ondaga, at several points, in one instance to the depth of 250 feet, without finding fossil salt. The beds of salt in Cheshire were discovered about 160 years ago, in boring for coal, at about 125 feet below the surface of the ground; but they have now been penetrated to a much greater depth. The solution of this question with respect to the origin of the Onondaga salt springs, is a matter of no inconsiderable interest for the reasons already assigned. For scientific purposes, the discovery of beds of rock salt would determine nothing, unless the discovery were accompanied by circumstances calculated to shed light on the origin of such beds. Fossil salt has not always been found in the vicinity of salt springs. In France, though there are many salt springs, no beds of rock salt have been discovered.* On the other hand, fossil salt has been found in localities widely different. In Cheshire, it lies below the level of the sea. In Spain, Poland and in South America, it is found at the summit of the loftiest mountains. But, in an economical point of view, the discovery of rock salt in Onondaga would be of the greatest importance. The salt beds near Northwitch, yield more than 150,000 tons of salt per annum, nearly three times as much as the whole annual product of the Onondaga springs. What an addition would such an increased production make to the wealth of this State ! The salt district does not terminate in Onondaga county. It commences in Oneida and extends two hundred and fifty miles farther west, carrying with it an average breadth of 20 miles.† At Montezuma, about 30 miles west of Salina, salt springs were worked several years, and they are not now wholly discontinued. The brine is, however, much weaker than that at Salina, and the product has never been so considerable. More than fifty springs had been discovered in the salt district when Mr. Eaton's survey of the district adjoining the canal was made, and many more have been found since. This district should be carefully examined throughout its whole extent. There is good reason for supposing that it may contain in its bosom other treasures not inferior in value to those which have already been disclosed. Coal. Some of the features of the salt district bear a close resemblance to those of the coal district, of which Newcastle upon Tyne constitutes a part, as described by Mr. Winch in his observations on * Silliman's Journal, vol. 15, page 2. + Eaton's Survey of the Canal District, page 103. the geology of Northumberland and Durham.* According to Mr. Eaton, the floor of the salt springs consists of a rock, which on the authority of Conybeare and Phillips, he denominates saliferous rock, and which is subdivided into red sand rock and red slate.f Its thickness varies in different places, and, as must be supposed in an extent of 250 miles, it approaches much nearer the surface at some points than at others. Below this rock lies, what has been denominated by English geologists, the millstone grit, or a coarse grained sand-stone-the same rock, as Mr. Eaton confidently believes, which "accompanies the most important coal measures of the eastern continent." This stone is deemed an essential feature of the coal district of Northumberland; and when it is seen cropping out with the limestone, on which it rests, the coal formation is considered as terminating. At the Madeley colliery in Shropshire, England, a stratum of coarse sand-stone or grit is found at the depth of 430 feet. Below this stratum are two distinct strata of sandstone differing in their geological character, and separated by beds of coal. In 1811, the whole depth of the pit was 729 feet.§ The sandstone at the Onondaga salt springs has been bored through, and a conglomerate of rounded pebbles penetrated to the depth of eight feet. The whole depth of the boring in this case was but about 250 feet. No traces of coal have been discovered, and nothing to raise the expectation of finding it, but the nature of the formation, which has been described. In treating of the principal coal formations of England, the foling series of rocks are considered in connexion with the coal measures: 1. Coal measures; 2. Millstone grit and shale; 3. Carboniferous or mountain limestone; 4. Old red sandstone. Sometimes the two last members of the series are wanting, and the coal is found resting upon transition rocks, forming what has been denominated independent coal formations. The strata at Salina have never been examined to the termination of the second rock in the series; and to that extent a strong similarity is found between them and the upper strata of some of the coal fields in England. The whole matter is however left in great uncertainty; but if in this widely extended district, characterized, so far as it has been examined, by the geological features which every where else afford to the man of science the strongest assurance of the presence *Trans. of the Geol. Society, vol. 4, part 1. + Survey of the Canal District, pages 19, 23, 35 and 102. Trans. Geol. Society, vol. 4, part 1, page 11. Ib. vol. 1, page 195. Conybeare and Phillips' Geology of England and Wales, p. 335. ¶ Ib. page 334. of this valuable mineral, it is not to be found, the case will constitute a singular instance of the failure of indications hitherto regarded as nearly infallible. The probabilities of finding coal within this State, are briefly presented in an article to be found in Silliman's Journal.