High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The salt industry has a long history in and around Syracuse, New York. Jesuit missionaries visiting the region in 1654 were the first to report salty brine springs around the southern end of "Salt Lake", known today as Onondaga Lake. Later, the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784) and designation of the area by the State of New York as the "Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation" provided the basis for commercial salt production from the late 18th century through the early 20th century. The salt springs extended around much of Onondaga Lake, originating in the town of Salina and passing through Geddes and Liverpool to the mouth of Ninemile Creek, a distance of almost nine miles. Until 1900 the majority of the salt used in the United States came from Syracuse. Even today, Syracuse is sometimes known as "the Salt City".