114 
ECONOMICAL MINERALOGY. 
length, thirty feet in width, and six feet in depth. Of these, two were located at Liverpool, 
six at Salina, one at Syracuse, and one at Geddes. The raw brine is pumped into these re¬ 
servoirs, and there allowed to remain for twenty-four or thirty-six hours, subjected to the ac¬ 
tion of quicklime, and then distributed to the several works. But the limited capacity of these 
reservoirs is such, when compared with the whole amount of brine consumed, which is es¬ 
timated at a million and a half of gallons daily, that they do not secure the advantages which 
might be expected from them. The exposure is not continued long enough to effect the entire 
separation of the less soluble impurities of the brine. And it becomes a question of great 
importance, whether these reservoirs shall be increased by the State to the capacity necessary 
for fulfilling this intention, or whether some other mode of purifying and concentrating the 
brine shall be adopted. 
In favour of the proposition that the business of purifying the brine be conducted by the 
State, it may be urged, that in this way the purification might be more advantageously and 
certainly accomplished. There would be a great saving of brine, which would in that pro¬ 
portion diminish the expense now incurred in raising and distributing it; and also, as hereto¬ 
fore stated, of the fuel consumed in the manufacture. Great waste now arises from the nu¬ 
merous private reservoirs ; but according to the plan proposed, these might be dispensed with, 
and the purified brine drawn directly into the kettles or vats from the tubes used for its dis¬ 
tribution. It should not be concealed, however, that the erection of reservoirs of sufficient 
capacity to effect the complete purification of the brine would require a very large outlay; 
and perhaps, after all, the construction of graduating houses, already referred to, would be 
more economical, as well as more effective. 
In the absence of some general plan of operations similar to those above noticed, great ad¬ 
vantage may be secured, as well to the individuals as to the State, by proper attention to the 
construction of the reservoirs attached to the blocks or furnaces. These reservoirs are of 
course intended to effect the separation of some of the impurities of the brine, either by the 
simple exposure of it to the air, or by the addition of foreign substances which shall facilitate 
the desired separation. They should therefore be as large as possible, and should be provided 
with covers, which may be used during rainy weather, and thus prevent the large admixture 
of fresh water which is otherwise unavoidable. 
Three modes of manufacturing salt are pursued at the Onondaga springs, viz : 
1. By solar evaporation. 
2. By evaporation with artificial heat. 
3. By rapid boiling in kettles. 
1. By solar evaporation. — This process is conducted in a series of wooden vats, eighteen 
and a half feet square, and about a foot in depth. Of these there are two parallel rows, which 
communicate with each other; the one being on a level about a foot lower than the other. 
The whole operation is extremely simple. The brine is conducted by wooden pipes into the 
upper tier of vats, where it remains exposed to the sun until crystals of salt begin to shoot out 
