SALT ENTERPRISE IN MICHIGAN. 271 



wells of J. H. Hill, and Paine and Briggs. Combining, 

 now, all the information accumulated to this date, and 

 making careful comparisons and tabulations, I was led to 

 the conclusion that the Bay City wells (Bay City, Clark's, 

 Braddock's and Fitzhugh's), which were much shallower 

 than the wells farther up the river, found their supplies 

 of brine in the Parma Sandstone, at the base of the Coal 

 Measures. This added a third productive salt basin to 

 the outfit of the peninsula. I had indeed stated in my 

 ofl^cial Report, that " Brine is found issuing at the out- 

 crops of the Coal Measures, the Gypseous Group, the Na- 

 poleon Group, the Marshall Group, and the Onondaga 

 Salt Group (p. 165). I had also stated (pp. 97, 152) that 

 brine of 14 strength had been obtained at the bottom of 

 the Coal Measures. But it was now shown that the 

 Parma Sandstone at the base of the Coal Measures is 

 actually a productive brine reservoir supplied from the 

 Coal Measures, as the sandstones of the Marshall Group 

 constitute a brine reservoir supplied from the Michigan 

 Salt Group. A paper was drawn up giving an exposition 

 of the new views, and published in the Saginaiv Courier, 

 in the latter part of July 1862. It was stated, as an in- 

 ference from the new determination, that Dr. Fitzhugh, 

 in the well at Bay City, then in process of boring, "ought 

 to strike the Napoleon Sandstone at 996 feet, and the 

 Red Shale at 1,105 feet. "These distances," it was added, 

 " may be lessened to the extent of 30 feet," in conse- 

 quence of some indications of an error in the records of 

 the well, as kept by the person in charge. The subse- 

 quent result showed that the Napoleon Sandstone was 

 struck (in consequence of a great thinning of Michigan 



