SALT. 189 



steppe at 200 versts distance to the south-west of Barnaoul, along the road to the Borovya 

 lakes, and present immense deposits of glauher salt, whose thickness at a distance of 60 to 

 100 sagenes from the shore is already two feet. Taking into account that the surface of the 

 Bolshoe Marmyshansk lake is over 4 and of the Maloe over 2 square versts, the most moder- 

 ate estimate gives a supply of not less than 50 million pouds in the former and 25 million 

 pouds in the latter lake. The Marmyshansk salt is partly consumed at the soda works at 

 Barnaoul, partly at the Altai works, which use it as a flux in smelting the argentiferous lead 

 ores, and partly at the glass works. 



Eastern Siberia abounds in salt, but the richest deposits of rock salt and the best 

 salt springs, are situated in poorly inhabited localities, so that its transport to the markets 

 owing to the want of proper means of communication is hampered by great difficulties which 

 render it very expensive. Therefore many of the sources are not exploited and await 

 the time when the economical conditions of the region will give the possibility of 

 working them. 



In the Yeniseisk and Irkutsk governments, salt is extracted from saline springs. In the 

 government of Yeniseisk, at the Toumanshetsk works in the Kansk district and in the system 

 of the river Birusa, the depth of the well is 2'/2 sagenes, the strength of the brine 4'/2° 

 Baume, and in 1891, 17,500 pouds of salt were produced; at the Troitsk works in the same 

 district, on the river Ousolka, a left tributary of the river Taseev, the production of 

 salt in 1891 amounted to 514,000 pouds. Both deposits belong to the Devonian system and the 

 brine flows from red salt-bearing marls and slags. In former days when the amount of salt 

 mines and works in the Yeniseisk and Minousinsk regions was very limited, the Troitsk works 

 played an important part in supplying the local inhabitants with salt. 



In the government of Irkutsk there is an abundance of salt springs in the valley of 

 the river Lena, between the stations of Kachougsk and Vitimsk; and also in the valley of the 

 river Nepa, a left hand tributary of the Nizhnaya Toungouzka, where brine springs from red- 

 dish coloured sandstone, marl and clay formations, apparently of the Lower Devonian system. 

 The exploitation of the salt is earned on at the Oust-Koutsk salt works, on the river Kouta 

 at 4 versts distance from the Lena. The depth of the well is 3 sagenes and the strength of 

 the brine 14—15° Lamb; in 1691, 30,100 pouds of salt were produced. The Oustkoutsk works 

 might considerably increase their yield but the market is very small, being limited to the 

 sparsely populated localities of the Yakutsk province and to the Olekminsk gold workings. 

 Apparently the same Devonian formations supply the brine which feeds the Irkutsk works in 

 the village of Ousola at 70 versts distance from Irkutsk, down the Angara. The depth of the 

 wells are 2—5 sagenes; and of the borings, 89 sagenes. The strength of the brine is 

 6—7° Baume, and in the wells it is 7^2— 9^^ Lamb. In 1891 the production of salt 

 was 265,500 pouds. The salt produced at the Irkutsk works is sold at the Irkutsk govern- 

 ment and Transbaikal territory, where it is in demand for salting the local fish o m u 1 

 with which the rivers falling into Baikal abound. At the Ilimsk works, near the settlement 

 of Shestakovsk on the river Ilim, the right tributary of the Angara, the depth of the shafts 

 is one to one and a half sagenes, the strength of the brine 8.73° Lamb. In 1891, 85,100 

 pouds of salt were evaporated. 



