24 
[Assembly 
" The curious fact, that on some occasions granules or small crystals 
of salt are brought up by the water of the wells, is certainly very much 
in favor of the opinion, that such beds of massive salt do actually exist, 
at depths to which the borings hitherto made have not been extended, 
and furnishes strong additional incentives to a persevering and thorough 
exploration, by boring in numerous places, penetrating to still greater 
depths."* 
On the whole, therefore, the probabilities are greatly in favor of the 
theory which attributes the origin of the Onondaga brine springs to beds 
of massive or fossil salt — because the strata in the vicinity are exactly 
similar to those which are found near the deposits of fossil salt in fo- 
reign countries; the brine in all the wells increases in strength with the 
increase in their depth; the soil in the vicinity is subject to those pecu- 
liar slips or sinkings which have also been observed in the vicinity of 
beds of rock salt; and finally, because it is not open to many of those 
serious objections which may be urged against the other theories. 
Whether the opinion here asserted to be the most consistent with the 
facts now known, will ultimately be confirmed or not, the importance 
of deeper borings than have hitherto been made in our principal salt 
district, cannot be too strongly urged. If the only thing gained by 
such an undertaking should be a stronger brine than that now furnished 
by the wells, the saving in fuel alone, and the consequent increase in 
the quantity of salt manufactured, would in a few years amount to a 
sum fully equal to that expended in the work. A boring of five or six 
hundred feet, at a point properly selected, would probably decide the 
question in regard to the existence of fossil salt, or furnish brine of the 
maximum strength. 
Brine Springs of Onondaga County. 
The fact that the State derives an important part of her revenue from 
these springs, and that they furnish employment and give support to 
many thousands of her citizens, seems to render it necessary that I 
should present a detailed description of them; and also that I should 
offer such suggestions concerning the manufacture of salt, as may be 
thought worthy of attention. 
It is well known that the principal brine springs in this county clus- 
ter around the margin of Onondaga lake, a fine sheet of water about 
six miles in length and one mile in width. The water of this lake is 
* Report of a Reconnoissance of the State of Virginia: by Prof. W. B. Rogers. 1836. 
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