SODA. 
1 &) 
LOCALITIES. 
This mineral has not yet been found in its solid or fossil form in this State, although it 
exists largely in solution. I have elsewhere given the reasons which lead me to believe that 
the brine springs of Onondaga county have their origin in beds of this mineral (pages 119 et 
seq.) 
The most important brine springs in the State are those of Onondaga county, where salt 
has been for many years extensively manufactured. In some cases the water of these springs 
contains from eighteen to nineteen per cent, of saline matter, of which upwards of seventeen 
per cent, is pure common salt. Besides this last, the water of these springs contains carbonate 
and sulphate of lime, chlorides of calcium and magnesium, oxide of iron, silica and organic 
matter, with some compound containing bromine; all, however, in small and variable propor¬ 
tions. 
I have already given a full account of the localities of our brine springs, the mode of manu¬ 
facturing salt, etc., for which the reader is referred to page 99. I will only add, that common 
salt is one of the ingredients of those efflorescences which are found on the limestone near 
Rochester, in Monroe county. 
Since the preceding part of my Report has passed through the press, I have analyzed a 
brine from a boring of upwards of five hundred feet, at the village of Montezuma, and which 
is remarkable for the large proportion of saline matter which it contains. The specific gravity 
of this brine is 1.18959, water being 1.00000. 1000 grains of the brine contain 230.30 
grains of perfectly dry saline matter. The strength of the specimen may be judged of by the 
fact, that 1000 grains of water entirely saturated with common salt, contain from 260 to 270 
grains of that salt; so that if there were nothing in this brine but common salt, it would be 
within three or four per cent, of complete saturation : but this is far from being the case. 
The following are the constituents in 1000 grains of this brine : 
Sulphate of lime, with a minute portion of carbonate of lime and oxide 
of iron,... 0.69 
Chloride of calcium,. 90.24 
Chloride of magnesium,. 8.05 
Common salt (pure and dry),. 131.32 
Water, with traces of organic matter,. 769.70 
It will require from forty-three to forty-five gallons of this brine to furnish a bushel of salt in 
the ordinary state of dryness. 
The following statement will exhibit the value of this brine, as compared with the best 
specimens heretofore obtained from Syracuse and from Montezuma : 
GRAINS. 
Proportion of common salt in 100 grains of this brine,. 13.13 
Ditto ditto in 100 grs. best Syracuse brine,. 17.35 
Ditto ditto in 100 grs. best Montezuma-brine,_.... 9.33 
