MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 223 



in 1878. The bed at that place was encountered at about 1270 feet 

 and was 70 feet thick. In 1881 rock salt was discovered in Warsaw, 

 5 miles south of the Pioneer well near Wyoming. The record of 

 the boring showed 80 feet of salt, vrith an additional 31 feet of 

 mixed salt and shale, beginning at 1520 feet depth. The continua- 

 tion of the beds to the south was established by a well at Rock Glen 

 3 miles from Warsaw which found the salt at 2015 feet; another at 

 Silver Springs, 2 miles arther south, showing salt at 2224 feet; and 

 at Gainesville creek and Bliss still farther away. Evaporating 

 works were built at Warsaw, Rock Glen and Silver Springs. In 

 the Genesee valley the first successful well was drilled in 1883 near 

 the present shaft of the Retsof mine, and within the succeeding 

 few years the occurrence of salt was reported at a number of other 

 localities in the valley between the north and south boundaries of 

 Livingston county. A well at Ithaca on the south end of Cayuga 

 lake in 1885 encountered 248 feet of salt at depths below 2244 feet. 

 Evaporating plants were built at Ludlowville and Ithaca. In 1893 

 the Glen Salt Co. put down a well at Watkins at the head of Seneca 

 lake which was used as a source of brine. In 18S8 the Solvay Process 

 Co. began the drilling of wells in the Town of Tully, 17 miles south 

 of Syracuse, and by 1896 had put down 41 wells to the salt which 

 was encountered at depths of about 1200 feet. Fresh water is 

 conducted from the Tully lakes into the wells and after saturation 

 is pumped and transported by pipe line to the large soda works at 

 Solvay. The most easterly point at which the rock salt is found 

 is at Morrisville, Madison county, where a well drilled in 1886 

 encountered a bed 10 to 12 feet thick at 1259 feet. 



The first mine shaft that reached the salt was put down by the 

 Retsof Mining Co. at Retsof, Livingston county. It was started 

 in 1884 and bottomed the following year at a little over 1000 feet. 

 The Greigsville Mining Co. put down one at Greigsville, just west 

 of the Retsof shaft. The Lehigh Mining Co. opened a mine 2^ 

 miles south of LeRoy, Genesee county, and the Livonia Salt Mining 

 Co. at Livonia, Genesee county, which have since been abandoned. 

 The Sterling Salt Co. started mining at Cuylerville, Genesee county, 

 in 1906. The last mine shaft to be completed is that of the Rock 

 Salt Corporation on Portland Point north of Ithaca, which was 

 bottomed in 19 17. 



Occurrence of salt. Natural brines are found in a number of 

 places and under varied geological conditions. Weak salines occur 

 quite generally in the Medina sandstone; Hall has reported natural 

 licks or springs at 15 localities within the Medina formation from 



