OCR Text |
Show POTASH HI Gim RAPIDLY Production Increases Tenfold Ten-fold in Year, According to Federal Report. WASHINGTON, Feb. 22. A remarkable remark-able expansion in the American potash industry has resulted from efforts to make the United States independent of foreign sources for tlie potash used in munitions and for othr purposes, and although the boom did not get under way until late in 1SU6 production during the calendar year reached a value ten times as great as that of 1015. The 191(3 production is estimated in a preliminary report published today by the geological survev at 10,000 tons, with a value of $3,5O0,0u0. The estimate is based on incomplete returns which to date have accounted for 8830 tons. In If 17, the report says, with the boom in full swing, a much greater total will be shown. i Of the 88:;o tons reported, 5750 was ! produced from mineral and 3080 from ! organic sources. Natural salts and brines vielded tons; ahmite and silicate rocks 1900 tons: kelp 1110 tons; pearl ash 220 tons, and miscellaneous industrial wastes 1750 tons. "The largest output," the report says, "comfs from the Nebraska alkali al-kali lakes, but the natural saline deposits de-posits elsewhere, are now just beginning; to make important contributions. The recovery of potash front pearl ash is an old established industry. "A great deal of publicity has attended at-tended the efforts to obtain potash from kelp, but a similar organic source of high-grade potash salts has been quietly developed, which has proved more productive. Indeed, the reported ! production of a single establishment out-! out-! ranked the entire product of potash from kelp plants. ' |