STASSFURT, a town in the Prussian province of Saxony, and one of the chief seats of the German salt-producing industry, is situated on both sides of the Bode, 19 miles to the south-west of Magdeburg. Although saline springs are mentioned here as early as the 13th century, the first attempt to bore for salt was not made until 1839, while the systematic exploitation of the salt-beds, to which the town is indebted for its prosperity, dates only from 1856. The shafts reached deposits of salt nt a depth of 850 feet, but the finer and purer layers lie more than 1100 feet below the surface. Besides the rock-salt, which is excavated by blasting, the saline deposits of Stassfurt yield a considerable quantity of deliquescent salts and other saline products, which have encouraged the foundation of numerous chemical factories in the town and in the neighbouring village of Leopoldshall, which stands upon Anhalt territory. The formation of the Stassfurt salt-beds and the composition of the rocksalt are described under Salt (vol. xxi. pp. 231, 232). The rock-salt works are mainly Government property, while the chemical factories are in private hands. About 2000 workmen are employed in the Stassfurt salt industry, and about 490,000 tons of raw salt are annually excavated. The population of the town, which contains one or two miscellaneous factories, was 16,457 in 1885.