Eureka Reporter | 1904-04-08 | Page 5 | Potash Mines of Prussia

POTASH MINES OF PRUSSIA they are the only source of the world s supply the potash which is dug from the royal pruss an mines located at Strass furt ninety miles from berlin is the sole so irce of the world s sup ply says the lou aville courier jour nal before the mines were discovered the best substitute wh ch could be found tor the prod ct was wood ash such as the southern plantations used in the old das for making lye soap the prussian mines are twenty seven in number and devoted to the production 0 salt before rock salt was discovered when the new variety of salt was given to the world about forty years ago the mines were kempor airily abandoned and in a few years a search for rod salt was instituted the salt was found but in a badly adulterated condition and an abaly sis of the adulterant revealed the fact that it was the most valuable part of the mineral the potash was at once turned to use as commercial fertil izer and establishments m louisville take a large proportion of the pro it is an ingredient of the material in which the tennessee and south carolina phosphate is largely used the mines are controlled by a syn dacate and are under the supervision of william emperor of germany and king of pruss a they employ 21 men and yield 1 carloads a day of potash of the entire output 5 per cent is used for agricultural pur poses while the remainder is used for chem cal purposes it iff largely util iced in the cyanide process of ex trading the ore