and local industrial vessels. Gulls creak and wheel overhead, as do the clouds and winds and helicopters and flags and everything. After a while, if you lick your lips, you taste Chilean salt. . . .