Wichita ? A research team of Wichita State University students hopes to unearth the link between the Careyville mining settlement and the vast Carey Salt mine.

The student group, under the direction of history professor Jay Price, is charged with documenting the history and dynamics of Careyville.

“We want the story,” said Reno County Historical Museum curator Pat Garwood. “You always hear about people living in Careyville, but what we want answered is why. Why was it called Careyville and what were the dynamics of the settlement?”

The settlement on Hutchinson’s southeast edge is a link to the salt-mining industry and a planned Kansas Underground Salt Museum, said museum director Jay Smith.

Garwood said the study of the approximately four-square-block settlement was a “start-from-scratch” effort.

While old newspapers and maps reveal bits and pieces, the museum staff has never uncovered a written history, Garwood said. The settlement once had its own one-room school, a small store and a church.

“We know the first house was built in 1911, finished on Nov. 14 for a W.E. Albright, and we have been told Emerson Carey had a farm in that area,” Garwood said.

The Wichita State University research group will probe the history of company mining towns and how typical Careyville was in relation to the salt-mining industry.

The students will talk to people who live there now and other Hutchinson residents, as well as library research.

“We know Careyville existed, but beyond that, when did it really take off?” Price said. “Why was it founded? Did it function like a typical company town?”