764 MR. E. ^VILSOIS^ ON- THE DURHAM SALT-DISTRICT. 



notable oases it was either very poorly developed or entirely wanting. 

 The j^ewcastle Chemical Works Company put down two boreholes 

 on the north bank of the Tees, opposite Middlesborough and about 

 1400 yards W.l^.W. of Messrs. Bolckow, Yaughan and Co.'s Middles- 

 borough well. Although the sinking at this point was carried to a 

 depth of 1260 feet, including upwards of 200 feet of Magnesian 

 Limestone underlying the jSTew Eed Sandstone, not a trace of the 

 rock-salt was found*. Again at a boring which was made at 

 Stone Marsh, Haverton Hill, on the Tees, one mile W.N.W. of the 

 last-mentioned exploration, to a depth of 1000 feet, including about 

 180 feet of Magnesian Limestone, a bed of rock-salt only 9 feet in 

 thickness was found near the base of the New Red Sandstone. 

 About three quarters of a mile (1300 yards) north of the jSTew- 

 castle Chemical Co.'s unsuccessful sinking, the Haverton HiU Com- 

 pany have sunk several wells, and here the rock-salt was met 

 with in fuU development (93 to 123 feet) at a depth of about 

 900 feet. The Newcastle Chemical Company having secured a 

 district on the Tees-mouth shore, north of the area leased to 

 Messrs. Bell, and 1235 yards nearly due north of the No. 2 well 

 of that firm, sank seven wells within a limited area, and in all of 

 these found the salt-bed in full thickness (90 to 117 feet) at a 

 depth of 1100 feet. A company, promoted by Mr. Casebourne of 

 Hartlepool, has put down a hole on property belonging to the 

 Greatham Hospital, at a point two miles a little west of north of the 

 last-mentioned wells, and found the salt 82 feet thick at a depth of 

 889 feet. This is the most northerly point at which the salt-bed 

 has yet been proved. Last year the same firm (Messrs. Casebourne 

 and Bird) commenced a boring t for salt at Seaton Carew, two miles 

 N.N.E. of their Greatham well, and about the same distance south 

 of Hartlepool. The New Red Sandstone was penetrated to a depth 

 of 522 feet, without any traces of rock-salt being found. The 

 Magnesian Limestone was then entered, and at the time of writing 

 had been proved to a depth of 838 feet, or 1360 feet from the 

 surface, without being passed through. 



So long ago as the year 1827 a boring was j)ut down to a depth of 

 529 feet at Oughton, 1^ mile west of Seaton Carew. The greater 

 portion, if not the whole, of this boring was in Triassic sandstones 

 and marls, but no salt-beds were met with. In 1887 Messrs. Case- 

 bourne and Co. put down a boring at the Cement Works near West 

 Hartlepool, half a mile N.W. of the Seaton Carew boring, to a depth 

 of 770 feet. The upper 715 feet of this section consisted of New 

 Red Sandstone (Keuper Waterstones), the lower 55 feet of Magne- 

 sian Limestone. No rock-salt was found here either, but consider- 

 able deposits of anhydrite occurred at the base of the Trias J. 



* See Appendix, p. 779, for details of this section. 



t See Appendix, p, 781, for details of this section. 



j The presence of from 500 to 700 feet or so of Triassic strata near Seaton 

 Carew, within a mile of the probable boundary of the Magnesian Limestone, 

 would seem to indicate the existence of a fault, with a downthrow on the south, 

 between this place and West Hartlepool. 



