History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

424

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

TESTING THE STRENGTH OF BRINES BY SALINOMETER.
The following is extracted from Alexander Winchell's report on
the Geology of Michigan, published in 1861. It has been thought
advisable to reprint it at length as a guide to our salt manufacturers:
"Pure water dissolves, at ordinary temperature, a little over
one-third its weight of salt, or from thirty-five to thirty-six hundredths. The amount varies somewhat with the temperature; and
the results of different experiments are, moreover, not perfectly
accordant; but from the most accurate observations, it appears
that 100 parts by weight of pure saturated brine, at temperatures
from 32 to 70 Fahr., contain from 26.3 to 26.7 parts of salt.
Some earlier determinations, however, gave but 25.7 parts, and
upon this figure the table was calculated.
"The specific gravity of a saturated brine at 60 ~ Fahr. is 1.205,
pure water being 1.000. The salinometer employed in many salt
works for fixing the value of brine is an areometer with an arbitrary
scale divided into 100 parts. The density of water on this scale is
represented by 0 ~ and that of saturated brine by 100 0. Each degree of the salinometer, therefore, corresponds very nearly to onequarter of one per cent. of salt."
The following pages, on analyses, manufacture, etc., are also
from Dr. Garrigues' report.
It must also be borne in mind thai brines of the same strength
possess different densities, depending upon the temperature, the
density rapidly diminishing as the temperature rises. It is consequently necessary to experiment on brines at a uniform or standard temperature. The ordinary standard for hvdrometrical operation is 60 ~ Fahrenheit's thermometer, but the standard telnperature at the Onondaga salines is 52 ~, that being the natural temperature of the brine as it issues from the well.
BRINE ANALYSES.
The first practical attempt at salt-well boring in Grand Rapids
was commenced Aug. 12, 1859, and finished Oct. 14, being 257
feet deep. A sample of brine taken at this time was analyzed by
Prof. Fish, with the following results:
Specific gravity............. 1.01752 IPER CRNT.
PER CIENT. Sulphate of lime............ 0.13120
Fixed constituents........... 2.33385 Chloride of calcium.......... 0.27641
Carbonate of iron.......... 0.00145 Chloride of magnesium...... 0 07196
" lime......... 0.00473 Chloride of potassium..... 0.01561
" magnesia.... 0.00084 Chloride of sodium (salt).... 1.73696
Free carbonic acid....... 0.00603 Loss...................... 0.08841
Silicic acid............... 0.00025
An analysis of brine from the first East Saginaw well, made by
Prof. Douglass, April 11, 1860, is as follows:
Specific gravity............. 1.179 Sulphate of lime.............116
Saline matter, per cent....... 29.017 Carbonate of iron.........105
Chloride of sodium (salt)..... 17.912 Chloride of potassium........,.220
calcium......... 2 142 W ater.................... 77.983
" magnesium..... 1.522 -
100.000