123 



though hitherto these efforts have proved unsuccessful, either on 

 account of the weakness or the insufficient supply of the brine. 

 What may be the result of future research in the region east of 

 that in which the salt manufacture is now successfully pursued, it 

 would be impossible to predict, but from the fact, that the rocks of 

 all this region, and among them the white sandstone from which the 

 brine of Kanawha is procured, have a gentle western dip, it would 

 appear reasonable to infer, that in the range of the Sewell mountains, 

 and some distance east, where these rocks, which at the Salines are 

 many hundred feet deep are brought nearly to the surface, the sup- 

 ply of salt water might in some places be obtained at a comparatively 

 inconsiderable depth, and at all events, considering the continuity 

 and identity of the strata over the whole of this wide area, we may 

 reasonably suppose, that the saliferous bed or beds would be found 

 in nearly every portion of it, though perhaps in many places having 

 too slight an impregnation to render the water yielded, of any value 

 in the manufacture of salt. 



On the Great Kanawha, wells of various depths, rarely exceed- 

 ing 400 feet, have been sunk on both sides of the river above 

 Charleston, throughout a distance of more than twelve miles. 

 The brine thus procured, unlike most other salt waters, contains 

 scarcely any sulphate of lime or gypsum, on which account the 

 process of obtaining the salt in a pure crystalline condition, is at- 

 tended with fewer difficulties than usual ; and for this reason, the 

 alum salt now procured by the improved methods of operating 

 recently introduced, may be regarded as muriate of soda, in almost 

 absolute chemical purity. The importance and value of the Salines 

 in this vicinity, may be inferred from the fact, that about three 

 millions of bushels of salt are now annually made from them, and 

 that in the manufacture of this article alone, more than twice the 

 quantity of coal is consumed every year than is furnished by all 

 the coal mines of eastern Virginia put together. This coal being 

 procured from the hills adjacent to the salt furnaces, is obtained at 

 comparatively little cost : presenting an example of the fortunate 

 adaptation of the resources of a region to each other, of which few 

 equally remarkable are to be met with any'Vhere in the world. En- 

 terprise incited by so happy a combination of advantages could not 

 fail of bestowing prosperity upon a region which is thus blessed, and 

 we, therefore, find throughout the whole extent of the valley, where 



