946 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The Stella mine which has produced most of the ore mined 

 in this section during recent years was inactive in 1904. A new 

 company has acquired the property with a view to restarting 

 operations. The mine formerly owned by the High Falls Pyrite 

 Co. has been taken over by the National Pyrite Co. of Canton. 

 The Adirondack Pyrite Co. worked its mine near Gouverneur 

 during a part of the past season. A new deposit has been opened 

 at Richville by B. R. Hutchings. The total production of p3^rite 

 in 1904 was 5275 long tons valued at $20,820. 



SALT 



Salt has long been one of the chief mineral products of the 

 State. In point of value the annual output is exceeded only by that 

 of clay materials, stone and cement. The New York industry 

 is favorably situated with regard to the large markets and has been 

 able to maintain its commercial prominence, notwithstanding 

 the more recent developments in other sections of the coimtry. 



The salt deposits, which are associated with the Salina beds 

 of the Upper Siluric, occur over a wide area. Their northern 

 extent, as shown by the outcropping Salina strata, is defined 

 approximately by a line drawn from a point somewhat south 

 of Oneida lake westward to Buffalo. To the south the deposits 

 are encountered at progressively increasing depths in accordance 

 with the dip of the strata, which ranges from 25 to 40 feet to the 

 mile. The most easterly point where wells have been sunk is at 

 Morrisville, Madison co. Between this point and Lake Erie, salt 

 has been found in almost all of the central tier of counties. The 

 wells around Syracuse produce a natural brine that is stored in 

 glacial gravels, but elsewhere the deposits are rock salt. 



In Onondaga county, Syracuse continues to be an important 

 center of the industry. The manufacture of salt began there 

 in 1789 and in 1797 it came under State control. For a 

 long time the wells yielded nearly all of the salt made in the State, 

 but in late years there has been an increasing output from other 

 localities. A noteworthy feature, also, has been the falling off 

 in the production of the finer grades of salt. Almost the entire 

 yield at present is of the solar or coarse variety. The largest 

 operator in Onondaga county is the Solvay Process Co. The 

 company derives its supply of brine from wells in the town of 

 Tully, 20 miles south of Syracuse. The deposits are rock salt, 

 and the brine is obtained by bringing fresh water into the wells. 

 Formerly the brine was allowed to flow out imder its own pressure, 



