On the Salt Springs at Salina, Syracuse, <^c. 9 



raise the brine from the wells to the reservoirs, from which it 

 Js conveyed, by means of wooden pipes, to every manufactory. 



'A great number of plans and experiments, called improve- 

 ments, have been or are still in operation, but the works 

 erected for the making of salt, and now principally used, are 

 denominated Blocks, Solar Works, and Steam Works. 



The Blocks, constructed with potash kettles, containing 

 from eighty to one hundred and twenty gallons each, are of 

 the greatest extent, — the kettles are placed in masonry, in 

 two parallel lines, having from eight to twenty in each line, 

 (of course from sixteen to forty in a block,) under which 

 there are separate passages for the heat with fire places or 

 arches at one end, and a flue or chimney, common to both, 

 at the other end of the block. The fuel is exclusively wood, 

 of the kinds most common in the forests of this part of the 

 country, such as beach, maple, elm, hemlock, bass wood, 

 &c. of which the prices, for the last six years, have been from 

 seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents per cord, de- 

 livered at the works. 



In the boiling down of the water to saturation, a portion 

 of the impurities, sulphate and carbonate of hme stained with 

 iron, is deposited in ladles and taken out, and the vaporiza- 

 tion of the brine is continued until but a small quantity re- 

 mains ; when the salt which has been made, and which is, even 

 at first, beautifully white and of fine grain, is taken out into 

 baskets, drained, and removed ; and the kettles are again 

 filled with salt water, and the operation repeated. The inner 

 surface of the kettles soon becomes firmly incrusted with a 

 compound of the earthy substances and salt, which require 

 frequent removal to prevent injury from overheating and 

 cracking the metal. 



Next in extent, or more properly in production, are the 

 erections adjoining the Erie canal for evaporation by solar 

 heat : they are vats of wood, resting horizontally upon a great 

 number of small posts driven into the ground, according to 

 the inequalities of the surface over which they are built, touch- 

 ing it in some places, and at a height of ten feet in others ; 

 but the most convenient height is between eighteen and 

 thirty-six inches from the ground. Their width is eighteen 

 and a half feet, depth from six to fifteen inches, and length 

 from eighty to six hundred and forty feet ; and they have 

 roofs in divisions of sixteen feet each, sustained by rollers 

 which travel on level supporters, and are moved on and off 



Vol. XV.— No. 1. 2 



