MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 22$ 



Cayuga county to Niagara county. Salt was made in the early 

 days at Kendall and near Medina, Orleans county, and at Somerset, 

 Niagara county. Brine springs are known also along the outcrop 

 of the Salina shales, as at Monteztuna, Cayuga county, and in the 

 towns of Savannah and Clyde, Wayne county, where evaporating 

 works were once operated. The Hamilton and Portage shales of 

 western New York are sources of weak brines. Most interest, 

 however, centers about the occurrence on the Onondaga reservation 

 where salt manufacture had its inception and has been carried on 

 uninterruptedly down to the present time. 



The S3n:acuse brines are stored in sands and gravels that underlie 

 the valley of Onondaga creek and Onondaga lake. These loose 

 materials are probably of glacial origin, a part of the morainal 

 acctimulations in the vicinity, and occupy a channel or basin 

 hollowed out in the Salina beds, that is the soft Camillus and Vernon 

 shales. The buried channel follows the course of the surface con- 

 tours marking the wider Onondaga valley. The gravels and sands 

 extend to depths of several hundred feet at the foot of Onondaga 

 lake. Originally the gravels were saturated with brine practically 

 to the surface, so that it was only necessary to dig a shallow pit 

 or hole to collect it. As the use increased it was found that the 

 shallow brines became weakened, and then wells were put down 

 which were gradually extended until the maximum depth of about 

 400 feet was attained. The present supplies come from wells 200 

 to 400 feet deep. There has been a noticeable decrease in the 

 salinity of the brine with the continued pumping. It is generally 

 held, and no doubt properly so, that the brine is supplied by leaching 

 of the rock salt beds to the south. The flow of water is opposite 

 to the inclination of the beds, which is to the south and about 50 

 feet or so to the mile, but there is a rise in the surface contours in 

 the same direction sufficient to give the necessary hydraulic head. 



The rock salt beds supply all of the salt now produced with the 

 exception of the relatively small quantity made by the solar process 

 at Syracuse. The beds are assigned by geologists to the Salina 

 stage of the Silurian, representing the equivalent practically of the 

 Onondaga Salt group of the early reports of Hall and Vanuxem. 

 The Salina is mainly a shale formation, but carries layers of thin 

 limestone at the top (Bertie) besides gypsum and salt which occur 

 in the gray and drab shales of the Camillus formation. Its lower 

 member is made up of the Vernon red shale. The outcrop of the 

 beds extends in an east and west belt from Albany county to the 



