SALT. 



.031 



S.It. 



At Nanhieket 



k, 



Skawneetown. (Illi.) 

 Jackkon, <Olii) 



. (M.ss.) 180 



Si. KatUrines (U. C.j 



95 

 80 

 BO 



3.10 p. of MA water give a budul of salt. 

 450 Billion* of brine 



:<no do. - 



2H) (In. . 



SM:l - 



.',.. . 



do. 

 da, 



do. 



<1. 



do. 

 do. 

 do. 



tllJ. 



<!" 



do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



do. 



do. 

 da 

 do. 

 do. 



do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



Zanesvillc, (Ohio) 



Ki-nliawa, (Virg.) 



In n,(i Ki\. i-, i Ark.) 



Illinois River, (do.) 80 do. 



Salina, (New-York) 45 do. 



The brine of Onondago has never been accurately 

 analysed. Tl r following statement made some years 

 ago by Dr. Noyes, of Hamilton College, has never 

 been |>ti!)li>hed. It is to be considered rather as an 

 approximation lie estimates 40 gallons, or S.VjIbs. 

 avoirdupois of brine to produce 5()lbs. of saline ex- 

 tracts; of which is,* 



Ib. oz. 

 51 00 

 64 



Pure muriate of soda, 



Curb, of lime coloured by oxide of iron, 



Snl pliate of lime, - 24. 



Muriate of lime. - I 124 



Muriate of magnesia, perhaps 



It is to be remarked, that in this statement is not 

 mentioned sulphate of soda, which is most probably 

 present in very considerable quantity. 



The salt springs and the surrounding country belong 

 to the state ; but permission is given to any person, 

 under certain limitations, to erect works and extract 

 salt, upon paying into the treasury a duty of J2 cents 

 per bushel of 56lbs. The leasing of the salt lots has 

 been regulated by the legislature. 



Under the head of Onondago are usually comprised 

 three villages, and their works, viz. 



Salina, where there are 50 furnaces or blocks. 

 Liverpool, 30 do. 



Geddeshurgh, 13 do. 



Total 83 



averaging each fourteen kettles, and each of them cal- 

 culated to produce forty bushels a day, amounting to 

 3320 bushels, or 664 barrels, at the rate of more than 

 1,000,000 bushels annually ; which has a ready sale 

 on the spot at from 1 dol. 75 cts. to I dol. 81 cts. per 

 barrel ; making one da\'s manufacture 1 16'2 dollars. 



When the western canal is opened, it is supposed 

 the salt from these works can be afforded at Albany, 

 at 37| cents per bushel. While the canal was only 

 partially opened, there were cleared at Syracuse, from 

 April 18th to September IHh, 34,793 barrels, or 

 173.990 bushels of salt. 



The quantity of salt inspected at these works, during 

 the year ending August 6th, 1823, viz. 



Revenue. 



Aug. 7, to Nov. 5, 1822, 145,686. at 12J cts. per bush. 18,203 25 dol. 

 Nov. 6, May 20, 1823, 300.862, do. do. 37.60775 

 May 21, Aug. 5, 159,975, do. do. 19,99689 



Total, 606,463 75,807 89 dol. 



The revenue from these works is yearly augmenting. 

 In J800 the quantity of salt manufactured amounted 

 to 42,754 bushels. In 1814 the superintendant re- 

 ported 295,215 bushels of salt manufactured and in- 

 spected at the works of Onondago. The state duty 

 was three cents per bushel, and the nett profit, after 



paying all expense*, was 7303 dollars 87 cent*, to the 

 government, of which 5200 dollars was expended upon 

 road*. 



The springs now used are all situate on the inmhjr 

 edge of the lake. The oin- f> t worked is said to have 

 n's Point, between Liverpool and Salina. 

 .\ trong wooden curb is nettled down from six to ten 

 fr, t and, until recently, the water was pumped out 

 by hand The principal source whence all the works 

 .-in- now supplied, is termed the Horse Spring, and is 

 furnished with a powerful forcing pump, raising the 

 witer seventy feet above the lake, and piving 120,000 

 gallons per twenty-four hours. The brine is conveyed 

 by wooilen pipes to the distance of two miles, supplying 

 the villages of Geddesburgh and Syracuse. The sup- 

 ply of water, and, of course, the works, may be increa- 

 sed indefinitely. The forcing pump belongs to indivi- 

 duals, who receive two mills per bushels on all salt 

 manufactured at the works. 



There are three kinds of salt manufactured at these 

 villages ; the common fine, the rectified fine, and the 

 coarse salt. The common fine is made in the greatest 

 quantity. The process employed seems to be very 

 slovenly, and until lately many complaints were made 

 of its quality. Legislative interference has abolished 

 the causes of these murmurings, and introduced a bet- 

 ter system of manufacture. The method now employ- 

 ed does not differ materially from that used in other 

 countries. From twelve to sixteen kettles, holding 

 from ninety to one hundred gallons each, are firmly set 

 in brick work over a furnace. The form and size 

 might be materially improved: they are certainly much 

 deeper than necessary. The foreign substances, (or 

 bittern, as it is technically called,) is first extracted, 

 and then the salt. The only mode they appear to pos- 

 sess of determining when the bittern is extricated from 

 the brine, seems to be by observing how much of the 

 water is evaporated. They then dip it out, and by ob- 

 serving a certain point to which the brine is boiled 

 away, commence taking out the salt, which is thrown 

 into a basket, suffered to drain for a few minutes, and 

 is then fit for use. It may be readily imagined, from 

 this rude process, that the salt cannot be very pure. It 

 contains much muriate of lime, which adds to its white- 

 ness, while its destroys its purity. It is thereby ren- 

 dered in a great measure unfit for its most important 

 use, t. e. preserving provisions. It is estimated that 

 each kettle will produce five bushels every twentv-four 

 hours, requiring two cords of wood for the furnace dur- 

 ing that time. 



The refined, or rectified salt, is made in small quan- 

 tities here ; it is intended for the table, and comes to 

 this market in small boxes and baskets of from A to 

 Slbs. each. It is equal to the finest imported. 



The manufacture of coarse salt has lately been com- 

 menced at Syracuse, in the vicinity of the other works. 

 It is produced by solar evaporation alone. The brine 

 is poured into large .shallow vats, furnished with co- 

 vers to protect them from the rain. The marsh mud 

 and bittern being precipitated, the brine receives the 

 technical name of pickle, which is drawn off into vats, 

 and the deposit formed. The precise point at which 

 the brine is converted into pickle, is determined by the 

 appearance of cubical crystals of salt floating on the 

 surface. Very little has as yet been manufactured ; 

 but the proprietors are now erecting works, where it is 



* It is a remarkable fact ascertained by M. Herrmann, that the composition of brine springs changes considerably. In 1798, the brine 

 from Halle, in Prussia, contained muriate of lime and nmriataof magnesia in the proportion of 7 to 1 ; but recently the muriate of mag. 

 nesia was nearly double the muriate of lime. In 1704, a certain quantity of the brine of Schonebeck contained 6000 cwt. of sulphate of 

 soda ; but in 1823, the same quantity of brine contained 37,500 cwt. Se Dr. Brewstet's Edi*b*rgh Journal of Science, yoL i. p. 384. 



