52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Recent experiments in the use of low-grade pyrite for sulfite 

 manufacture are said to have been successful and to have demon- 

 strated that ores carrying but 25 or 30 per cent sulfur can be eco- 

 nomically employed if obtainable at low cost. Under such conditions 

 there should be opportunity for enlarging the output from the de- 

 posits which are within easy shipping distance of the Adirondack 

 sulfite mills. According to a leading manufacturer in that section, 

 the output of sulfite fiber by the local plants amounts to about 900 

 tons a day, for which 135 tons of commercial sulfur, at an average 

 cost of $3300, are consumed. An output of from 400 to 600 tons of 

 pyrite of the grade found in northern New York would be required 

 to supply the ecjuivalent of that amount of sulfur. 



SALT 



The salt industry of the State is very important ; the annual out- 

 put amounts to about one-third of the total for the entire country. 

 The local product thus finds an extensixe market, and it is in fact the 

 excellent situation with respect to trade facilities that are supplied 

 by the railroads and canals of the State, more than any other factor 

 apparently, that has been responsible for the continued progress of 

 the industry. Of late years competition has been very keen, owing 

 to the growth of the production in Michigan and the states of the 

 Middle West, which has curtailed the outlet for the local product in 

 that direction. Michigan is also a competitor for the eastern trade 

 in evaporated salt, as a lower cost of manufacture counterbalances 

 to some extent at least the shipping advantages which the local pro- 

 ducers enjoy. The latter supply, of course, the greater part of the 

 New York and New England requirements and will doubtless con- 

 tinue to hold a preponderant share of this trade in the future. The 

 rock salt from New York is marketed over a wide territory; until 

 recently it has had no near competitors, though the cheaper grades 

 of evaporated salt are used as a substitute when they can be obtained 

 at sufficiently low prices. Since 1909 Michigan has been a producer 

 of rock salt, a mine having been opened in that year near Detroit. 



Returns received from the companies engaged in the salt industry 

 for the year 1910 showed a slight gain of production which brought 

 the total up to a new record, but in other respects the conditions 

 appear to have been rather unsatisfactory. Prices were lower than 

 at any time for a number of years. The increased output was due 

 to the activity in rock salt and in the manufacture of alkali products. 

 The salt used for alkali manufacture is consumed in the form of 



