Show Utah Otah Has Shale Reduction Plant in Full Operation Commercially Producing Retort Is Constructed Con I in Kyune Canyon Near Colton U except to those directly interested and anda and a limited vJ number of their personal friends the first commercially pro- pro shale plant ever placed in operation in Utah is now engaged Mn n It the reduction of shale into oil and various byproducts According g. g to those In Interested I In the I lam lant was erected by ny the Rocky fountain Refining com company pan In Kyune anyon lanyon near Colton the success attend attend- ng the Initial operation of ot the first unit as las been so great that arrangements at atnee atnee nee nce will be made for tor the construction of ot retorts with the expectation hat a a. large battery soon will be In op ration Reports from Colton that the plant was wasn as n operation were confirmed today by S. S K head of ot the company which lias tas financed the operating concern He lIe that the tho plant was fired for tor the trat time last Saturday and now Is In Int I t toady teady The results operation o he declared were grea greater ter I Ih h han n had been een anticipated A out About y tons of ot shale are aro being every twenty four hours and an average f C fifty gallons of ot oil Is being extracted he lighter oil coming off ott with a heat of or rom to degrees and the heavy oil at about OO degrees degreeD The ammonia extraction he stated is very heavy while the gas supply generated generated gen gen- crated has been found to bo be great enough to provide fuel tuel for the unit although so 50 far tar as the operating company Is concerned con con- it has a splendid supply of ot fuel as well as of ot water on Its property The plant known as the DeBry multiple multiple mul mul- tiple retort process an Improvement on the process generally In use in France In that it has a continuous feed while white i it is not necessary to crush the shale Into smaller than ten inch pieces which come O out of ot the retort absolutely free tree from carbons carbons carbons car car- bons and can be powdered by crushing between the fingers Ingers It was by Mr Cassity that di directors directors directors di- di rectors of ot the Rocky Mountain Refining company would hold a meeting Saturday for tor the purpose of or arranging for tor the construction construction construction con con- as rapidly as s possible of ot additional additional additional addi addi- units The fact tact that a shale reduction plant plantIs Is In actual operation adds Interest to an article written by Victor C. C Anderson president of ot the Colorado School of ot Mines and which appeared in a recent publication publication publication tion of ot that institution This article said In part This is the age of ot oil If It oil Is ia kind oil shale is heir apparent Besides the extensive extensive ex ex- deposits In Colorado oil shale is found in Utah Wyoming Nevada Montana Montana Montana Mon Mon- tana and California In Canada it is found in Quebec New Brunswick Nova Scotia and Newfoundland In Scotland near Edinburg and on the Isle Islo of ot Skye In France at Autun and lea les Mines In South Africa in the Transvaal Trans Trans- vaal Mozambique and Natal Also in New South Wales Vales New Zealand Tasmania Tasmania Tas Tas- mania Brazil Ital Italy Spain Austria Austria- Hungary Serbia and Turkey The oil shale Industry has reached ached Its greatest development in Scotland where it was established in 1850 Next In Importance Importance Im Im- irn- irn comes France then New South Wales Vales In Tn Scotland the tho technical and nd ch ml- ml I I cal problems of ot the industry have been carefully solved and n on the whole the Industry has been commercially profit profit- able The beds are comparatively thin irregular steeply Inclined deep and expensive expensive expensive ex ex- ex- ex pensive to work being mined by means of ot shafts In the United States they are thicker richer and more easily worked The oil content of ot the Scotch is now much less than formerly and the shale could not be bo worked properly if It it were vere not for tor the tho ammonium produced produced produced pro pro- as a b byproduct product The higher grade shale in Scotland yields thirty to forty gallons of ot oil a t ton n tho the poorer grades only fifteen to eighteen but they are richer in ammonium sulphate yielding sixty to seventy pounds to the ton In northwestern Colorado and northeastern northeastern northeastern north north- eastern Utah oil shale deposits underlie an area of ot approximately square miles In Colorado they occur chiefly In Garfield Rio Blanco Mesa 1 and Moffat Moffat Mot Mot- fat tat counties and cover coyer 2500 square A conservative estimate is a thirty-foot thirty workable shale or a a. total of ot tons available in Colorado alone A lair fair average production is a a. barrel of ot oil to the ton of shale or barrels of ot oil available In five states there is activity in development de cle- cle- cle ve of ot the Industry In California where rich beds are found at Dillon Mont a retorting plant is being constructed constructed constructed con con- at Elko Nev two plants have bave been erected one financed by the Southern South em ern company and erected under the guidance of ot the United States bureau bureau bu bu- buI bri- reau of ot mines similar to the Pumpherston ston plant In Scotland the other using the Catlin process has completed a successful successful suc suc- uc- uc run and produced gallons of ot shale shalo oil at Watson atson Utah where a a. plant IB is under construction and at several several sev sev- eral points in Colorado If It Scotland can make malte the oil shale In Industry Industry industry In- In pay we in the United States should in time be able to do so Labor Laboris is cheaper in Scotland than in the United States and the Scotch shale produces more ammonium sulphate sulpha to than the Colorado Colorado Colo Cob rado shale These however are the only factors favorable to the Scotch shale All other elements are distinctly in favor of ot Colorado J These are The extent ex cx- feO Othe tent of the deposits th the great thickness n both of the medium and high grade shale the tho horizontal position of the strata and their height above the level of ot the creeks a combination that cheap heap mining adequate water supply for tor the condensing and cooling systems of or both the distilling and refining plants accessibility and nearness to railroads and markets the richness of ot the shale These features combine to make the oil shale deposits of ot Colorado the most valuable val of their kind in the world It Is declared that what Professor Protessor Alderson Alderson Alderson Al- Al derson has said of or the Colorado shale applies to as great an extent to the de deposits deposits deposits de- de posits of ot Utah which are considered fully tully ful tul- ly as extensive if It not greater than those of nt Colorado |