SALT-MINING IN NEW YORK. 



SALVADOR. 



727 



ers about Rochester that the bed will be found 

 much nearer the surface at the point mentioned 

 a fact that would lead to cheaper production 

 even if the thickness of the bed were less. 

 Then, too, the dwellers to the east and west 

 of the "meridian-line," upon which are located 

 most of the wells bored thus far, are confident 

 that salt will be found ninny miles away from 

 that line. They have started " pointers," after 

 the manner of the oil country, to mark the 

 limits of the territory. The best geologists affirm 

 that all the salt of Syracuse, Warsaw, Saginaw, 

 and even of Wisconsin and Iowa, belongs to 

 the Onondaga salt-group, and that it is de- 

 posited all over this extensive tract in a chain 

 of land-locked lakes, fed by an occasional over- 

 flow of the ocean, and depositing their saline 

 qualities by evaporation. A similar process is 

 now going on at the Runn of Crutch, of which 

 Sir Charles Lyell says : " That successive layers 

 of salt might be thrown down, one upon an- 

 other, over a thousand square miles, is undeni- 

 able. The supply of water from the ocean 

 would be as inexhaustible as the supply of heat 

 from the sun for its evaporation." This theory 

 may explain why the dip of the salt-str:iin of 

 Western New York, added to the natural rise 

 of the ground, makes a boring of 1,500 feet 

 necessary at Warsaw, while at Salina a depth 

 of only 200 feet is required. 



The outward appearance of a salt-well in 

 the Wyoming or Warsaw valley does not differ 

 from that of a well in the oil district, except 

 that vats are added to the derricks. The stra- 

 tum of salt having been once pierced, a sat- 

 urated solution of the saline matter frequently 

 rises in the boring to within eighty feet of the 

 surface. This, however, can not always be de- 

 pended on, and here center the increased diffi- 

 culty and expense. When a few dozen feet 

 have been drilled, an iron pipe is inserted-as a 

 "casing," inside of this a two-inch pipe, also 

 of iron, is placed. The casing-head has two 

 openings, one for pure water from a neigh- 

 boring spring into the larger pipe, at the lower 

 end of which it becomes saturated witli saline 

 matter; the other, at the end of a smaller pipe, 

 to allow the expulsion of the brine. After the 

 brine has once reached the surface, it is forced 

 into large reservoirs, whence it is drawn off 

 through "string" after string of "covers," 

 until solar evoporation has left the coarser 

 grades of salt. The covers, or vats, are usually 

 16x16 feet, and the product of each one in a 

 year is estimated at 150 bushels, while the 

 product at Syracuse is about half that quantity. 

 It. is also claimed that the slope of the valley at 

 Warsaw is peculiarly adapted to rapid evapora- 

 tion by the sun. When the finer grades of salt 

 are wanted, the brine is led from the reservoirs 

 to an evaporating-pan. where a gentle heat is 

 applied. Similar treatment in another pan 

 completes the process. The residuum of salt is 

 raked upon a shelf at the^ side of the evapora- 

 tor. After a slight draining it is taken to the 

 bins, where a more thorough draining is al- 



lowed for a space of two or three weeks. The 

 heat is applied to the evaporating-pans through 

 steam-pipes. Among the more recent wells in 

 this region are two at Piffard, Livingston Coun- 

 ty, of 856 and 845 feet in depth, respectively 

 In the former wells the succession of materials 

 and the depth of feet are as follow : Blue 

 clay, 64 ; slate and gravel, 46 ; blue limestone, 

 136; corniferous limestone, 150; black slate, 

 64; gray limestone and shale, 416; rock-salt, 

 18; saline shales, 40; rock-salt, 53. In the 

 one well they are: Clay and gravel, 64; cor- 

 niferous limestone, 186; corniferous limestone, 

 142; slate, 3; slate and gray limestone, 813; 

 black slate and shales, 24 ; rock-salt, 18 ; slate 

 and shales, 24 ; rock-salt, 6 ; shale, 7 ; rock- 

 salt, 58 ; black slate, 4. Salt water was first 

 obtained in the one well at 708 feet, and in the 

 other well at 709 feet. Analyses of the layers 

 of salt show that the percentage of pure salt is 

 from 97-038 to 98-280, the obnoxious chlorides 

 being found in very small quantities. 



Although the original purpose of all the new 

 wells in the Wyoming and Genesee valleys was 

 to force water into the layers of salt, and then 

 pump the brine to the surface for evaporation, 

 yet the project of mining the salt directly 

 proved more attractive and promised a greater 

 reward for the outlay. The new "Empire" 

 mine, also near Piffard, is a conspicuous exam- 

 ple. Two drifts, running east and west, were 

 begun at the shaft in the upper vein, and large 

 quantities of salt have been brought up. It is 

 clearer and more free from shale than the salt 

 through which the shaft had been sunk. 



Exports of mined salt from western New 

 York have now (1887) been made for about 

 two years. The salt is of a strong quality, but 

 not of the finer grade. Much of the output 

 is sent to Syracuse to strengthen the brine on 

 the State reservation. The prospects are that 

 as the brine at Syracuse grows weaker, as it 

 must, still more of the mined salt will be sent 

 to re-enforce its strength. The quantity of salt 

 that can be mined in Western New York is 

 estimated to be enough to supply the United 

 States for from seven hundred to one thousand 

 years. That the product is still in its earlier 

 stages of development is shown by the fact that 

 the whole State of New York now furnishes 

 only one fifth of the 10,000,000 barrels of salt 

 annually consumed in the United States. 



SALVADOR, a republic of Central America. 

 Area, 18,720 square kilometres; population, 

 Oct. 30, 1886, 612,737. The most populous 

 department is Santa Ana, counting 68,781 in- 

 habitants; the least populous, Cabafias, which 

 has 30,733. 



Government. The President is Gen. Francisco 

 Menendez, whose terra of office will expire in 

 1891. His Cabinet, is composed of the follow- 

 ing ministers: Public Instruction and Chari- 

 table Institutions, Dr. Hermogenes Alvarado ; 

 Finance, Sefior E. Perez ; Foreign Affairs, 

 Justice, and Public Worship, Dr. Manuel Del- 

 gado; Interior, Dr. Rafael Reyes; War, Gen. 



