72 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
Manhattan, where he received as high as ten cents per pound 
for it. Mr. Hazen says he sold over 100 barrels of salt made by 
Mr. Tuthill and other farmers from 1873 to 1876, while he kept 
a store in Seapo. 
‘‘This marsh and other similar ones of the state were of great 
value to hunters in early times. They would come here to 
‘‘jerk’’ their buffalo meat. In case they were in too great a 
hurry to wait to evaporate the brine and get the crystallized 
salt, they would dip the meat and hides into the strongest pool 
of brine and then dry them in the sunshine or by a fire. When 
a considerable quantity of meat was to be ‘‘jerked,’’ they would 
cut the meat into long strips, boil the brine in kettles hung over 
a fire of buffalo-chips, dip the meat into the strong, hot brine, 
and lay it out to dry in the sunshine or on a lattice-work made 
of green poles supported on four posts, with a fire under it. In 
this way 200 or 300 pounds could be cured in five or six hours. 
‘‘Previous to the admission of Kansas into the Union the salt 
marshes were thought to be of great value, and by act of Con- 
gress twelve salt springs were donated to the new state, at the 
time of her admission, the same to be located by her commis- 
sioners. ‘These were all located on marshes where there are no 
flowing springs, and subsequently these reserves became a part 
of the endowment of the State Normal School.’’ 
Some important brine wells are located at Solomon City, in 
Dickinson county. The attention of prospectors was called to this 
deposit on account of a salt spring just west of town, and, in 1867, 
C. W. Davis, of New Bedford, Mass., drilled a well here which 
produced excellent brine. Several other wells were drilled, 
striking brine at from 84 to 100 feet from the surface. With 
varying fortunes different companies have been manufacturing 
salt at Solomon City up to the present time. The capacity of 
the Solomon Solar Salt Company is about 7000 barrels a year. 
ROCK SALT. 
There are several places in the state where the vast deposits 
of rock salt are mined directly. At Lyons a shaft was sunk in 
1890, and a factory was built for preparing the different grades 
of salt for the market. This shaft is about 1000 feet deep. 
