No. 200.] 
31 
Grand River, (Arkansas,) 80 gallons brine give one bushel salt 
Illinois River, do 80 do do 
Muskingum, (Ohio,) .... 50 do do 
Onondag-a,* (N. Y.) .... 41 to 45 do do 
Professor Rogers thinks that some of the brine wells on the Holston, 
in Virginia, contain about twenty per cent of saline matter; which if 
the impurities are not in larger proportions than usual, must be stronger 
than any yet found in this country. But it may be remarked that the 
mode by which he arrives at this result is not sufficiently accurate. 
With the above exception, however, the Onondaga brines are the 
strongest of all the American varieties. But there are still some con- 
siderations which should be taken into the account in estimating the re- 
lative value of these brines. Thus the Kenawha brine is said not to con- 
tain any sulphate of lime, and hence the process of obtaining the salt in a 
pure crystalline form is attended with fewer difficulties than usual. 
Another great advantage possessed at these salines is that coal may be 
obtained at comparatively little cost from the hills adjacent to the salt 
furnaces; and their importance may be judged of by the fact that about 
3,000,000 bushels of salt are now annually made from them.f 
Some important reflections crowd upon us as New-Yorkers, from a 
review of the facts just stated. As it is not probable that coal will be 
found in the vicinity of our principal salt works, and as wood for fuel 
must gradually increase in price on account of the wanton destruction 
of our forests, every suggestion for economising its consumption, is de- 
serving of careful examination. 
It is evident that there would be a great saving in this respect, if 
by deeper borings a more highly concentrated brine could be ob- 
tained. A brine containing twenty-six per cent of saline matter, like 
that of Nortwich, in England, would of course require much less fuel 
for its manufacture into salt than one which contains only fourteen or 
fifteen per cent, which is the maximum of saline matter afforded by any 
of our brines. 
If however this desirable end cannot be attained, other expedients 
may be resorted to with a reasonable prospect of advantage. Among 
these I would mention the partial evaporation of the raw brine by caus- 
* This table is chiefly extracted from Dr. J. Van Rensselaer's Essay on Salt. The produce 
of the Kenawha brine, and of the Muskingum saline is added from Hildreth's observations on 
the saliferous rock formation in the valley of the Ohio. Silliman's Journal XXIV, 65. 
t Professor W. B. Rogera' Report of the Geological Reconnoisance of Virginia, 1836, p. 123. 
