OCR Text |
Show 418 APPENDIX ¥.- CHEMICAL ANALYSES. t' would have done.-- That from, the Salt Lake being not more than about two quarts, and that from the Warm Spring a little inore than half a pint, while that from the Hot Spring was about a pint and a- half. I was compelled, therefore, to use the greatest possible econoniy in the materials, and to confine my attention to the most x common materials generally found in salines. Besides this, I was also obliged to confine myself mainly to the liquid contents of the vessels, and neglect, except in one case, ( namely, the water of the Warm Spring,) the gaseous matter*, and that in consequence of the sealing of the bottles having been loosened by the severe agi- " tation in travelling, so that more or less of the contents of each vessel had escaped before they arrived itf this city. It was therefore useless to , make any experiments on the supposed gaseous matters as they . may have existed at the sources. .' The great importance of the waters of Great Salt Late rendered it justifiable, in my view, to make some experiments of a practical character relative to the procuring from it of a goo4 quality of salt, even better than that usually found in this section of country, and by which it seems to me the water maybe a source of revenue and convenience. As will be seen in the detailed analysis below, the salt Water yields about twenty per cent, of pure common salt, and about two per cent, of foreign salts; most of the objectionable parts of which are the chloride of lime and the. chloride, of magnesia, both of which, being very deliquescent, attract moisture from the damp atmosphere, which has the effect to moisten and partially dissolve the common salt, and then when the mass is exposed to dry air, or heat, or both, a hard crust is formed. I believe I have found a remedy for the caking, which is cheap and easily used. It consists in sprinkling over the salt, obtained by the evaporation of the water and heaped up in a bin or box containing a porous bottom of blankets or other like tnaterial, a cold solution of the. salt as it is. Concentrated' from the lajce, till crystals begin to* be deposited. This concentrated brine, while it will dissolve none of the common salt, will dissolve all the chlorides of calcium and magnesium, and carry them down through the porous bottom, and thus leave the salt purer, and better than any now found in our markets. ' For persons ^ ho are obliged to prepare temporarily . the salt, as travellers passing through the country, the water of the lake, without concentration, may be used for washing out the deliquescent chlorides, sprinkling the heap of salt by a watering pot, at intervals |