$6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The large number of producers in Onondaga county is incident 

 to the solar salt industry which is carried on extensively around 

 Syracuse. The brine used by the solar evaporating works or salt 

 yards is stored in glacial gravels and is pumped and distributed by- 

 central plants. The principal supply comes from the old Onondaga 

 Salt Springs Reservation that was sold by the Indians to the State 

 in 1788. The manufacture of salt was placed under State control 

 in 1797 from which time complete records of the industry are avail- 

 able. At one time artificial evaporation was extensively practised 

 but this has been given up almost entirely in recent years with the 

 increased competition from other districts. The solar salt is sold 

 through the agency of the Onondaga Coarse Salt Association. 



With the exception of the salt made at Syracuse, the entire pro- 

 duction is obtained from the deposits of rock salt which are found 

 in the Salina formation, a succession of shales and limestones with 

 intercalated beds of gypsum and rock salt. The Salina strata out- 

 crop in an east-west belt across the State from Albany county to the 

 Niagara river and is represented by a smaller separate area in 

 southeastern Xew York. Well tests indicate that the salt deposits 

 are restricted to the western section of the main belt beginning in 

 Madison county; east of there the strata diminish in thickness to 

 such an extent as to preclude their existence. They are encount- 

 ered only at a depth of 1000 feet or more where there has been 

 sufficient cover to protect them against solution by ground waters. 

 As the whole stratified series has a dip uniformly toward the south, 

 the mines and wells are all located on the southern side of the 

 outcrop which lies about on the line of the 43d parallel. The dip 

 averages 40 or 50 feet to the mile. The most easterly point where 

 rock salt has been found is at Morrisville, Madison county. Be- 

 tween that place and Lake Erie it has been shown to exist in almost 

 all counties of the middle tier. 



The exploration of the rock salt beds dates from 1878 when a 

 well bored for oil near Wyoming, Wyoming county, encountered 

 70 feet of salt at 1270 feet from the surface. Discoveries were 

 subsequently made at Warsaw, Leroy, Rock Glen, Batavia and 

 numerous places in Livingston, Wyoming and Genesee counties. 

 Practically the whole valley of Oatka creek, from Leroy to Bliss 

 and the Genesee valley south of Monroe county has been found to 

 be salt-bearing. The region is now the most productive in the 

 State. Livingston county has the largest annual output which is 

 contributed bv the two rock salt mines at Retsof and Cuvlerville 



