BRINE SPRINGS. 
ioi 
The brine springs of Montezuma, in Cayuga County, come next in order. These have 
been long known, and have been quite extensively worked; and although the manufacture of 
salt from them has, for some years past, almost entirely ceased, they are still second in im¬ 
portance only to the Onondaga springs. Some borings have recently been made, with en¬ 
couraging results. These springs, however, will be more particularly described in another 
part of this report. 
Wayne County contains several salines. Those at Galen were at one time in considerable 
repute. They are situated in the town of Savannah, immediately on the western edge of 
the Cayuga marshes. Works were erected there at great expense, but these have been long 
since removed, and the manufacture of salt entirely abandoned. The reason of this will be 
apparent, when it is stated that the brine contains scarcely nine per cent, of saline matter, as 
appears from an analysis of it made some years ago by the late Mr. G. Chilton of New-York. 
The following are the details of this examination of the Galen brine : Specific gravity 1.0544. 
10,132 grains, equal to 38 cubic inches nearly, yielded by evaporation 884 grains of dry solid 
matter. The results of the analysis, in 1000 grs. of the brine, are as follows :* 
Chloride of calcium, . 0.49 
Chloride of magnesium,. 0.29 
Sulphate of lime,. 2.07 
Carbonate of lime,. 0.09 
Silica, . 0.04 
Chloride of sodium (common salt), . 84.24 
Water,. 912.78 
There is also a spring about two miles from Lockville, at which salt was formerly made 
in small quantities. And recently it has been reported that a salt spring has been opened in 
the town of Galen, about fifty rods from the Erie canal, by a boring of two hundred and thirty 
feet in depth, from which strong brine is forced with great violence by an evolution of gas, 
probably carburetted hydrogen. The brine is said to be sufficiently pure to furnish good salt 
without the use of lime. 
There is also a brine spring near the head of Little Sodus bay, in this county, on the farm 
of Mr. Switzer. Of this water, Mr. Conrad informs us that one hundred and forty gallons 
are required for a bushel of salt ;f a strength far below that at which a brine can be profitably 
employed in the manufacture of salt. 
Again, in the immediate vicinity of the village of Clyde, on the canal, salt water, with in¬ 
flammable gas, has been found by boring. The boring was made by a company in 1832, to 
the depth of four hundred feet. The brine yielded at first twenty ounces of saline matter to 
the gallon; but it soon ceased to flow, or was much diluted with fresh water. Gas still oc¬ 
casionally issues from the tube. 
* Silliman’s Journal, VII. 349. — I have reduced the results of this analysis to the proportions in 1000 grains of brine, which 
was the amount used in all my own analyses. f New-York Geological Reports, 1837. 
