138 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Geological Section, illustrative of the Onondaga Saliferous Group.— [Fig. TO.] 
F.—Waferlimes. 
REFERENCES. 
A. —Mareellus shales overlying the saliferous group. 
B. —Seneca or upper limestone of the same group; Onon.Hill, 
C. —Cornitiferous limestone. 
D. —Crinoidal limetone ; Split Eock quarries 
E. —Oriskany sandstone. 
G. —Magnesian limestones. 
H. —Gypseous formation, and gypsum beds. 
I. —Gypseous shales. 
J. —Ked marl and shales; Geddes. 
K. —Level of Onondaga Lake. 
Mineral Salt—Onondaga Salines. 
The last number of Prof. Silliman’s Journal an¬ 
nounces that a regular mineral salt formation, or rock 
salt, has for the first time been discovered in the United 
States proper. This discovery has been made in Vir¬ 
ginia, about 18 miles from Abingdon, in the process of 
boring for brine in the salt works, owned by W. Find¬ 
ley, Esq. The information in the Journal, is given on 
the authority of the Rev. Mr. Taylor of Abingdon, and 
Prof. Silliman had received a box of the salt. “The 
salt forwarded to us,” says Prof. S., “ is highly crystal¬ 
line in its structure, and except a red color, (obviously 
derived from iron.) and occasionally fragments of rocks 
mixed with it, appears very pure.” Mr. Taylor states 
“ that in sinking the well in which the rock' salt was 
found, they penetrated earth and rock about 50 or 60 
feet, when they came on plaster, through which they 
passed from 150 to 170 feet. They then struck upon the 
the bed of salt, and penetrated it 50 o'r 60 feet without 
reaching the salt water ; they then abandoned the dig¬ 
ging. applied the auger and bored about ten feet more, 
as he supposes, through the salt, but the mixture of 
salt water renders it uncertain.” The roof then ap¬ 
pears to he plaster, hut the floor is unknown. Prof. 
S. remarks that from the fragments intermixed with 
the salt, it is evident that sandstone and marly clays are 
among the series perforated. 
We consider this a very important announcement, and 
particularly so to New York, which has such an inter¬ 
est in her invaluable Salines at Onondaga. When Mr. 
Jefferson urged upon the United States the purchase of 
Louisiana from Spain, one of his arguments was found 
in the existence of an immense mountain of rock salt 
in the contemplated purchase, and which might hereaf¬ 
ter he of great value to the country. At the time, the 
existence of such a mountain was disbelieved by four- 
fifths of the citizens of the states, and some of the most 
puneent stanzas in Ur. Caustic’s, (alias Fessenden’s,) 
‘ Democracy Unveiled,’ related to this salt mountain. 
The expeditions of Pike and Long, however, have set 
that matter at rest, they‘having ascertained that some 
of the head branches of Red River flow for miles in a 
deep ravine, the hanks of which, to a great height, are 
pure rock salt. And Mr. Parker, who was sent out by 
the Missionary Society some years since to inquire into 
the expediency of establishing Missions among the In¬ 
dians of the Rocky Mountains and the Columbia, found 
rock salt existed in great quantities on the Salmon 
river, which flows to the Columbia. The close con¬ 
nection which in Virginia has been found to exist be¬ 
tween brine springs and mineral salt, it is reasonable 
to infer exists elsewhere, and it is to be hoped that the 
circumstances attending this discovery will, Avhen fully 
investigated, (we shall wait with impatience for Prof. 
Rogers’, the able Geologist of Virginia, report on the 
matter,) be such as may serve as a clue to guide those 
near the other great salines of the country, and in par¬ 
ticular those of Onondaga, to a successful exploration 
for mineral salt. 
An examination of the various mines of rock salt 
found in various parts of the globe, will show that there 
is a remarkable similarity in their geological position 
with reference to other rocks. Of this, every one who 
lias paid attention to the subject, who has read the ac¬ 
counts given of the mines of Cardona in Spain.of Wielitz- 
ka in Poland, Cheshire in England, and those of the 
salines in this country, as detailed by Dr. Beck in the 
Geological Reports, must be aware ; and every addition¬ 
al investigation made in Onondaga, of the structure,posi¬ 
tion and order of the rock series, goes to confirm the be¬ 
lief that mineral salt is abundant in that vicinity. 
In France, in the Department of La Meurthe, are brine 
springs which were known and worked before the Chris¬ 
tian era. No fossil salt was discovered until the modern 
practice of boring for strong brine was adopted, when 
at Vic, in the heart of the saline district, mineral salt 
was reached, as it noAV has been in Virginia. The 
boring at first passed though sandstone and clay, Avith 
veins of plaster. At the depth of 160 feet, the clay and 
plaster which the borer brought up was found to he 
mixed with grains of rock salt; and at about 200 feet 
the rock salt in mass was reached. The boring Avas 
continued to near 300 feet, passing through more than 
60 feet of salt, divided by thin strata of plaster, into 
three beds. 
