56 Saliferous Rock Formation in the Valley of the Ohio. 



i 



the distance may be from the furnace, some carrying the water a 

 long way to the fuel, and others bringing the fuel to the water. 

 When the water reaches the furnace, it is let into the kettles by 

 wooden stop-cocks, placed at different points in a log, which lies 

 lengthwise of the furnace, for the purpose of preserving the temper- 

 ature nearly the same in all the kettles. When it is evaporated to a 

 certain strength, the brine is dipped out of the kettles into a large 

 trough or cistern, where it cools, and deposits a fine, red, earthy 

 sediment, colored by oxide of iron, and held in solution by carbonic 

 acid gas, which is set free when the water first commences boiling, 

 giving it quite a turbid appearance, although it is as clear as rock 

 crystal when running from the well. When sufficiently settled, the 

 brine is led by a conductor to the graining kettles. Into each kettle 

 is now thrown a small quantity of beef's blood, and the contents 

 brought to the boiling temperature, when the impurities all rise to the 

 top and are skimmed off, leaving the brine of extreme purity and 

 transparency • When salt was first manufactured in the west, this 

 depuration was effected by means of aluminous earth, found in 

 caves and clay banks. As the boiling proceeds, the crystallizing 

 process commences on the surface of the water, in small hollow 

 cubes, gradually enlarging, until their specific gravity forces them to 

 the bottom. When the kettles stand some time without heat, as is 

 the case at these works, on the Sabbath, the water becomes cold, 

 and on the surface are found most beautiful specimens of salt crys- 

 tallization, resembling an inverted hollow pyramid, nearly an inch in 

 diameter at the base. These are generally found one within another. 

 While the water is evaporating, the salt, as it forms, is piled up in 

 the middle of the kettle, and when the kettles are dry, it is shoveled 

 into a large trough, whose inclination suffers the bittern, or "mother 

 water," to drain off. When tolerably dry, it is transferred to the 

 " salt house," where it again drains still more, and is then packed in 

 barrels, ready for market. Each barrel contains from five to six 

 bushels, of fifty pounds weight. A furnace of the above size, when 

 well managed, will make three hundred bushels of salt per week, 

 the average price of which, for some time past, has been about 

 twenty five cents per bushel. At some of the furnaces, a beautifully 

 white and delicate salt is made, for table use, fully equal to any of 

 the best Liverpool " blown salt." Alum, or coarse salt, has not yet 

 been made at any of the Muskingum works. 



