650 



is many feet thick, some 15 to 20, and in places crops out. This, I be- 

 lieve, is particularly the case in some of the bluffs on the west side of 

 the river, where the plaster rock is excavated from the side of the hills, 

 giving a natural and constant drainage, without resort to pumping. 

 What amount of plaster has been manufactured for the year 1 855, 1 

 have no data at hand for even guessing. That quite a quantity of it 

 must have been ground, may be inferred from the fact that during the 

 present run of excellent sleighing, an average of 300 tons has been 

 sold and taken away daily. Teams laden with corn and pork, come 

 even from Indiana for this mineral manure. This, of course, makes 

 trade brisk, and furnishes a greater amount of food and feed for the lum- 

 bermen and their teams, in the northern part of our county and the ad- 

 joining regions. 



Gypsum, too, is coming into use among us as a building material, par- 

 ticularly for fronts, and a most beautiful, variegated and polished surface 

 it gives, exceeding in these respects the most costly marble. It is read- 

 ily fitted, or shaped, with a common hand-saw, or other instruments, ac- 

 cording as the desired surface be plain or otherwise. It is polished 

 readily, and well oiled, when it is believed it will stand well the influ- 

 ences of the atmosphere. It has been observed that where pieces of it 

 have Iain exposed at the quarries for several years, they haiden and 

 consolidate, from vhich fact it is believed it will prove a substantial ma- 

 terial. With some, there is a doubt as to its capability of withstanding 

 a heavy pressure. As to this, time must determine. The two buildings 

 already erected and faced with this material, thus far give so good sat- 

 isfaction that more are contemplated for the coming season. Certain it 

 is that for beauty and finish no other material can compare with it. 

 When the railroads shall reach Grand Rapids, and open up facilities for 

 the transportation of our gypsum and plaster, and which also makes the 

 best of stucco, so that its cost will be cheapened to its distant consumers, 

 our gypsum deposits must prove a mine of wealth to Kent county, un- 

 approached by the auriferous deposits of California. 



Then again, our salt deposits, I have faith to believe, when ample 

 mea-ns and thorough experience shall take hold of the matter and probe 

 the earth to the depth that geological research indicates the saline de- 

 posit to exist in its greatest purity, will prove second only, if not equal 

 to the great Onondaga salines. The efforts which were made years 