Dr. Hastings, in his lecture on the salt springs of Wor¬ 
cestershire, including those of Cheshire and Droitwich, 
gives the folloAving as their geological position, as ob¬ 
served at Droitwich : 
11 First a stratum of mold 3 feet deep, then a stratum of red 
marl 40 feet deep, which abounds with water of a brackish na¬ 
ture. After that a stratum of marl which extends 130 feet. In 
this marl are no springs of water- it is quite dry, but is pene¬ 
trated with perpendicular veins of gypsum. At. the distance of 
130 feet from the commencement of the gypsum in the marl, Ave 
come to a strong brine which rushes up to the surface as soon 
as it is bored into. This brine is 10 feet deep, and the rock salt 
is under this river of brine.” 
The salt mines of Weilitzka andHallen, in Hungary, 
abound in strata of marl, gypsum, and masses of argil¬ 
laceous matter ; but there can he no need of multiply¬ 
ing instances, since it may safely be asserted that no 
rock salt has been any where found unaccompanied by 
plaster, marl, (usually the red marl) and nearly al¬ 
ways by limestone. The remarkable accumulation of 
these materials around the Onondaga Salines, would 
clearly indicate that the source of the brine springs 
there, as well as elsewhere, is to be found in beds of 
mineral salt. The important question to be decided is, 
in Avhat strata are these beds of rock salt, and where 
are we to look for them? 
The formation called the saliferous group of Ononda¬ 
ga and Cayuga counties, is one of great thickness, be¬ 
ing, in the vicinity of the Onondaga Salines, not less 
than eight hundred or nine hundred feet, embracing the 
Avhole mass from the Protean or Rochester limestone 
group up to the Mareellus shales. Its floor may be 
considered the mass of shales and limestones that form 
the rocks at Niagara, Rochester and Fulton, dipping to 
the south at the rate of some 40 or 50 feet to the mile, 
Avhile the roof is the shales called the Mareellus shales, 
and which a little south of the central line of the coun¬ 
ty are superimposed on the saliferous group. That this 
group is properly so termed there can be no question, 
when the strata of Avhich it is composed are compared 
with those of other countries and places Avhere brines 
and rock salt are found. Here we have the limestone, 
the plaster, and the marls, and more than these, brine 
of greater strength than any hitherto found, unless one 
of the Virginia Avells at Holston, and closely connected 
with the mineral salt beds now discovered, be an excep¬ 
tion. Prof. Rogers, in his Geological Report, mentions 
the curious fact, that at the Holston Avells, furnishing the 
strongest brine, small granules of yAk salt Avere some¬ 
times thrown up by the Avater pumped, and urges this 
as a proof of the near vicinity of ‘/alt beds of massive 
salt, a supposition noAV shown to hi founded on fact. 
Beginning at the lower part 0 /f/ y the saliferous group, 
is found the red shale or m. ; 1 /' and this is much the 
thickest dc,. A-yh “the sruuy’ being not less than 450 or 
500 feet. It underlies the AAfliole level region about Sa- 
lina. Liverpool is built upon it, the hills about Geddes 
and Salina show it passing into the gypsum shales, and 
in passing east or Avest, the canal at some points is exca¬ 
vated in R. It may he said that there is littie probabil¬ 
ity of finding salt in this strata. The brine derived 
from it, evidently exists in excavations made in it by 
currents at some distant period, and which have since 
been filled by coarse diluvial matter, pebbles, gravel, &c. 
Of this the numerous borings made around the Onon¬ 
daga lake, at Liverpool, Salina, Syracuse, and Geddes, 
affords the most conclusive proof. The great boring 
made by the State, penetrated the A\ r hole mass of this 
shale, and at the depth of nearly 600 feet, terminated 
in the limestone of the group beloAv, a result confident¬ 
ly predicted by the State geologists. No salt or brine 
has been found in it, except where a connection could 
be made out betAveen the Avell and the adjacent excava¬ 
ted reservoir of brine. The red marls have derived a 
new importance since the intimate relation they bear to 
the production or presence of salt has been discovered. 
The mud of the salt marshes of the Mediterranean is 
usually a deep red color, and this color M. Joly has dis¬ 
covered is produced by animalculi, called by him Monas 
dunalii, which exists.in the Avater in incalculable num¬ 
bers, and perishing give their hue to the mass they so 
essentially aid informing. The “ Annals and Maga¬ 
zine of Natural History” for Sept. 1840, states that the 
“same infusoria are found in the argello-caleareous 
marls of Cardona, beneath the rock salt.” Do the red 
marls which form the basis of the New York salines 
owe their origin to this cause ? The subject is well 
worthy examination. 
-Above the shale or marl now described, comes a va¬ 
ried mass of shales of different colors and different de¬ 
grees of hardness. In the lower layers, red predomi¬ 
nates, hut above are green, blue and yellow, with seve¬ 
ral repetitions, before the regular plaster series is reach¬ 
ed. Gypsum in thin strata or in fibrous masses occurs 
in this deposit. In speaking of some Avells dug in this 
deposit, Prof. Vanuxem remarks, Report fof 1839, page 
252, “ All the products thrown out were like those I 
saAvin the digging for salt Avater in the salt valley near 
Abingdon, Virginia ; and the same products were observ¬ 
ed in another Avell about 55 feet deep on the road to Or¬ 
ville, about one mile east of Syracuse.” A reference 
to Mr. Taylor’s description of the strata bored previous 
to reaching the mineral salt at Abingdon, Avill show that 
Prof. V. Avas correct, also indicate the probable posi¬ 
tion of the rock salt in the Onondaga country. These 
two deposits, the red marl and the overlying shades, are 
remarkable for the almost total absence of fossils, 
which are so abundant in the series above and beloAv. 
