Luther — Geology of the Salt District. 



177 



The lowest and most easterly is at Saltspringsville in the town of Cherry 

 Valley, Otsego county near the southwest corner of Montgomery county. 



There are indications of salt w T ater at several places in this vicinity. A 

 well twenty feet deep was sunk at one of these and brine of considerable 

 strength obtained. And there is a tradition that before the Revolution the 

 settlers in the vicinity were supplied with salt made here. By using the " five- 

 pail kettles " about forty pounds of salt could be made in a day. 



These springs are described (page 62, op. eit.) as issuing from slate of the 

 Hudson river formation, which is there of a blackish color, traversed by joints 

 in several directions, and crumbles or falls into fragments on exposure to the 

 air or moisture. 



Springs of the Medina sandstone. In Oswego county, one spring is men- 

 tioned as situated in the town of Hastings "at an old beaver dam,' 1 another 

 as existing in the town of Palermo (page 74). 



Others have been found in several localities in the town of Hannibal 

 and salt has been made from a brine in the northwest corner of this town. 

 The brine from the others was too weak for profitable production. 



At Sterling center in Cayuga county, a brine spring rises near the creek 

 from a fissure in the sandstone, another was found " near McFarlan's Mill,' 1 

 and another near Little Sodus bay. All of these springs issue from the 

 rocks of the Medina epoch. 



In the final report on the Geology of the Fourth District of New York 

 (1843), which included all the counties west of the west line of Cayuga 

 county, Professor Hall mentions fifteen localities where brine springs issue 

 from the Medina sandstones and marls. 



In Wayne county one or two springs near the Wolcott furnace were 

 worked in 1815 and produced a reddish salt. They have long been abandoned 

 and are filled with fresh water. 



Another from which salt was manufactured in 1831-1832, was near a 

 small creek that empties into Sodus bay. All three springs issued from red 

 Medina sandstone. 



In Monroe county, salt was made from brine springs in the town of 

 Webster, in Penfield near the head of Ironde* juoit bay ; and in the town of 

 Clarkson three springs were mentioned by Professor Hall as existing on the 

 banks of Salmon creek and another six miles further north, in what is now 

 the town of Union. Weak brine springs were also found in the town of 

 Parma and in Greece. 



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