16 Expedition to the 



of salt, the most important are those of the Kenhawa, a river of 

 Virginia. Others occur in that country of ancient monu- 

 ments, about Paint-creek, between the Sciota and the Mus- 

 kinghum, near the Silver-Creek hills in Illinois; and indeed 

 in almost all the country contiguous to the Ohio river. 

 Wherever we have had the opportunity of observing these 

 brine springs, we have usually found them in connexion with 

 an argillaceous sandstone, bearing impressions of phyto- 

 lytes, culmaria, and those tessellated zoophytes, so com- 

 mon about many coal-beds. It appeared to us worthy of 

 remark, that in many places, where explorations have been 

 made for salt water, and where perpendicular shafts have 

 been carried to the depth of from two to four hundred 

 feet, the water, when found, rises with sufficient force to 

 elevate itself several feet above the surface of the earth. 

 This effect appears to be produced by the pressure of an 

 serial fluid, existing in connexion with the water, in those 

 cavities beneath the strata of sandstone, where the latter is 

 confined, or escaping from combination with it, as soon as 

 the requisite enlargement is given, by perforating the super- 

 incumbent strata. We have had no opportunity of examin- 

 ing attentively, the gaseous substances which escape from the 

 brine pits, but from their sensible properties, we are induced 

 to suppose that carbonic acid, and carburetted hydrogen, are 

 among those of most frequent occurrence. 



The little village of Olean, on the Alleghany river, has 

 been for many years a point of embarkation, where great 

 numbers of families, migrating from the northern and east- 

 ern states, have exchanged their various methods, of slow 

 and laborious progression by land t for the more convenient 

 one of the navigation of the Ohio. From Olean downward, 

 the Alleghany and Ohio bear along with their currents fleets 

 of rude arks laden with cattle, horses, household furniture, 

 agricultural implements, and numerous families having all their 

 possessions embarked on the same bottom, and floating onward 



