188 PEACH LEAF CURL: ITS NATURE AND TREATMENT. 



this .salt i.s obtained in a quite pure state, the original deposits contain- 

 ing as high as 90 per cent of sal soda. This latter is obtained from 

 the soda lakes of South America, Egypt, etc., as well as from those of 

 the United States. There are several such soda lakes in Wyoming, 

 Nevada, and California. Large amounts of sal soda are cr.ystallized 

 from crude carbonate of soda obtained from Soda Lake, near Ragtown, 

 Nev. This lake is known as Big Soda Lake, to distinguish it from a 

 smaller soda lake near by. The lake is a beautiful sheet of water, lying 

 in a depression of the desert, the water being about 150 feet in depth at 

 the deepest point. It is very close to the old emigrant road running 

 from the sink of the Humboldt River to Carson River. The separa- 

 tion of carbonate of soda from the waters of this lake is largely by 

 solar evaporation. In the fall the salts deposited are taken up, washed, 

 passed through a furnace, and shipped in sacks to San Francisco, where 

 the soda is relined and bleached for various uses. The principal uses 

 on the Pacific coast are in glass-making and borax-making. It is 

 stated that sal soda obtained as here described is practically a pure 

 article, though the natural color is somewhat yellow or lu'ownish. It 

 is generally useful, except as a fancy article for the retail trade. For 

 such purposes it must be bleached with chloride of lime, after which 

 it presents beautiful crystals. 



There is also a large plant in operation at Owens Lake, Cal. , get- 

 ting out carbonate of soda from the waters for the Pacific market. 

 This product, with that above described, is nearly equal in strength 

 and purity to the eastern and the imported product, so much so that 

 consumers are safe in using the western product, if desired. All or 

 most sodas (carbonates) found on the Pacific coast proper are in the 

 form of sesquicarbonates, and are often so much contaminated with 

 sulphates and chlorides that much expense is entailed in their separa- 

 tion, and they are therefore of little value as sources^of supply. 



The second great commercial source of sal soda is common salt. 

 The salt deposits of the country are vast and inexhaustible in quantity. 

 The Onondaga Salt Group of the Upper Silurian alone underlies 

 much of the large extent of country, as well as the Great Lakes, situ- 

 ated ])etween Salina, N. Y., and Green Bay, Wis. At certain points 

 the salt deposits of this group are known to exceed 100 feet in thick- 

 ness. The deposit is tapped ])y wells at Warsaw, N. Y., in western 

 Ontario, in eastern and in western Michigan, and elsewhere. The rock 

 salt of western Michigan is 20 to 30 feet in thickness, and is reached at 

 a depth of 1,800 to 2,200 feet. Other large salt deposits are found in 

 Kansas and in numerous other portions of the country. 



Sal soda is manufactured from salt on a commercial scale according 

 to two leading processes. The older of these is known as the Leblanc 

 process, and has been extensively employed in England and through- 

 out Europe. It involves two steps in the manufacture, (1) the conver- 



