Show BODY OF ASPHALT IN SALT LAKE an ogden special to the daily herald says the recession well nigh unprecedented during the last two years of the waters of the great salt lake has has uncovered some interesting geological formations on the north shore of that ody body of water the find is of special interest being a great deposit od of asphaltum with indications of oil of a very fine grade for many years year s it has been known that there was a locality on the north shore of the lake where a soft tarry substance oozing from fissures was to be found in small quantities and that this same substance in dried form was found scattered along the lake shore locations were made but no development work was done worthy of the name and even till now there has been practically no exploration of the district the lowering of the lake bed however has uncovered a considerable strip of land and has reduced the waters depth to a few inches where before it was so deep as to be over a mans head recently mhd th entire distance has been located as placer land on account of this black paint like ooze the locations are made by many different persons so far as known the only corporation which has become interested is the royal oil company a california concern which has some land there and which recently sent an expert to examine the field and to report on it product Is exhibited during the irrigation congress a few barrels of the product were exhibited at the county fair and the interest created by this and other agencies was so great that a week ago a party of gentlemen mostly from ogden went out to the place for an examination of the land but few of the ex were financially interested in the locality but all seem to be enthusiastic in their reports of what they saw and the possibilities in store for development the district of particular interest extends for about 2000 feet northeast and southeast at a bend in the water line about eight miles due south of hoselle io selle on the southern pacific the strip is about a third of a mile wide and is for the most part under water to the depth of from three to eighteen inches above the surface of the shallow water appear innumerable black points while in a few places are larger islands which abich have been gradually building up as the thick gummy substance oozed up from the bottom of the lake in one of the larger of these islands a pipe one inch and a half in diameter has been sunk to a depth of about sixty five feet from the top ap of this pipe there is a constant ooze of sticky black substance which has been subjected to chemical analysis and shows 54 per cent liquid asphaltum and 40 per cent fine oils springs in lake bed aside from the constant ooze from the pipe there are several good sized springs which are constantly sending up this stuff from the strata below the lake bottom some of them have little mound like islands while others are discharging the fluid into the waters of the lake which is blackened for a considerable space As the oil gradually distributes itself over the surface of the water and the sun shines down upon it all the prismatic colors are reflected making a remarkable sight J M zinn M J west and T E black have located the property on which the principal oozes are situated and others have located the shore for ten miles there being probably twenty ogden and salt lake men among the locators the theory of these gentlemen is that the asphaltum is a residue of the oil which exists in great quantities under the surface at considerable depth and that a portion of the liquid is forced up through the crevices the sediment accumulating year after year and composing the asphaltum beds may develop fuel oils from this it is reasoned that the sinking of oil wells would bring a flow of valuable oil having especial values as fuel oils aside from this the substance as it now exudes from the earth is valuable A number of t tho persons interested have had an analyses made which show the same general re suits one made by a distinguished milwaukee chemist besides giving the proportions of asphaltum 56 and of oils 40 together with other exhaustive data concludes as follows the crude substance can be used in crude form as an excellent lubricant for common vehicles also as a black paint if thinned with some turpentine its very preservative nature makes it excellent for the protection of wood as planks posts ties and the like when used in this way it must be liquefied by heating after the oil has been nearly all distilled off the crude substance left may be used for all purposes to which asphaltum may be put and is especially adapted for the manufacture of drubber hard har rubber articles also as a varnish for iron columns etc the crude substance being higher in percentage of gum asphalt in comparison to others will bring about 10 to 12 per barrel of fifty gallons the oils from 10 to 30 cents per gallon and the carefully separated hard gum asphalt about 40 per ton all at the spot and with the quality of refinement which is not expensive and not at all difficult |