Saltworks, once contaminated by coal smoke and pan scale, expanded their line of products and became far more toxic. By the 1880s, the age of canals had come to an end with the development of railroads, and salt was no longer profitable in upstate New York. But salt was used to manufacture soda ash, caustic soda, bicarbonate of soda, and other chemicals. The salt center of Syracuse was turned into a chemical manufacturing center, temporarily saving the industry but nearly destroying Lake Onondaga with pollution. Chlorine is a component of some of the deadliest industrial pollutants, including
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