108 
ECONOMICAL MINERALOGY. 
Carbonate of lime,. 0.13 
Sulphate of lime,. 4.04 
Chloride of calcium, . 1.72 
Chloride of magnesium,. 0.77 
Chloride of sodium, or common.salt,. 142.85 
Oxide of iron, with a minute portion of silica and carbonate of lime,. 0.03 
Carbonic acid, holding in solution carbonate of lime and oxide of iron, 0.07 
Water, with a trace of organic matter and bromine,. 850.39 
There are therefore 1154 grains of pure chloride of sodium in a pint of this brine, and 9236 
grains or 1.32 pounds avoirdupois in a gallon. Hence forty-two and a half gallons will yield 
a bushel of perfectly dry salt, or about forty and a half gallons for a bushel in the ordinary 
state of dryness. 
Brine Springs of Cayuga County. The springs at Montezuma, in this county, were 
discovered at a very early period 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 surface. The brine thus obtained was similar in 
quality to that in the wells already noticed. In 1810, under the direction of the Cayuga 
Manufacturing .Company, a well was sunk about a hundred feet deep, on the west side of the 
ridge upon which the village now stands. In sinking this well, three separate springs of water 
were discovered. The firsf 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 occasionally 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.* 
The brine from this well was analyzed by Mr. G. Chiltonf of New-York, and found to 
contain, in 1000 grains, 
* 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. 
t Silliman's Journal. VII. 344. 
