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Show POTASH PLANT WILL be mim HERE Diamond Match Company Will Extract Mineral From Waters of Salt Lake. A $50,000 plant for the production of potash from the waters of Great Salt lake Is to be erected by the Diamond Hatch company, the biggest match concern con-cern in America, at Grants. Utah, about thirty miles west of Salt Ike City on the line of the Western Pacific. Announcement An-nouncement of the plans of the company was made yesterday by J. H. Iteeve of uswe-go, X. Y., a representative of the match concern, who will have charge of the Utah plant. Much of the material for the construction construc-tion of the plant Is now on the ground and work on some of the smaller buildings build-ings has already begun. It Is expected tnat the plant will be ready for operation about July 1. The potash produced will be used exclusively by the Diamond Match company in the manufacture of matches and will be shipped from Utah to the various factories of the company. According to Mr. Reeve, the erection of a match factory In Utah is nut contemplated. contem-plated. Since the beginning of the European war potasli has been a scarce article In America, as the most of It came from Germany. The blockade of the German ports by the allied navies was a signal for American manufacturers to begin the search for potash In their own country. Several experiments were conducted with the waters of Great Salt lake. The Diamond Dia-mond Match company's exerlmente, which began a year ago, resulted In evolving a satisfactory process for the production of potash In commercially profitable quantities. The process, while still more or less in the experimental stages, has been patented and will be used exclusively exclusive-ly by the match concern. The matcli company's chemists came to Salt Lake last summer and conducted experiments, ex-periments, with results that brought the belief ttiat the plan was feasible. Mr. Reeve and C. B. Smith, a chemist from the main factory of the match companv at Oswego. N, Y., came to Salt Lake last November, conducted some further experiments and went about obtaining a site and arranging plans for the erection of the plant. Both men will remain here, Mr. Reeve as manager and Mr. Smith as head of the laboratories. The plant Is to be erected on the unit plan and only one unit will be built at this time. Cither units will be added as the demand and the success of further experiments Justify. |