Show production OF ASBESTOS the asbestos industry of the united states is in better condition now than ever before especially as to the quantity and the grade produced andee outlook is encouraging most of the asbestos used in the large asbestos factories of the united states comes from canada but the growing appreciation of the high quality american fiber especially that from arizona is a welcome feature of the industry the total quantity of domestic asbestos so sold id in 1917 according to J S diller of the united states geological survey department of the interior was 1683 short tons valued at an increase of about 13 per cent in both quantity and value over 1916 most of the domestic asbestos comes from arizona where the proportion of crude spinning fiber to that of lower grades is much larger than in canada so that the average price of american fiber in 1917 was a ton whereas the average price of that in canada was only about 50 some years ago the opinion was expressed that as the arizona fiber contains less iron than that mined in canada it is therefore better adapted to use for electrical insulation than the canadian fiber this opinion has lately been confirmed by analyses made by R E zimmerman of pittsburgh whose investigations also indicate that the harshness of certain parts of the arizona asbestos is due to thin films of calcite among the fibers A small amount of spinning fiber was mined in fremont county wyoming from a contact deposit of remarkable interest the increased demands for asbestos due to the war have been met largely by increased imports from canada the imports of asbestos from south africa and italy have been largely cut off the demand for imported asbestos for use in filters is being supplied by amphibole asbestos obtained from residual deposits of the crystalline rocks of maryland |