Show THE GILSONITE MINE written for the mining etu the parlette Pa riette mine situated about sev enty five miles northeast of price utah was first discovered in 1889 by a mr lake and sam gilson of price the gilsonite or asphaltum is a hydrocarbon variety of bitumen is 99 1 10 per cent pure and 9 10 per cent ash the vein which lays between bastard limestone pitches to the west about five degrees as do all true asphaltum fissuk veins the property was worked by various parties until 1894 when chicago capitalists formed a company known as the assyrian rubber company and sunk shafts at various points along the vein in 1899 a member of the united states geological survey estimated the mine to contain four hundred thousand tons of ore but since then it has been calculated by good authority to contain one million tons the average surface width of the vein is twenty inches and at the foot level a width of four feet is attained two years ago the assyrian company was absorbed by the american rubber asphaltum company with a capitalization aliza tion since then work has been pushed and the working capacity doubled this company now owns five and one half miles of land running northwest and southeast along the river last spring the utah mining machinery supply company of salt lake furnished the mine with a forty horsepower air compressor ingersoll S sargent argent drills seventy horsepower erie brie economic boiler fifty horsepower friction hoist and a six and one half horsepower launch engine which runs the dynamo supplying all electric lights and power the machinery is bolted to rocks and hot lead and concrete are poured around thus making it doubly secure the ore is mined by digging a trench down one side about eight inches deep and as high as the digger is tall then the ore is broken off more quickly and in larger pieces the only implement the digger uses is a pick sharpened to a pyramidal point no blasting is done except when sinking the shaft and in such cases the charges are fired by electricity from the surface electric bells are placed at the different drifts of the mine all parts of the shaft are lagged with and timbers collar braced to prevent rock falling and the large self dumping ton bucket from jumping the track all water used at the mine is hauled from the duchesne river a distance of twelve miles the water in the mine is salty sally and contains some the men work in hip boots rubber coats and hats about abat twenty five tons a day are produced and the company employs thirty six Ja laborers borers the american rubber asphaltum company besides their foreign markets have a large factory in chicago covering a block and a half where they manufacture a substance called mineral rubber from no I 1 ore by a long tedious process with certain oils mineral rubber is used as the base of all pipe coatings roof ings high class paints and varnishes and rubber goods thus we see that there are many new fields in manufacturing opening up for the utilization of varied mineral products |