Luther— Economic Geology of Onondaga County. 



255 



400 feet of gravel and quicksand, without reaching the bed rock. Another well 

 was immediately started, 1,400 feet east of the latter, and <>u tlu- side of the 

 valley in the Hamilton shales. The Oorniferous limestone was reached at 718 

 feet, and rock salt 498 feet lower, the distance between the top of the Oorni- 

 ferous limestone and the top of the rock salt being one foot more than in the 

 Pioneer well at Wyoming. Drilling ceased after forty-five feet of salt had 

 been penetrated. No red shales were found. The total depth of this well, 

 which is known as the " Tully well," is 1,261 feet. The elevation of the 

 mouth of the well is 901 feet A. T. The next well was put down one mile 

 south of the village of Cardiff, three miles north of the Tully well. The top 

 of the Corniferous limestone was reached at 244 feet ; then 500 feet of lime- 

 stone and 100 feet of red shale were drilled through without finding 

 rock salt. 



In 1889, ten wells were drilled by this company along the foot of the hill 

 on the east side of the valley, north of the Tully well. Nine of these wells 

 stopped at or near the bottom of a bed of salt, forty-one to forty-seven feet 

 thick. One of them passed through this bed, forty-three feet, then through 

 twenty-five feet of shale, reaching a second bed of rock salt, fifty-four feci 

 thick. Below this bed, forty-one feet of " Magnesian shale " and ten feet of 

 gypseous shale were penetrated. 



In 1890, ten wells were sunk. The records kept by the drillers show that 

 in one of them 818 feet, and in another 220 feet of rock salt were penetrated, 

 but the number of beds and the thickness of intervening beds of shale, if any 

 such were found, is not recorded. 



In 1891, eight wells were drilled to the salt beds. In one of these, four beds 

 were found, respectively forty-six, seventy-four, thirty-six and sixty feet thick, 

 making a total of '214 feet of rock salt ; these w ere separated by three beds 

 of shale, forty, thirty and thirty feet thick. 



In 1892, another well was sunk on the east side of the valley, making 

 thirty wells in all. On account of its inconvenient location the " Tully well " 

 has not been utilized. The twenty wells sunk in 1889 and 1890 were located 

 in five groups, each group consisting of four w ells, one at each corner of a 

 rectangle, 400 feet long, from north to south, and 150 feet wide. The groups 

 were 1,000 feet apart, and very nearly on a north and south line, making the 

 distance between the wells at the north and south end of the series 6,000 feet. 



Of the nine wells drilled in loiH and 1892, five were added to thegroups 

 as then arranged, two were located further south and formed a new group, 

 and two made a new group north of the others. The seven groups were 



