THE MINING AND QUARRY INDUSTRY 



125 



stones, dolomites and gypsum, besides rock salt. The horizon of 

 the latter has been definitely fixed in the series between the Vernon 

 red and green shales and the Camillas gypsum and dolomite beds. 

 A synopsis of the classification of the Salina stage, as now recog- 

 nized by geologists, will be found under the subject of gypsum. 



The occurrence of salt has been established over a large area. 

 The northern limit, as shown by the outcropping Salina strata, is 

 approximately defined by a line drawn from a point somewhat south 

 of Oneida lake, westward to Buffalo. To the south of this line the 

 deposits are encountered at progressively increasing depths in ac- 

 cordance with the dip of the strata which ranges up to 40 or 50 feet 

 to the mile. The most easterly point where wells have been sunk 

 is at Morrisville, Madison co. Between this locality and Lake Erie, 

 salt has been found in almost all of the central tier of counties. 



In Onondaga county, Syracuse continues to be an important center 

 of the industry. The manufacture of salt began there in 1789 and 

 in 1797 it came under State control. For a long time the wells 

 yielded nearly all of the salt made in the State, but in late years 

 there has been an increasing output from other localities. A note- 

 worthy feature, also, has been the falling off in the production of 

 the finer grades of salt. Almost the entire yield at present is of 

 the solar or coarse variety. The largest operator in ( )nondaga 

 county is the Solvay Process Co. The company derives its supply 

 of brine from wells in the town of Tully, 20 miles south of Syracuse. 

 The deposits are rock salt, and the brine is obtained by bringing 

 fresh water into the wells. Formerly the brine was allowed to flow 

 out under its own pressure, but owing to the loss from percolation 

 with this method, the wells are now pumped. The brine is conveyed 

 by pipe line to the works at Solvay, where it is used for the manu- 

 facture of soda products. 



In Tompkins county a test well drilled at Ithaca in 1885 encount- 

 ered seven beds of rock salt aggregating 248 feet in thickness at 

 depths below 2244 feet from the surface. This discovery was followed 

 by active developments at Ludlowville in 1891 by the Cayuga Lake 

 Salt Co.. and at Ithaca in 1895 by the Ithaca Salt Co. The plants 

 were taken over in 1899 b y the National Salt Co., which was merged 

 last year into the International Salt Co. More recently the Reming- 

 ton Salt Co. has erected a plant near Ithaca, which is now under ope- 

 ration. The company has drilled three wells, finding the salt at 

 about 2100 feet below the surface. 



Salt is obtained in Schuyler county around Watkins. The Glen 

 Salt Co. sank the first well in 1893 and encountered a deposit at a 



