536 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



course, the wells become foul or leaky at times, and then resort is had 

 to torpedoes of nitro-glycerine, which are sent down to the bottom of 

 the " casing," and after them is sent an iron weight which secures 

 the explosion. The rusting of the " casing " is the great enemy of 

 the salt-worker ; and, when his engine can not lift the mass of rusted 

 iron, a " knife " cuts the rusted metal, and the engine tears it away 

 piecemeal. But the salt-wells are exempt from any danger of taking 

 fire ; and it is never necessary, as in the case of oil-wells, to shoot off 

 the " casing-head " with a cannon-ball. 



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 evaporation has left the coarser grades of salt. 

 The " covers " or vats are usually sixteen by eighteen feet, and the 

 product of each one per year is estimated at one hundred and fifty 

 bushels ; while the product at Syracuse is only about half that quan- 

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

 peculiarly adapted to rapid evaporation 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, and the residuum of salt is raked 

 upon a shelf at the side of the evaporator. After a slight draining it 

 is taken to the bins, where a more thorough draining is allowed for a 

 space of two or three weeks. The heat is applied to the evaporating- 

 pans through steam-pipes, in the same manner that has bebn found 

 most economical both at Saginaw and Syracuse. At Saginaw the fuel 

 costs next to nothing, as it is the refuse of the lumber-mills ; and the 

 exhaust steam of the mills is also used for the pipes of the evaporat- 

 ing-pans. At Syracuse and at Warsaw the expense for fuel is greater, 

 Warsaw using anthracite coal-dust, or " culm," at an expense of one 

 dollar and sixty-five cents per ton. Whence, then, does Warsaw derive 

 its hope for successful competition against Syracuse and Saginaw? 

 The ever-ready answer is, that the strength of brine at Syracuse is 

 sixty-six to one hundred at Warsaw — a diff'erence that makes the cost 

 of fuel twenty cents per barrel for Syracuse as against eight cents 

 for Warsaw. In regard to the Saginaw brine, also, it is claimed that 

 its residuum after evaporation is ninety-seven per cent of pure salt ; 

 while that of the Warsaw brine is one hundred — a difference which, 

 if sustained, would amply cover the increased cost of fuel at Warsaw. 

 The salt-men of Warsaw, too, have the greatest confidence that their 

 borings for natural gas will result in giving them a fuel even cheaper 

 than culm. The Warsaw men also declare that their own enterprises 

 are on private land ; and that they, therefore, have an advantage of 

 the salt on the Syracuse reservations, every bushel of which must pay 

 half a cent per bushel to the State. And they do not fail to call atten- 

 tion to the fact that the duty was one cent per bushel before the bor- 

 ings at Warsaw had proved a success. In short, they see no reason 



