418 APPEXDIX F. — CHEMICAL ANALYSES. 



would have done. — That from the Salt Lake being not more than 

 about two quarts, and that from the Warm Spring a little more 

 than half a pint, while that from the Hot Spring was about a pint 

 and a-half. I was compelled, therefore, to use the greatest possible 

 economy in the materials, and to confine my attention to the most 

 common materials generally found in salines. Besides this, I was 

 also obliged to confine myself mainly to the liquid contents of the 

 vessels, and neglect, except in one case, (namely, the water of the 

 Warm Spring,) the gaseous matters, and that in consequence of 

 the sealing of the bottles having been loosened by the severe agi- 

 tation in travelling, so that more or less of the contents of each 

 vessel had escaped before they arrived in this city. It was there- 

 fore useless to make any experiments on the supposed gaseous 

 matters as they may have existed at the sources. 



The great importance of the waters of Great Salt Lake rendered 

 it justifiable, in my view, to make some experiments of a practical 

 character relative to the procuring from it of a good quality of 

 salt, even better than that usually found in this section of country, 

 and by which it seems to me the water may be a source of revenue 

 and convenience. 



As will be seen in the detailed analysis below, the salt water 

 yields about twenty per cent, of pure common salt, and about two 

 per cent, of foreign salts ; most of the objectionable parts of which 

 are the chloride of lime and the chloride of magnesia, both of 

 which, being very deliquescent, attract moisture from the damp 

 atmosphere, which has the efi'ect to moisten and partially dissolve 

 the common salt, and then when the mass is exposed to dry air, 

 or heat, or both, a hard crust is formed. I believe I have found 

 a remedy for the caking, which is cheap and easily used. It con- 

 sists in sprinkling over the salt obtained by the evaporation of the 

 water and heaped up in a bin or box containing a porous bottom 

 of blankets or other like material, a cold solution of the salt as it 

 is concentrated from the lake, till crystals begin to be deposited. 

 This concentrated brine, while it will dissolve none of the common 

 salt, will dissolve all the chlorides of calcium and magnesium, and 

 carry them down through the porous bottom, and thus leave the 

 salt purer and better than any now found in our markets. For 

 persons who are obliged to prepare temporarily the salt, as travel- 

 lers passing through the country, the water of the lake, without 

 concentration, may be used for washing out the deliquescent chlo- 

 rides, sprinkling the heap of salt by a watering pot, at intervals 



