200 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 



Feet. 



First rock salt, pure white 2 



Shale and "slate," bluish, with vertical and other seams of salt, from 1 to 3 



inches thick -"*- ^" 



Rock salt 



Shales, with salt - ■'^•'■ 



Rock salt . 



7 



Shale ^ 



Rock salt - - ^ 



Salt and shale, alternate thin seams - 62 



Rock salt - 11 ^ 



Shale - lA 



Rock salt - - - - - ^ 



Shales and limestone - - - ^ 



Rock salt, bottom of it not reached 5 



Total 820 



Borings and shafts have also proven the existence of beds of salt in 

 other parts of the State, as at Kanopolis, Lyons, Caldwell, Rago, Pratt, 

 and Wilson. According to Dr. Robert Hays^ it is safe to assume that 

 beds of rock salt from 50 to 150 feet in thickness underlie fully half 

 the area from the south line of the State to north of the Smoky River, 

 an area from 20 to 50 miles in width. Although the mining of rock 

 salt began in this region only in 1888, the annual output has already 

 reached over 1,000,000 barrels. 



Zouisiana.— Salt in this State is derived from Petite Anse, a small 

 island rising from the marshes on the southern coast and connected 

 with the mainland by a causeway some 2 miles in length. According 

 to E. W. Hilgard "' the deposit is probably of Cretaceous age, and is 

 presumably but a comparatively small residual mass of beds once 

 extending over a much larger area, but now lost through erosion. 

 (See fig. 3.) Exploration has shown the area occupied by the beds to 

 be some 150 acres, but the full thickness, though known to be upward 

 of 165 feet, has never been fully determined. 



Salt in Kentucky is obtained from the brine of springs and wells in 

 Carboniferous limestone. In Meade County brine accompanies the 

 natural gas, the latter in some cases being utilized as fuel for its evap- 

 oration. Springs in Webster County furnished salt for Indians long 

 anterior to the occupancy of the county by whites, and fragments of 

 their clay kettles and other utensils used in the work of evaporation 

 are still occasionally found. 



Texas. — The occurrences of salt are numerous and widespread. Along 

 the coast are many lagoons and salt lakes, from which considerable 

 quantities are taken annually. "Besides the lakes along the shores 

 many others occur through western Texas, reaching to the New Mexico 



'Geological and Mineral Resources of Kansas, 1893, p. 44. 



2 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, XXIII. On the Geology of Lower 

 Louisiana and the Salt Deposit on Petite Anse Island. 



