292 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



In 1823, Mr. Keating* noticed the salt springs in Min- 

 nesota State and Dakotah Territory, far south of the 

 boundary line. Even at that early period in the history 

 of the settlements on Bed Biver, 500 dollars were 

 earned by one individual during one winter from 

 the sale of the salt he had manufactured from springs 

 near Pembina. The price of salt in the settlement was 

 then six dollars per barrel weighing eighty pounds. At a 

 spring on Saline Biver, south of the boundary line, Major 

 Long's party found the Salicornia herbacea growing very 

 abundantly around it. "Mr. Sclrweinitz states, on the 

 authority of Mr. Nuttall, that this is the only inland 

 locality of this plant, besides the Onondaga Salt springs 

 in the State of New York." The bottom of shallow 

 lagoons containing brine on Winnipego-sis Lake were 

 thickly covered with a soft and wavy carpet of a species 

 of Naius. 



In the valley of La Biviere Sale, salt springs are very 

 numerous, and the ground in their vicinity is frequently 

 covered with a thick incrustation. Many years since the 

 half-breeds of the settlement used to collect salt from this 

 valley for domestic purposes. The names Saline Creek 

 and Salt Point on Bed Biver, north of the 49th parallel, 

 were given in consequence of springs strongly impreg- 

 nated with salt occurring there, but south and west of 

 Stony Mountain no rocks in position have been observed 

 east of Pembina Mountain. The whole country is nearly 

 horizontal, having a mean elevation of about 100 feet 

 above Lake Winnipeg. 



Subjoined is a table showing the localities, north of the 

 49th parallel, where salt springs occur, distinguishing 

 between springs from which salt has been and has not 



* Major Long's Expedition to the Sources of St. Peter's River. 



