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Show WORLD WAITS FOR MARYSVALE'S ALUMINUM I Potash Plant in Alunlte Area 1 - - - ' . . - 1 , . I J rnmV ".if . ,,a ..'It,: . . r.J-T. , By THE MARYSVALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE A DOZEN Utah counties point with prld to mines of gold, silver and lead. But one only can boast, in addition to these, a mineral In unlv. real demand, and that In unlimited quantity. The area around Marysvale, Piute county, coun-ty, has. so far as known, a mono-, poly of "aluuite", the rock from which aluminum la extracted. Adventure and romance attended the discovery and development of the silver, lead and gold deposits which first lured prospectors to Marysvale and the adjacont territory. terri-tory. Originally "Marysvale" was not "Marysvale" at all, nor was it a mining settlement. Beautiful trees and sparkling waters made It summer camping spot so Ideal that Mormon church leaders, on an exploring expedition In 1856, called It "Merryvllle". Its present name was adopted later. , Frank E. King started a ranch there. While he raised calves, an old California miner named Hewitt panned for gold. The miner found "colors" along Pine creek. Jacob Hess and Ebeneter Hanks, In 1869, tried aluiclng.. This failed, but. crossing the creek, they discovered a lode and filed on the "Webster", the first mineral location In Piute county. The ore was rich, but transportation cost was prohibitive and a home-made smelter did not work. Some 200 prospectors flocked In. Good cropplngs were found, but no one could afford the wagon haul to Salt Lake City. Joseph Smith, from Silver Reef, stopping at a ranch south of Marysvale, Marys-vale, went deer hunting one day. In a path worn deep by migrating herds he saw the gleam of metal. Tests showed high values In silver, lead and gold. Digging began. In 1873 and 1874 about 400 tons of $85 ore was hauled 125 miles to the nearest railroad point and shipped. The ore body proving large, attempts were made to mill it. Not, however, until the Salisbury Salis-bury brothers of Salt Lake City blocked out a great tonnage and erected a modern mill did the "Deer Trial" become . a bonanza. At one time this mine had a monthly month-ly payroll of more than $25,000, employed 175 men and paid taxes of about , $12,000 a year. It is worked now by some 60 lessees. After the completion of a railroad rail-road to Marysvale the Webster mine was enabled to send ore out to the smelters. The Wedge, on a peak south of the Webster, startled the public by the extreme richness of Its gold seams, some of which are said to have averaged aver-aged $9,000 to the ton. These high values encouraged prospecting for gold in the mountains northwest of Marysvale. Ore was first discovered dis-covered there In 1888 by Douglass Tompklnson, of Fillmore. In one claim a shaft struck rock worth $286 per ton in gold. Tompklnson and his partners formed a company com-pany and built a 100-ton mill. Surrounding Sur-rounding claims struck ore. Peter Ki nberly, of Chicago, and associates asso-ciates acquired the Annie Laurie and other groups. The camp was christened "Klmborly". At the Annie Laurie Klmborly erected a 300-ton mill and employed 300 men. About 200 more men were put to work by other mines and prospects. By 1900 the little camp had become be-come a prosperous town. During eight years of operation by the Annie Laurie, Piute county, ordinarily ordi-narily poor, collected more money in taxes than It needed. Flush days ended. The Annie Laurie was "sold east" by the Kimberly Interests and, In 1916, was taken over by B. F. Bauer, of Salt Lake. The price of gold was advanced. Bauer Improved the camp, remodeled the mill and, in 1936, disposed of the property to a New York syndicate. Near Marysvale masses of a "pink spar" had long piqued the curiosity of Tom Qlllan. Samples sent to Washington by A. E. Custer, Cus-ter, a Salt Lake City assayer, revealed re-vealed 38 aluminum, 37 sulphur sul-phur and 11 potash. Glllan and J. U. Sargent had already locattd Borne claims the first locations of alunlte on record. The potash content con-tent was hailed as a means of breaking the German monopoly of that product. After the World war started it became Indispensable. A process for Its recovery was devised de-vised by Howard Chapell and, In 1910, the Gillan and Sargent claims were bought by the Mineral Products Pro-ducts Corporation. Spurred by the war demand, the corporation established es-tablished a plant for the production of sulphate of potash. Between October, 1915. and December, 1920, more than 250,000 tons of high-grade high-grade alunite was mined and treated treat-ed at a cost Of $40,000 a month. The aluminum, constituting one third of the alunlte, has since dominated dom-inated the picture. The source of supply is practically Inexhaustible. Millions of tons remain In the ground of the Mineral Products, Florence and Bradburn companies and there are vast- deposits of lower grade ore around them. The supply Is assured; only reduction facilities are lacking. . Extensive research by the government and private capital aims at the development develop-ment of low-cost methods of extracting ex-tracting aluminum oxide from alunite In a form suitable for production pro-duction ot metallic aluminum. Experience Ex-perience in foreign countries and the generation of cheap electric power of Boulder dam point to success. Meanwhile the demand for aluminum in airplanes, streamline trains, ships, wire, furniture, paints and Industries still in the making grows day by day and a broad market for this unique product of Marysvale'a hills will be waiting when technical improvements remove re-move present obstacles. |