263 



passed through at that time (copied lately, 1858, from the official book) 

 were : — 



1. Clay and red gypseous marls, . 



2. Salt rock, . 



3. Clay, in thin beds, red and blue, 



4. Salt rock, . 



5. Clayey marl, red and blue, 



6. Salt rock, very good, 



ft. in. 



603 0 



22 0 



6 8 



88 0 



14 0 



39 0 



772 8 



(Signed) James "Waedhattgh. 



After that, the old shaft was sunk below the bottom of the salt, 

 still in search of coal, to the depth of 920 feet, and they bored from the 

 bottom of the shaft downwards by a borehole 600 feet more, making a 

 total of 1520 feet. At this depth they were 1240 feet below the level 

 of the sea. 



The first shaft was abandoned and the present one sunk, where the 

 salt is raised, 43 perches farther down the hill south-east. It stands at 

 240 feet above the Ordnance sea level. The bottom of the salt excavation 

 is 550 feet below the surface, and therefore 310 feet below sea level. 

 The works are going on successfully. The salt beds are reported to lie 

 conformably between the accompanying beds here, and not in lenticular 

 masses, as is mostly the case. The rock salt is of a very superior de- 

 scription, yielding from 95 to 98 per cent, of the pure salt of commerce. 

 Some of the beds are of a beautiful bluish colour, others are brown, 

 some white, and some red. The soft red and brown clays often lend 

 their tint to any lump they come in contact with. 



They raised, in 1857, 22,458 tons of rock salt; of this 4,877 tons of 

 white salt were manufactured at Belfast, principally for curing purposes 

 and for butter. The rest was exported to England, and various foreign 

 ports by vessels requiring return cargoes. 



In working here they excavate galleries sixty feet wide, and leave 

 pillars thirty feet wide between them. A gallery is excavated in three 

 stages, each about fifteen feet in height, the whole cleared away being 

 thus forty-five feet high, sixty feet wide, the length not yet known. 



A trial was made by the Salt Company, near the shore at Carrick- 

 fergus, sixty feet above the sea, apparently for the double advantage of 

 being nearer to the railway station, and from being on a lower level, 

 the probability of being nearer to the salt, so that there would be less 

 expense in lifting it to the surface. Here a shaft was sunk 760 feet, 

 when the work was overpowered by an influx of water. So far as 

 they went there was no regular layer of salt found, but merely some 

 thin strata, with a trace of salt. Those thin beds occurred at about one- 

 third of the way down. These particulars I have from Mr. Eobert 

 Smith, Engineer to the Harbour Commissioners, Belfast, to whom, for 

 much kindness in this matter, I am most thankful. 



