20 
[Assembly 
The description here given agrees generally with the section of the 
boring of the Geddes well, a hundred and seventy feet below the level 
of the Onondaga lake. A copy of this section was furnished to me by 
Mr. J. J. Rice J who conducted the work, under the direction of Judge 
Earll, in 1831. The red and blue marly clay alternated at various 
depths, and the brine increased in strength from 11° to 48°, by an in- 
strument on which the point of saturation was at 60°. 
I might add to the above, the description of the strata passed through 
in boring for brine at Montezuma, in Cayuga county,* where these vari- 
. ous colored clays, conglomerates and gypseous veins, were also observed; 
but their close resemblance to the strata near Salina and Syracuse ren- 
ders it unnecessary. And it may be as well to state here, that all the 
clays around Salina and Syracuse contain large proportions of carbonate 
of lime. In one specimen from the vicinity of Syracuse, I found, 
Carbonates of lime and magnesia, 89 grs. 
Silica and alumina colored by oxide of iron, . . 11 grs. 
With minute proportions of the chlorides of 
sodium and calcium, 
100 grs. 
They therefore all belong to the class of marly clays, which are so con- 
stantly associated with fossil salt. 
Having noticed the striking similarity in the formations near the 
Onondaga springs to those of many localities of fossil salt, I must also 
advert to a fact which by many persons is thought greatly to favor the 
theory now under consideration. It is, that the strength of the brine is 
influenced by the height of water in the Onondaga lake. Thus it is as- 
serted, that in the early part of the summer, when the water in the lake 
is high, the brine contains a much larger amount of saline matter than at 
any other time. Dr. Wright, the superintendent of the salt works, in- 
formed me, that during the spring of 1836, when the water in the lake 
attained an unusual height, the brine at the Salina well had a density 
of 79° by an instrument on which the point of saturation was 100°; 
whereas ordinarily it does not exceed 63° or 64°. This extraordinary 
density continued only a short time; but a density of 70° is said to be 
no unusual occurrence under such circumstances. The increased strength 
of the brine in the early part of the season is supposed to be accounted 
for by the fact, that as the quantity of water discharged from the pumps 
during the winter is comparatively small, the brine continues for a longer 
time in contact with the fossil salt, and becomes more strongly impreg- 
* For a desoription of the strata at Montezuma, see Mr. T. A. Conrad's Report for 1837. 
