Show FAMOUS MINING STRIKES By THOMAS E E. E STEWARD How We Get Aluminum E who was told that Arkansas ONE ONU was os the principal source of bauxite baux ite Ire In the United States totes would probably a ably bly yawn wearily and ask what of ot It nut Hut If It told that the same ume state p produced ot the oro ore on which the ri rich ch and ond swiftly growing aluminum Industry industry In in- Is ba based ed he be would show much k keener Interest Little has bos been written writ writ- I te ten n about the methods of ot producing aluminum so that while It Is a com com- I In er e every household In the fo form rm of pans puns kettles pots coffeepots and c cups ups most must people take It for granted or possibly assume that It Is a mixture mixture mix mix- l ture ure of other metals Aluminum known In British countries coun coun- tr tries ies as liS aluminium was first produced In to the United States In 1883 1533 although In that year only 83 pounds was pro pro- doted But flat In 1590 an on Inventor b by the name of ot Hall flail perfected a n process for tor e extracting metallic aluminum from It Its II o ores res and so 80 laid the basis for tor fora a 8 swift growing ly-growing Ing Industry The patents were obtained by the Pittsburgh Reduction company c forerunner of ot the Aluminum Coupons Company of ot America In By 1001 the I U United State Stater was producing 3 I m metric etric tons tuna of this metal while in 1918 1013 at the peak of ot war needs for tor c copper opper and ond other metals which aluminum n num uns can replace It reached m metric etric tons tOilS As the war wor demand e eased ased ort oft this volume dropped again to about 2000 tons in 1022 1922 Bauxite from which aluminum Is matte made occurs s In tn Tennessee Alabama and ond a nd Georgia as lIS lISell well ell as In Arkansas i In n the time United States on and 1 there timers also are considerable quantities of It tt In fo S South America some aunts of which have e r recently been lI acquired by the time Aluminum num Company of America Ore production production pro pro- d In to Arkansas was 41 tons In H 1023 3 and tons In the time three other American states states In which this v valuable mineral Is mined Virginia a also has some bauxite although It has not yet figured to any great extent i In III n commerce Aluminum Is Js known chiefly y for tor Its e excellence ns os a conductor of ot heat bent or electricity and ond for tor Its rust resistant q qualities Latterly however aluminum has hus f found Its greatest usefulness In to automobile automobile auto auto- automobile mobile body construction where Its Ita t lightness together with a considerable consider a able oble ble strength gives It marked Importance ante tance as os less weight and consequent higher mileage per gallon are sought by motor car cor manufacturers It Ii can only be used however at ot points where l Utile little or no stress need be resisted 8 as asIt It has hos far tar less toughness than n steel One of the most interesting facts fable about aluminum Is that ordinary c clay lay such as we till all see e almost dally daily Is ts an oxide rich In aluminum but Is t. Isan an nu o ore that Is useless outside the laboratory as os no method metho 1 of ot reducing It to metal has as liS yet et been hren found that was also cheap enough to warrant commercial exploitation Discovery of Nickel at Cobalt B BY p y CU CO COMPARISON with the amounts of or Iron Iroll copper or steel used In lh the e i Indu Industries of the world the time quantities of nickel that enter Into commerce are comparatively small In tin 1887 the time total consumption was set at 1 1000 1100 tons a year and ond at that time a single concern the le Ie Nickel owned by the produced more nickel titan than tho the world could consume deriving It from mines In New Caledonia Cal CIlI edonia the French Drench penal colon colony For some sonic yours years ears prior to that time there had hall been Interest In Iron ores ore s that occurred north of ot Sudbury In eastern Canada north of ot Lake I Erie These Thebe ores also contained 1 copper I Ef Et r- r forts to smelt thorn them Into a n satisfactory Iron proved pro futile however ever because of the large hUJe amount of sulphur In th the e ore When expert technological inns men n shifted hl Hell from n the Iron to the copper coppe r ores Oft'S they were still disappointed 1 In n the copper was some oafs whitish su sub sub- b stance which hardened 1 It to so great nn an extent that it wing was of little use Various chemists and metallurgist s t v on this problem and anti presently y It was discoverer IUSco that the element 1 In n question a was us nickel The a worthless s Iron ores ons were to become one cf of t th the C most Important sources of or this met oJ In iii nil all he the world In Iho those e da days s 's nickel was chiefly a s decorative e metal Presently the great greut war wor gods god toola toot tool a a hand hanl Makers of armor plate Cu foi fol t battleships discovered ered that flint steel 1 In n which some ome kel was Included wa was wall m much muth harder and 1 on more resistant t to tl o shell fire are than thun ordinary st steel 1 plates plate t s This so cd the demand demond for th the e nickel that the Canadian companies e entered an era ra of great prosperity Some of the thc lorg larger r of them a were ere er e merged Into n a concern named flamed the In to Nickel company Other Olie r Canadian deposits were owned by th the e Mond stuns family aridly I English millionaires And the demand demond had grown so large e that all nil th three e concerns prospered 1 In n eluding the rho Trench french company compall although b each was producing as us much or moor mort a nickel as os would have supplied th the a world but a n few years cars earlier As a product by-product of ot the Canadian nickel smelters considerable quant I ties ills of ot copper are ore recovered co but th the e Iron ores hate 1111 hut e not Dot yet jet et proved sa ant satisfactory satis- satis i a factory to be smelted lulu Into pig Illg Iron e bl blue ue the coloring 8 matter master that Is U to e ev ev- v Is la an nn oxide of ot nickel th the e principal rimy lIy In la the I nick nickel ei dt dl lct Is s appropriately named for fur 1 It It Cobalt l There here is also n considerable extraction of Miter In that district Il IS cy UT un N rp Union I |