THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY I906 53 



SALT 



The salt production in the State has shown an increase of about 

 5 per cent for the past year. The total quantity of salt of all kinds 

 mined or manufactured in 1906 as reported by the different com- 

 panies, was 9,013,993 barrels of 280 pounds, on which a valug of 

 $2,131,650 was placed. The corresponding returns for 1905 aggre- 

 gated 8,575,649 barrels with a valuation of $2,303,067 and those for 

 1904 amounted to 8,724,768 barrels with a value of $2,102,748. The 

 output in 1906 exceeded the total reported for any previous year; 

 the next largest production being that given for 1904. 



The marketable grades of salt that are produced in New York 

 include rock salt and the different varieties of brine salt known as 

 coarse solar, common fine, table, dairy, agricultural and packers 

 salt. In addition to the salt that is sold as such, a very large 

 quantity is converted into soda products. The Solvay Process Co., 

 at Solvay near Syracuse, manufactures such products directly from 

 -brine that is supplied by their own wells, and the amount of salt 

 thus used is included in the statistics above reported. 



The solar salt is made entirely in Onondaga county. Syracuse 

 has long been the center of this branch of the industry which was 

 first started in the vicinity in 1789. A natural brine with from 

 17 to 20 per cent sodium chlorid is employed. The brine is stored 

 in glacial gravels and has evidently been formed by circulation of 

 ground waters through adjacent beds of rock salt. Most of the 

 wells are located on the Onondaga Reservation which is under 

 State control. The brine is supplied to the individual evaporating 

 plants at a fixed charge. 



The manufacturers of brine salt at other localities in the State 

 obtain their supplies from wells driven into the rock salt. Fresh 

 water is introduced into the wells from the surface and pumped up 

 after becoming nearly saturated. By this method a brine carrying 

 about 25 per cent sodium chlorid may be secured, or within i per 

 cent or so of the saturation point for water. The Tompkins county 

 salt is thus obtained from depths exceeding 2000 feet. 



Altogether there were 32 companies engaged in the production 

 of salt in the State during the past year, as compared with 31 com- 

 panies in 1905 and 30 in 1904. Of the total number, Onondaga 

 county was represented by 21. The International Salt Co. operated 

 four plants as follows: Ithaca works, Ithaca; Cayuga works, 

 Myers ; Glen works, Watkins ; and Yorkshire works, Warsaw. The 

 Hawley and Warsaw works at Warsaw owned by the company 

 were inactive. 