In the next deposit in ascending is found not only all 
the plaster of the district, and of New York, hut also 
“ positive evidence that salt has existed in this group 
in a solid state.” In passing from Syracuse to Auburn, 
by rail road, all that part of the saliferous group above 
the red marl is passed over, and a most excellent op¬ 
portunity afforded for examination. In the deposit now 
under consideration, may he observed in several places, 
but best near Camillus, masses or beds of crystals in 
precisely the form assumed by rock salt in crystaliza- 
tion, and formed of clay, giving rise to the impression 
that these clay masses, now occupy the place of salt 
crystals previously dissolved out. Dr. Beck in Ms able 
Reports has suggested that the form of these crystals 
may have been produced by the presence of a small 
quantity of salt once disseminated in the substance of 
Avhich they are composed. He says—“ it is certain this 
clay is composed of carbonate of lime, silica, alumina, 
and oxide of iron, but does not contain a Lace of com 
mon salt.” 
Above the plaster or gypsum producing strata, is 
found a thick mass of magnesian limestone. This strata 
is seen to advantage near Hungerford’s plaster beds 
north of Jamesville, and on the rail road immediately 
below the great quarry at Split Rock, near Syracuse. 
Still higher in the series, is the water-limes, the Oriskany 
sandstone, the beautiful sparry crinoidal limestone of 
the Onondaga quarries, then a shelly impure limestone, 
followed by the cornitiferous strata, or limestone filled 
with nodules of flint, and above these, or the highest 
of the saliferous group, is the Seneca limesiome. 
These several masses aboAm the gypseous group are of 
little consequence so far as the salt question is concern¬ 
ed, farther than the proof they furnish of the resem¬ 
blance of the saline group in Onondaga to the one in 
Virginia, France, and indeed all those containing min¬ 
eral salt in all parts of the world. 
There are tAvo important questions arising in all dis¬ 
cussions as to the probability of rock salt at Onondaga, 
the first relating to its place in the series, and the second 
as to points to be selected for boring to discover or test 
its presence. Since it has been demonstrated that the 
brine now occupies a reservoir excavated in the red 
marl, the probability of finding salt by boring into that 
mass has much lessened. At Cardona, the rock salt lies 
on the red marl, not in it or below. At Vic, the salt 
was found in contact Avith and immediately beloAv the 
gypseous deposit, the mass consisting of beds of salt 
and thin layers of gypsum interspersed ; the underly¬ 
ing rock not ascertained. At Abingdon, where salt has 
been lately discovered, the salt succeeded the gypseous 
deposit, and from the surface the rocks penetrated bear 
a most marked resemblance to those in the saliferous 
group of New York. As at Vic, the strata underlying 
the salt is at present unknown, hut from the evidence 
furnished by the mines in Poland, Hungary and Spain, 
there is little room for doubt that the mineral salt of 
Vic and Abingdon, will be found to rest on the red 
marl. Is it too much then to infer that the true place of 
the mineral salt at the Onondaga and Cayuga salines, 
is in the mass intervening betAveen the plaster strata, and 
the red marl, a»d in which strong proof already exists 
of its presence. At the mines of Salzhourg in Austria, 
the salt is in a clay shale, beneath strata of limestone, 
the whole mass of clay and gypseous shale beinjfa kind 
of salt rock, but so impure that it requires to he dissolv¬ 
ed and crystalized before using. A series of chambers 
are excavated in this rock, which are filled Avith Avater 
by aqueducts. This Avater dissolves the salt rock that 
forms the sides and roof of the chambers, all the ex¬ 
traneous matter settling at the bottom of the chambers, 
and when the water is fully saturated, it is draAvn off 
through another aqueduct, and crystalized in reservoirs 
someAvhat in the manner in which coarse salt is now 
made at Salina. May not a similar process of dissolv¬ 
ing out the salt strata, he going on at the present, time • 
near Salina by the action of natural causes, and thus 
the phenomena of the ‘ sinks’ or settling of the earth 
in many places in that vicinity he accounted for ? It 
may he mentioned here that the mass of clay marl from 
which the salt is dissolved, and Avhich is deposited to the 
depth of about tAvo feet on the floor of each chamber, 
is found in a feAV years to be as fully impregnated Avith 
saline materials, as when first acted upon. 
If as we suppose, the salt exists in the mass of gyp. 
seous shales beMw the proper gypsum beds, and above 
the red shales or marls, there can he little question as 
to the best place forhoring. Any one will he convinced 
of this, who understands the geological position of the 
strata constituting the saliferous group, and the man¬ 
ner in Avhich their outerop appears. The proper place 
