Heh!
No idea. AFAIK, this place has always had plumbing -- or almost always, anyway. The west wing is a few years newer and is where the (cast iron)
sewage line exits the house. I don't know that I could find evidence of the original sewer line, if there was one.
Probably, it's a result of acid rain (not very acid, but enough) leaching through the dolomite foundation over decades. The salt was obtained from
crud that had fallen from the decomposing wall, which must've been exposed to rainwater for many years (bad gutters).
I suppose a more definitive test on the source would entail removing a chunk of the wall's rock and determining the gypsum and free calcium and
magnesium (as carbonates) content.
Tim
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