Show A MINE ABOVE GROUND nevada is truly a wonderful statland state and one of diversified possibilities even mining there takes a diversity of forms for il if interest in the regular methods of procuring minerals lags for a moment that state at once produces something unique as witness the mine above ground at tuscarora corora this is not along the line of the extraction of nitrogen from the atmosphere for that can lie be done anywhere and air in one stats stat is as good as in another but nevada has something different a potash mine the like of which probably exists nowhere else in the world about thirty years ago there was a mining plant at tuscarora in elko county which was operated by steam and fuel for steam plants in those thos e dy days 1 I S was about as scarce in nevada as good fellows at a prohibition convention so the com company pallY used sagebrush which was hauled in from froll the surrounding country by chinese contractors who kept several hundred men A a of bresli brus i work it took an enormous amount bolth to keep the furnaces in operation that after month and the result was in ill the le v vi the face of nature was denuded cikity for a distance of twenty or frold r wheeled miles and the ashes were alden the plant and dumped in an ever circle as time passed until when the closed down they w were C re stacked to a height he an lid cov of from fifty to one hundred feet rest have e ered several acres and so they ed d in peace for years and were practically forgotten but it has turned out that this is not to be a case of ashes to ashes and dust to dust but rather one of ashes to potash and thence to market it has been known for a long time that sagebrush is rich in potash and the report has been widely circulated during the past few months that a system has been devised for its extraction from the ashes by means of kiln treatment this statement naturally came to the attention of frank hertzer a well known linotype operator of tonopah To during his regular task of turning out proof it so happened that lie he had spent the early years of his life in the vicinity of the old mine at tuscarora and his mind at once turned to the great ash dump in the famous camp mr hertzer instead of dreaming of hazy possibilities at once secured an option on the property the ashes being of no apparent use to the company were secured at a reasonable price and the new owner in theory at least will run no more linotype machines for the dump is estimated to contain at least one hundred thousand tons of material containing seven per cent potash and worth approximately twenty two dollars a ton cost of extraction is said to be under two dollars per ton this mine above the ground is merely another example of the great possibilities of mining and those who wish may also draw a moral regarding the man who keeps his eyes open the story upsets a theory too in the fact that it proves that once in a great while it is possible for a newspaper man to amass great wealth |