Syracusan Salt

To the Onondaga Indians at a reservation 3 1/2 mi. south of Syracuse, the State of New York last week sent 150 bu. of salt and $700 in cash. No gift was this, but the annual payment in cash & kind stipulated by ancestors of the present Onondagas when the State purchased from them the site of the City of Syracuse in 1795. Reason for the salt: within the area of 10 sq. mi. originally purchased was all the salt in that region. The Indians apparently .had done without salt until 1654, when Jesuit Missionary Simon le Moyne discovered that a spring from which the natives would not drink, thinking evil spirits gave it its stench, was a fountain of salt brine. Once salt was the leading product of the Syracuse district. Now no salt is manufactured there, but brine from the deposits is pumped 20 mi. to Solvay Process Co. which uses it in its alkali industry.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.