430 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



drift liiglily charged with salt, and roofed over with an aluminous marl. It is 

 probable that the deposit of salt exists also in the neighboring hills, and is 

 dissolved by subterranean currents of water and conveyed into the valley. 



The question has been mooted whether there was a liability of failure in the 

 supply of water, or of deterioration in quality. So far as experiments demon- 

 strate there is none. Mr. Clark, author of the " History of Onondaga 

 County," asserts that the strength of the brine has actually increased about 

 twenty-five per cent. It is supposed that all the salt wells which have been 

 dug in the Salt Reservation communicate with each other, and measurements 

 have been made, year by year, to ascertain the reduction, made in the volume 

 or depth of water by pumping. The result has shown that in those years 

 when most water had been taken out and most salt manufactured, the water 

 in the salt wells exhibited no more signs of having been lowered in depth, 

 volume or quantity, than, when less water was used. It is a fair inference) 

 therefore, that more salt can be produced here for market in any year than has 

 ever been manufactured from these reservoirs. 



REGULATIONS OP THE SALINES. 



The salt water*-on the Onondaga Reservation in and about Syracuse is the 

 property of the State. Prior to the year 1797 any person was free to take it 

 for manufacturing purposes. But the squabbles about the right of first occu- 

 pation operated prejudicially ; those persons who had " squatted " on the 

 grounds immediately circumjacent would not permit new comers to cross over 

 them to obtain water from the springs. Mr. James Geddes, afterwards so 

 well known in connection with the history of the Erie canal, was obliged, to 

 avoid quarrel, to establish his works elsewhere. 



In 1797 a law was passed creating the office of superintendent of the Salt 

 Springs, and imposing a tax of three cents on every bushel of salt manufac- 

 tured and sold. The reservation was laid out in lots, and the manufacturers 

 permitted to occupy theju free of rent. Those salt works first in operation 

 had the prior right to the water, and the other manufacturers after them in 

 turn. Subsequently, in 1808, the owners of salt works at Geddes were per- 

 mitted, on the same conditions, to convey salt water from Salina to that vil- 

 lage. Syracuse, at that time, existed only in the vivid imagination of such, 

 men as Joshua Forman, then member of Congress, who foresaw a city in the 

 almost impassable swamp, and an immense commerce to be carried on there by 

 means of an aqueduct or trench. 



The tax on salt was raised to twelve and a half cents per bushel in 1817, 

 and the revenue derived from it was placed in the canal fund. In 1836 it was 

 reduced to six cents, and in 1846 to one cent per bushel. 



In 1825 further legislation was had upon the subject of priority of right to 

 the salt water; and it was finally adjudicated by Judge E. T. Throop, by 

 including the manufacturers in twenty-three classes, and allowing them the 

 water in the order of their numbers, from one to twenty-three. 



In 1841 the Legislature passed an act to prevent combinations or conspi- 

 racies for the purpose of limiting the production of salt or enhancing its 

 price. The penalty was forfeiture of right to the use of the water. This 

 has since been repealed, and all efforts to procure its re-enactment have 

 failed. From 1852 till 1857 a salt-buying company was formed outside of 



