No. 200.j 
37 
MmUxuma Brine Springs. 
The brine springs at Montezuma were discovered at a very early pe- 
riod by the Indians, and were shown by them to the first white settlers. 
The brine was originally obtained by digging small holes in the ground 
a foot or two in depth, in the marsh at the foot of the ridge upon which 
the village of Montezuma is situated. Subsequently, wells were sunk 
by the whites, to the depth of forty or fifty feet, from which brine was 
obtained in sufficient quantity for the manufacture of salt. 
In 1807, salt water was discovered in a branch of the Seneca river, 
since called Salt creek, at the depth of eight or ten feet from the sur- 
face. The brine thus obtained was similar in quality to that in the 
wells already noticed. In 1810, under the direction of the Cayuga Ma- 
nufacturing Company, a well was sunk about a hundred feet deep, on 
the west side of the ridge upon which the village now stands. In sink- 
ing this well, three separate springs of water were discovered. The 
first was about ten feet from the surface, and was like that which had 
been previously used. Then succeeded a stratum of fine blue clay, five 
or six feet in depth. Below this was a stratum of hard-pan, with occa- 
sionally some gravel, about thirty-five feet in depth. A third stratum 
of quicksand succeeded, in which was found some weak brine, yielding 
about ten ounces of saline matter to the gallon. Lastly, there were 
strata of sand and clay, with some water, to the depth of one hundred 
feet, where was found the great fountain of brine, which came in through 
a body of quicksand. This brine when unmixed with that of the upper 
veins is said to have produced twenty ounces of saline matter to the 
gallon.* 
A year or two afterwards, another well was sunk, on the east side of 
the ridge, and the great fountain of brine was found at the depth of 
eighty feet. The strata passed through were similar to those in the 
preceding well. The Jfew Wellj more recently opened, (I believe in 
1824) is a hundred and twenty feet deep. At a hundred and fifteen 
feet, the brine was said to have been of sufficient strength to yield eigh- 
teen ounces of saline matter to the gallon. On reaching the quicksand, 
however, the brine rose rapidly, and in two or three days overflowed 
the top of the well. 
Here, as at the Onondaga springs, the opinion is quite generally main- 
tained, that the brine has its origin in beds of fossil salt, and many facts 
are stated which are thought to confirm this view. Most of these, how- 
* See a Letter from'Comfort Tyler, Esq. published in the Appendix to Dr. Van Rensselaer's 
Essay on Salt. Mr. Tyler was one of the first settlers of this county. 
