102 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



drilled through the Salina deposits. In a few cases where mines 

 have been sunk through this formation, gypsum has been found 

 interstratified with shale above the salt. In the Livonia shaft, 

 three distinct beds of gypsum were encountered, while two were 

 noted in the Greigsville shaft. In all these mines the combined 

 thickness "of the gypsum beds is from 60 feet to 75 feet, and in the 

 Lehigh shaft at Leroy a single bed of gypsum 75 feet thick was 

 passed through before reaching the salt. With the exception of 

 the deposit at Fayetteville and Union Springs, no deposit has been 

 found in the Salina depression to exceed 15 or 20 feet in thickness. 

 It seems probable, therefore, that, when this part of the State 

 was covered with water, the salt beds, if they existed here, were 

 subjected to the action of water, and on their solution, crevices 

 were opened up in the overlying strata, allowing rain water to 

 have more ready access to the gypsum deposits. That salt 

 did once exist in. this valley, is almost unquestioned, because at 

 many points saline springs are to be found, the most impor- 

 tant being near Syracuse. Deep borings near Syracuse have 

 however failed to reach any deposit of salt, but, on going up the 

 valley south of Cardiff (about 15 miles south of the city) on both 

 sides of the valley rock salt has been invariably struck, after 

 passing through the Salina shales and limestones. 



That the Salina depression has not yet been finished, and that 

 the action of subterranean waters is still an important factor in 

 extending its bounds, is evinced by the salt springs at Syracuse. 

 These springs occur in a deposit of drift, and the only source from 

 which the salt could be obtained is the beds of rock salt which are 

 found about 15 to 17 miles south of Syracuse. Saline springs 

 are found at many places in this depression, among which may be 

 mentioned Montezuma, Greece, Lenox and Delhi. 



The action of water in dissolving the gypsum deposits has been 

 observed by several geologists, though in some cases this has been 

 referred to other causes. The first case of this kind that was 

 brought to the author's attention is to be seen at Indian Falls in 

 the mines of the Standard Plaster Go. At these mines, when the 

 first tunnel was being driven into the deposit, a pocket of clay 



