Show scientists puzzled over origin of uintah basin gilsonite beds with the recent announcement ox oc the intention to resume work on the old st louis Glis gilsonite onite vein 2 miles east of ft duchesne in the uintah basin an interesting story Is recalled and tile the story of vast possibilities opened as this old vein was the pioneer in the worlds gilsonite extracting industry to the uintah basin too must 0 0 the lionor honor ot of being the place ot of of oe this rare lare and mul miu tiu seable mi mineral aeral back near 1885 samuel gilson prospector of note ar shit gait lake city saw a ground squirrel birrel burrowing a hole bole and observed the peculiar glint and color lf it kofile some ot of the dirt thrown out ot of aie the excavation closer apon on and later analysis disclosed a now member vt of the hydrocarbon hydro carbon family of 0 minerals minei als la in honor of its discoverer it was called gilsonite the finding was made at a point approximately near the old st louis mine which is now to be again worked it is understood gilsonite belongs to the mineral group which also has the forms of aspli alt as well as petroleum coals and some forms of graphite when in a solid natural state it burns but slowly and stubbornly and in a warm state is easily molded and is also easily melted irel ted when in III a finely fikely powdered on ansty state it Is oot only highly inflammable but explosive as well veins crosscut wide expanse for a stretch of sixty milts miles through inland empire there are numerous fissure dikes or veins of this gilsonite cutting across the thel huge basin from northwest to southwest starting at a point approximately six miles northeast of roosevelt and running to a point about five miles south of watson near the colorado state line the veins are lying on a verti al plane pointing in a true direction varying in width from fractions of an inch to many feet and in length from a rod to ten miles the deposit Is of undetermined depth but known to be in places feet in depth the peculiar fact is that it cuts through the lower lime stones leaving no trace but can be found below and above the ahe formations clear up to the tertiary beds the belt thus mineralized is nearly forty miles wide As the origin of the deposits af a times almes slightly fractured in the upper beds of tertiary alluvium geologists are either in doubt or dispute perhaps the more anore plausible theory and the one most generally accepted is that the substance arose from great depths in the form of a liquid originating in the decay of plant and anunti life and forced its way upward through places or of weakness and fracture in ill the soft and more recent upper beds that the deposit Is of recent origin la Is testified stilled te to by the extremely young I 1 beds it cuts through at the surface and the fact that it reaches through to the present surface however no means are at hand to tell just what elements were lost or added in the tae bedding pio process cess to give rise to the solidification and it is as yet beyond the power of model n science and laboratories to reproduce tile the phenomena at any places where the vein eln has been removed the walls walla remain oily and slick and smooth at times small oily drops of water will drip from the walls but never from the vein itself the walls are always stained raith these secretions the dust raised in the mining work is highly and is removed from the work mans skins skills with only tile the greatest of difficulty |