THE NONMETALLIC MINERALS. 197 



to state that salt beds are not confined to strata of any one geological 

 horizon, but are to be found wherever suitable circumstances have 

 existed for their formation and preservation. The beds of New York 

 State and of Canada and a part of those of Michigan lie among rocks 

 of the Upper Silurian Age. They are regarded by Professor New- 

 berry as the deposits of a great salt hike that formerly occupied central 

 and western New York, northern Pennsylvania, northeastern Ohio, 

 and southern Ontario, and which he assumes to have been as large as 

 Lake Huron, or possilily Lake Superior. A part of the Michigan 

 beds, on the other hand, were laid down near the base of the Carbon- 

 iferous series, as were also those of the Ohio Valley, and presumably 

 those of Virginia, while those of Petite Anse, Louisiana, are of 

 Cretaceous, or possibly Tertiary Age. The beds of the Western States 

 and Territories are likewise of recent origin, many of them being still 

 in process of formation. 



The English beds at Cheshire, the source of the so-called "Liver- 

 pool " salt, are of Triassic Age, as are also those of Vic and Dieuze in 

 France, Wurtemburg in Germany, and Salzburg in Austria, while 

 those of Wieliczka in Austrian Poland, and of Parajd in Transylvania 

 are Tertiary. 



Salt is now manufactured from brines or mined as rock salt in 

 fifteen States of the American Union. These, in the order of their 

 apparent importance, are Michigan, New York, Kansas, California, 

 Louisiana, Illinois, Utah, Ohio, West Virginia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, 

 Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, and Wyoming. At one time Massachusetts 

 was an important producer of salt from sea waters. The industry has, 

 however, been gradually languishing and may ere now be wholly 

 extinct. In California salt is obtained largely from sea water, but also 

 from salt lakes and salines. In Michigan, Ohio, the Virginias, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Kentucky salt is obtained from brines obtained from 

 springs or by sinking wells into the salt-bearing strata, while in New 

 York, Kansas, Louisiana, and the remaining States it is obtained both 

 from brines and by mining as rock salt. 



Of the foreign sources of rock salt the following districts are the 

 most important: (1) The Carpathian Mountains, (2) the Austrian and 

 Bavarian Alps, (3) western Germany, (4) the Vosges, (5) Jura, (6) Spain, 

 (7) the Pyrenees and the Celtiberian Mountains, and (8) Great Britain, 

 while sea salt is an important product of Turks Island in the Bahamas, 

 of the island of Sicily, and of Cadiz, Spain. 



We have space here for details concerning but a few of these beds, 

 preference naturally being given to those of the United States. 



The beds of New York State, of Ontario, northern Pennsylvania, 

 northeastern Ohio, and eastern Michigan all belong to the same geo- 

 logic group— are the product of similar agencies. They have been 

 penetrated in many places by wells, and from the results obtained we 