* If the view therein presented is correct, the salt district is the only one, in which such a probability exists. Examinations have been made in several of the central southern counties with the hope of finding a continuation of the coal formation in the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania, but without success. More critical investigations may possibly lead to more satisfactory results, although the writer of the article above referred to, who has examined the country from the coal mines in Pennsylvania to the Seneca and Cayuga lakes, deems all such expectations hopeless. This position is questioned by a writer in Silliman's Journal,‡ and there may still be reason to anticipate better success in further investigations. The district of country bordering on the Susquehannah from the Pennsylvania line to its source, the Otsego lake, has not it is believed, been systematically examined. In this section anthracite coal has been found, and in a recent instance an inconsiderable expenditure of money has been made to ascertain the extent of the bed. Between the geological character of parts of Orange, Ulster and Greene counties, and that of the coal fields of Pennsylvania, there is a strong resemblance; and in this district also, coal might be sought for with reasonable expectations of finding it. If bituminous coal should be found in the neighborhood of the salt springs, it will doubtless be at a depth of several hundred feet below the surface. The cost of boring to such a depth would be more than an individual would be willing to incur for an uncertainty. The State has a deeper interest in the discovery than any individual can have. The salt springs are the property of the people. They are one of the principal sources of the public revenue: but as time advances, their productiveness may, and doubtless will, be impaired to a greater or less extent, by the increasing cost of fuel. The salt works on the Kenhaway river in Virginia would ere this time have been embarrassed for want of fuel but for the discovery of coal in the vicinity of the Salines. The neighbouring hills were completely divested of their woods beVol. 19, page 236. * Vol. 19, page 21, + Mr. Eaton. fore coal came into use; but these works must now continue to be among the most productive in the Union.* Should the proposed geological survey of this State be executed, and should the result of the examination of the Onondaga district be such as to justify the expectation of finding coal in the vicinity of the salt works, the time must come when the public interest will so strongly indicate the importance of realizing that expectation as to require some provision by law for making the necessary experiments by boring. Gypsum. The association of gypsum and rock salt is so common, that it has almost been regarded as invariable. It is found in abundance in several of the counties in the salt district; but not, as is said, in immediate contact with the strata, through which the brine is drawn at Salina. It abounds, however, in the immediate vicinity of the springs at that place. In digging wells it is always met with, but at a greater elevation than the salt marshes. Mr. Eaton asserts, that all the gypsum of the salt district exists in limited beds in the contiguous strata of calc slate, which extend without interruption from the Oncida creek to the Niagara river, a distance of more than two hundred miles; and that there are three distinct strata between those which contain the gypsum and those which contain the salt. Dr. Lewis C. Beck concurs in the opinion that gypsum is not associated with the salt formation of the canal district. Other writers, however, assert that gypsum and salt are associated in this district in the same manner as in Europe;§ and in boring for salt water at Montezuma, about 30 miles west of Salina, the gentlemen engaged in the experiment penetrated several layers of gypsum before reaching the brine, and in immediate contact with the strata containing the latter. In a philosophical point of view, the question is worthy of investigation; and should it prove, as Messrs. Eaton and Beck suppose, the case will prove an uncommon one. Although the association of the two minerals is nearly constant, more particularly when the salt occurs in a solid. state, it was for a time supposed that the "usual concomitant, gypsum," was wanting in the immediate vicinity of the salt mines of Cardona in Spain,|| which are among the most remarkable deposits *Silliman's Journal, vol. 29, page 119. Med. and Phys. Journal, vol. 5, page 180. † Survey of the Canal District, page 124. § Dr. Van Rensselaer's Essay on Salt, page 31, and Silliman's Journal, vol. 19, page 141. || Account by Dr, Traill, Trans, of the Geol. Society, vol. 3, page 412. of rock salt in Europe. But on a subsequent examination gypsum was found to enter very largely into the formation of the mountain of salt. The gypsum found in association with rock salt is believed to be almost universally anhydrous, though sometimes mixed with common gypsum. That which is found in the salt district in this State is believed to be the common gypsum, containing a due proportion of water of crystallization. This fact may possibly furnish ground for inferences unfavorable to the existence of beds of rock salt in this vicinity: but such inferences ought not to be drawn without considering whether the gypsum of this district may not have been originally anhydrous. The latter when exposed to the action of moisture readily absorbs water, and is converted into common gypsum. † The region in which gypsum is most abundant, includes Madison and some portion of the adjacent counties. It is also found in Ancram, Columbia county, and in numerous other localities. But it is to the salt district that we must look for such supplies of this mineral as are necessary for the various uses to which it is applied. Its localities should all be particularly noted, together with the extent of its beds, and the geographical relation which it bears, in all cases, to the salt springs. Iron. No State in the Union is richer in iron ores than New-York. In the northern primitive district it is most abundant. The valley of the Ausable river has about eighty forge fires constantly in operation in smelting the ore and converting it into pig iron.The estimated value of the iron manufactured in and exported from this valley in 1831, was about $280,000. There are two beds of ore, (in one of them a steam-engine is employed,) which annually furnish ore to be worked in the neigborhood of the value of from $30,000 to $40,000. St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Franklin, Clinton and Essex counties, are full of the richest ores of iron, and in all these counties it is manufactured into pigs, bars, bolts, or castings. This district, still almost entirely unexplored as to its mineralogical character, probably contains a larger amount of valuable metals than all the other counties of the State combined. It is stated as a very interesting fact, that so far as it has been examined, it bears a striking analogy in its formation to that of *De la Beche, Selections from Annales des Mines, page 55. + Bakewell's Introduction to Geology, pages 171 and 176. |