SALT WORKS. 123 



of 12 J cents. It can be transported to Albany 

 for 6 or 7 cents more when the canal is finished. 

 The duty on imported salt is 20 cents per bushel. 

 The average price of salt at New-York, is from 

 40 to 50 cents per bushel. Whether the 

 foreign duty is continued or not, the salt of 

 Salina can always be sold cheaper at the head of 

 the sloop navigation of the Hudson, than foreign 

 salt. Every individual in the United States con- 

 sumes at the rate of half a bushel of salt, directly 

 or indirectly. Supposing the consumption in the 

 aggregate to be five millions of bushels, and the 

 population ten millions, then that portion of the 

 inhabitants which is comprehended in the supply 

 from Salina, will not have to pay more than from 

 12J to 25 cents for the annual consumption of 

 that article. 



I consider the salt manufacture of Salina the 

 most important establishment in the United States. 

 It renders the nation so far independent of foreign 

 aid : millions of bushels can be made. Without 

 the canals it usefulness would be very circumscri- 

 bed — but now the facilities of inland navigation 

 enable the conveyance of this indispensible mine- 

 ral to the remotest regions of the west, and to the 

 shores of the Atlantic ocean. 



