Note 201 — Chapter XXXIII · RETURN ON THE ERIE CANAL AND THE RIVER HUDSON TO NEW YORK—VOYAGE TO EUROPE

The salt springs of this vicinity were noted by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century. By 1770, salt from this region was an article of barter among Indian tribes. The first made by white men was in 1788; primitive methods were followed, however, until in 1797 the state set apart a reservation of thirteen thousand acres, embracing the saline springs, and the next year manufacture on a large scale was begun. Although much of the land was afterwards sold by the state, control of the salines was maintained by the government for a hundred years; in 1898, however, the state finding participation in this manufacture unprofitable, the springs became private property.—Ed.