214< REMARKS ON SANDSTONE AND 



had considerable quantities of salt, which was in the form of 

 large detached crystals, and seemed to have been formed in 

 the same manner as the other. They said it cajiie from 

 the south west, and as we understood thein, from some of the 

 upper branches of Red River. 



The whole country near the mountains abounds in licks, 

 brine springs, and saline efflorescences ; but it is in the 

 neighbourhood of the red sandrock that salt is met with in 

 the greatest abundance and purity. 



The immediate valley of the Canadian River, in the upper 

 part of its course, varies in width from a few rods to three 

 or four miles, but is almost invariably bounded by preci- 

 pices of red sandrock, forming what are called the river 

 bluffs. On the valley between, these incrustations of nearly 

 pure salt are often found covering a considerable extent of 

 surface, in the manner of a thin ice, and causing it to appear 

 when seen from a distance, as if covered with snow. 



Most of the remarkable formations of rock salt hitherto 

 known in various parts of the world are contained in what is 

 denominated the lowest red sandstone which appears to cor- 

 respond in character, position, ^'C. with the sandrock above 

 mentioned. In this connection it is found in Cheshire, at 

 Northwich and Droitwich in Kngland, at the feet of the Car- 

 pathian Mountains in Poland, and in Peru. Accident, or fur- 

 ther examination, it is probable, may hereafter bring to light 

 those extensive beds of this substance which there is every 

 reason to believe exist in the neighbourhood of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



The briny character of tliose two great streams, the Ar- 

 kansaw and Red River, flowing from this district of country, 

 scarcely permits us to call in question the existence of such 

 repositories; and the greatness of tlie quantity of salt whicli 

 those rivers have for ages been washing away, would lead 

 us to conclude that its beds must be of great extent. Ana- 

 logy would teach us to look for them in depressed situations 

 and in bason-shaped concavities, whose contents had not yet 

 been worn down and removed by currents of water. 



