Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-08
The Subject of Salt.
Rochester Union.

tlcularly in Wyoming and Genesee cOun-
ties, salt is just now the absorbing topic of
conversation. The recent discoveries of
fine salt deposits underlying the villages
of Warsaw and lie Roy have, of course,
contributed to make the subject of salt
unusually interesting and important in
this section of the country. Small Won
der that this should be the case, particu-
larly when we come to consider that salt
is the only mineral substance universally
employed as an article of food by man and
the higher order of animals. Besides its
direct consumption as food, enOr-
nous quantities are needed for
dairying purposes, for preserving meats
and fish, and given to cattle and
sheep, and a very large amount is
used in chemical operations, particularly
iii the manufacture of soda. The last
process alone takes about $4,000 tons
annually in France, and single estab-
lishment near Glasgow has used 26,000
tons annually for the past thirty years.
In the United States it ssestimated that
each person consumes about 80 pounds
annually, in Great Britain %, and in
France 10. Salt was once decided
luxury in this country. Nearly one hun
dred years ago the salt made near
81 bushel. At the beginning of this
century salt was made at the sold
SciOta salt works" in Jackson county,
Ohio. The wells were only 80 feet deeD.
and 600 to 800 gallons were required to
make bushel of dark and inferior salt,
which, however, sold for SO or ST., being
carried, even as late as 1903, on pack
horses to considerable distances. Until
about 1915 the wells were sunk only 400 or
800 feet in depth, but at Pomeroy, they are
now 200 feet deep, yielding a cOpious
supply of strong brine, and more than
tWo-thirds of the salt of Ohio, is at present
manufactured in that vicinity.
Salt is found in almost every country on
the globe, occurring very abundantlv in
nature, both in the solid state, as rock
salt, and in solution in sea water, salt
lakes and salt springs. Mines of rock
salt have been recently explored in the
Caucasus, in which the stone implements
were found as they were left at date SO
remote that no tradition exists of the
time when they were worked. Salt is al
luded to in many passages of the Bible.
All sacrifices offered in the temple were
seasoned with it; new born children were
rubbed with it; it is mentioned as one of
the things most necessary to life: it is
used as symbol of perpetuity and incor-
ruption, of hospitality as it still is in the
East }, and finally of barrrenness and ste
rility, as in sowing the site of a destroyed
city with salt.
In 1870 very little was produced in the
United States, and 2,337, ,92O bushels were
imported; in 1925 the value of the produc-
tion was more than $1,000, 900, and the i'm
pOrtatiOn was 4,574, 202 bushels: in 1870
the production was nearly 20, ,000, 900 BUSH
els. Our present yearly consumption can
not be far from 100000 bushels.
Canada has fine salt deposits at Code
rich, which are extensively worked, but
hitherto the salt business i'll the United
States has been mainly restricted to three
separate areas-the neighborhoOd of Syra-
cuse, Saginaw Valley, Michigan and the
Kanawha Valley, West Virginia, includ-
ing those at Pomeroy, Ohio. These three
localities produced 10000, 900 of the 49,
900, 200 bushels manufactured in the United
States in 1870 The Ohio and Syracuse fields
have been at a disadvantage, from the
fact that the great'strength of the Michi-
gan and GOderich brines and the abund-
ance of fuel in those places enable these
brands of salt to be successfully sold
where OnOndaga salt, made from brines
only half as strong, and Ohio and Kama
wha salt, made from brines still weaker,
formerly commanded the market. In
addition to these disadvantages, the
OnOndaga and Kanawha salt is driven
from Eastern markets by Liverpool salt,
which is brought to our seaports at
merely nominal charge by ships that
load in return tobacco, cotton and bread
stuffs.
The Syracuse salt springs were known
to the Indians at very early period, but
Father Lalemant is believed to be the first
white man who visited them. About 177O
OnOndaga salt was in common use among
the Delawares, and was carried to Quebec
for sale. The first. made by the whites
was in 1888, near Syracuse, by boiling.
The salines belong to the State, which
supplies the brine to manufacturers and
receives a royalty of one cent bushel.
Six cents was formally charged, and the
State thus derived large revenue, but in
1916 the tax was reduced to the present
which sufices to pay the expense
of pumping, superintendent. etc. The
production.has reached the maximum of
over 100000 bushels in single year at
Syracuse.
The new fields at Warsaw and LIE Row
promise to exceed all others in purity.
strength OF brine and cheapness of pro-
duction. The salt deposit at Warsaw was
we believe, while boring for
petroleum. 1t is a fine deposit of rock
salt, lying at depth of several hundred
feet, and of great purity. The manufac-
ture of salt has already been commenced,
and both at Warsaw and lie Rov il will
be rapidly developed and extensively
1t is expected that
millions of bushels annually
will be produced, affOrding a
source of supply for the entire
country as well as large amount for ex-
port. On account of the strength and pu-
rity of the brine, salt can be produced in
these Western New York districts at a
cost which will enable the manufacturers
to successfully compete with all the
world. Already the excitement is at a
high pitch, and the material benefits to
this entire region, especially to the rail-
road interest, growing out of these dis
cOveries in Genesee and Wyoming coun-
ties, must of necessity be in the greatest
degree gratifying and advantageous.