The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1862-11-15
The salt Discoveries of Michigan.

In consequence of the supply of salt from
Southern salt fields being cut off by the rebel
lion, and the increased duties on the imported
| article, the price has reached a figure never
known before. The range of prices must, to q
grea. extent, be controlled by the quantity manu-
| factured at Saginaw. These works have been in
operation only about two years, ye. the produc-
tons of these regions have been widely felt and
must materially affect the market. But for the
timely discovery of these vast salt fields, the de-
iciency of this indispensable article would be
as keenly felt in the North as it is at the South
The growers and packers of pork at the North
would experience serious results from a scarcity
of this article were it not for the extensive salt
manufactures of Saginaw. This fact has rem
dered Saginaw place of considerable impor-
tance, and people are turning their attention to
| the manufacture of this important article of
commerce. The extent of these fields is al
most unlimited, and the supply inexhaustible.-
They are between forty and fifty miles in length,
stretching from the bay westward to where .he
Chippewa river pours into the Ti.tebewassee,
and even ten miles beyond, and in breadth ex-
| tending for more than thirty miles, the whole
| country thus bounded forming an enormous ba-
sin that ia full and constantly filling with s5@92
per cent. brine. Bore anywhere in this immense
field to depth of 800 feet and this brine is
found in nexhaustible supply. There is no
longer either any question as to the quality Of
the brine; it contains impurities, but it is be-
lieved no more and none different from those
found in Kanawha or Onondsga brines.
| With this vast extent of territory continuing
to yield such immense quantities of brine, there
can be little doubt that the North will eventual.
ly be bountifully supplied from that region alone.
In consequence of the importance of this CON-
paratively new country, as great lumber and
salt manufacturing region, it is being rapidly
opened up by the enterprise Of capitalists. Ssgi.
nav, which in 1884 had not . white inhabitant,
has now population Of 1000, and is thriving
commercial town. Salt docks now alternate
with lumber yards for twenty-five miles on tie
| river banks ..s
For the manufacture of fine salt, there are
nineteen blocks that boil day and nignt-Sun-
days not excepted-an average of sixty kettles
esch. About twenty more blocks are nearly
completed, which will soon be at work-all will
be run to their utmost capacity through the win.
ter. At present, the best blocks turn out an
average Of forty barrels per day. During the
year, Saginaw has produced about six hundred
thousand barrels.
The importance and extent Of the salt inter-
est in Michigan has occasional improvements in
the srt of manufacturing it, and the old kettles
and furnaces are gradually giving way to the
new process of evaporating by steam in large
vats, which produces a better quality of salt,
and at reduced cost. The increased demand
for this indispensable article of commerce, and
the limited supply at present to meet it. must
naturally render the Saginaw Valley of great
Importance in q commercial point Of view, and
1t 10 but reasonable to suppose that the facilities
for it's manufacture will be correspondDgly in
increased.-[D Detroit Free Press.
SUIcIpE-A correspondent sends US an ae-
count of q case Of suicide which occurred in
Monticello Township, last Wednesday. The VIC
tim was Mrs. Lamb, who formerly resided in
| Anamosa, and she killed herself by taking two
or three doses of arsenious acid. She also tried
to poison her youngest child, but did not sue
ceed. Family troubles were, it is supposed, the