32 



ward continues level, but is much of it low and 

 swampy, and is thinly settled. 



South of the State road as it approaches the 

 Scioto, twenty-eight miles in a southeasterly di- 

 rection from Chilicothe and 63 from Galliopolis 

 on the Ohio, are the Great Scioto salt-works. The 

 land is hilly and covered with a heavy growth of 

 timber. The salt water is found near the banks 

 of a stream which runs into the Scioto, and is 

 called Salt Creek, at the depth of about ,twelve feet 

 from the surface of the ground. Fresh water, as 

 it passes over, is prevented from flittering into 

 the salt water, by an extremely hard pan of clay. 

 There are sixteen furnaces, and when in opera- 

 tion, each furnace will make 70 or 80 bushels of 

 salt in 24 hours. The method of constructing a 

 furnace is to dig a long trench in a hard pan of 

 clay, four feet deep at one end and ten feet at the 

 other, with a gradual descent into the deep end, 

 which is the mouth of the furnace. Ninety ket- 

 tles of thirty gallons each, arranged in two tiers, 

 are placed in the trench. A fire is made at the 

 deepest end, and a chimney is formed at the oth- 

 er, in a manner that will admit of a strong draught 

 through the length of the furnace. The water is 

 pumped by horses or mules into a large cistern, 

 and then laded into the kettles. An intense heat 

 is necessary for boiling the water. As the water 

 evaporates at the mouth of the furnace, what re- 

 mains in the kettles isladed into thosenear the chim- 

 ney, and these kettles are again filled with water. 



