DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR

BULLETIN 599

OUR MINERAL RESERVES

HOW TO MAKE AMERICA INDUSTRIALLY 

INDEPENDENT

BY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1914
 y
CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction.............................................................. 5

Inventory of mineral resources.......................................... 5

± Present demand for information........................................ 6

Government publications........................................ t ..... 8

- The mineral products...................................................... 9

Value and supply...................................................... 9

Mineral fuels......:................................................... 9

Opportunity for export............................................ 10 Coai..................................:............................ 11

Petroleum........................................................ 12

Metals................................................................. 13

The general situation............................................... 13

Iron............................................................... 14

Manganese......................................................... 15

2!dnc ............................................................... 17

Lead............................................................. 22

Tin............................................................... 24

Copper............................................................ . 25

Aluminum........................................................ 26

*' Antimony.. ................. \...................................^ 27

Arsenic............................................................ 29

Platinum.......................................................... 29

Radium........................................................... 30

Miscellaneous minerals and mineral products............................ 30

' Cement..................................... 1..................... 30

Barytes........................................................... 31

 *> Phosphate rock.................................................... 33

Potash salts....................................................... 35

Nitrate........................................................... 36

Graphite........................................................... 37

Flint.............................................................. 38

Sulphur........................................................... 40

Magnesite...............................'........................... 41

' > Fluorspar......................................................... 42

Strontium........................................................ 42

-i Other products..................................................... 45

3

OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

By GEORGE OTIS SMITH.

INTRODUCTION.

INVENTORY OF MINERAL RESOURCES.

The United States is not only the world's greatest producer of 

mineral wealth, but, so far as estimates of the earth's treasures have 

shown, it possesses greater reserves of most of the essential minerals than any other nation. It is to our national mineral resources that the United States Geological Survey has given special 

attention since its organization in 1879, for the congressional enactment creating the Survey specified as its duties "the classification 

of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, 

mineral resources, and products of the' national domain."

Geologic investigations have been made with a view of determining 

the mode of occurrence and the extent of distribution not only of 

those minerals and rocks that possess present value, but also of those 

that have only possible future utility, the nature of which may be 

as yet neither known nor suspected. Thus a geologic map, in so 

far as its scale permits, is a graphic inventory both of the mineral 

resources now used and of those that are untouched because they 

are at present of no value. He is indeed a bold prophet, however, 

who pretends to forecast either the probability or improbability 

of future usefulness of any raw.. material. As has been illustrated 

by the radium mineral carnotite, the mineralogic curiosity of one 

decade may become the valuable ore of the next. The principal ore 

of aluminum, bauxite, was not even mentioned in a list of useful 

minerals published by the Geological Survey 25 years ago.

The Survey's annual report entitled "Mineral Eesources of the 

United States " contains not only statistical statements of production 

and consumption, which constitute an annual census of the mineral 

industry in all its phases, but also a series of comprehensive studies 

of the sources of mineral wealth, with estimates of the reserves.to 

be drawn upon for future production. The very nature of many 

mineral resources precludes exact knowledge of the extent of their 

reserves, and the estimates of other reserves must be made roughly 

quantitative. At best, future supply and demand can be only approximately measured, but the recognition of this limitation has not 

discouraged the collection of all available information concerning 

the country's mineral resources.

5
6 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

PRESENT DEMAND FOR INFORMATION.

The readjustments in the world's commerce necessitated by the 

European war have already imposed new conditions on many industries. Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane early brought 

to the public attention the importance of these readjustments with 

reference to the mineral industry. The following excerpts from his 

published interview of August 16 will serve to outline some of the 

new developments to be expected: .

A direct benefit to the United States from the European war will be its effect 

in making the people of this country realize to a greater extent the value of 

its mineral resources. It is entirely possible so to utilize these resources and 

expand our industries that the label " Made in America " will become familiar in 

our own and foreign markets. Of an importance second only to that of the food 

supply is the supply of mineral products necessary to meet the requirements 

of Twentieth century civilization. One of the first effects of the war has been 

to make us realize the interdependence of nations in the matter of food supply. 

Most of the countries now at war are dependent upon importation of foodstuffs, 

and we have cause for self-congratulation in the United States that we are 

able to feed ourselves. What we possibly have not so fully. realized is that 

we are nearly as independent in the possession of essential mineral resources, 

and that the interference with manufacturing caused by interruption of the 

flow of importations of many necessary raw materials may be overcome almost 

wholly by development of neglected resources in- our own country.

It has been easier and perhaps cheaper to import mineral products and materials from other countries than to go to the trouble and expense of developing 

our own resources of the same nature. Forced to the latter course by suspension of commerce from other countries, I believe that American enterprise and 

energy will almost at once turn to the development of the native resources, 

rather than permit production to lag and supply to be diminished in any 

industry. At present these deposits and resources are locked up out of use. 

To open them to use when the supply from other countries is cut off means to 

make American industries using these materials independent of the rest of

the world, and business men will not neglect the opportunity to make our 

industries safe from the interruptions of war we are now experiencing. When 

they have found the domestic supply and begin its use, they will not return to dependence upon the foreign supply, and thereafter good or bad times in the 

United States, so far as the maintenance of industries is concerned, will be 

more independent of foreign complications.

Already the copper industry has felt the injurious effect of war, and production has been curtailed. While considerable copper is consumed in the munitions of war, the constructive arts of peace furnish a far better world market 

for American copper than will the destructive art of war. In the case of zinc, 

however, the effect of the European war is the opposite. Still, it is within the 

limits of probability to expect a loss of a half million tons in the foreign production of zinc, or nearly half the world's output, with beneficial effect upon the 

recent overproduction in the United States, especially as affording the opportunity to export zinc and galvanized-iron products to South American countries, 

which market has hitherto been only in part utilized by our exporters.

Fuel oil has a large use in naval warfare of to-day, yet the tying up of the 

big tank steamers on both the Atlantic and Pacific seaports is already embarrassing the oil producers of this country, who depend so largely upon the 

export trade in all the forms of petroleum, crude and refined. On the other
INTRODUCTION. 7

hand, Russia, our strongest rival in oil production, must suffer more complete 

and longer continued interruption of exports, which should tend to enlarge the 

market for our oil. The supply of cheap foreign barytes has prevented the 

development of many good deposits of that mineral, but with the consumers on 

the Atlantic seaboard already looking for domestic supplies, some of the south: 

era mines should be reopened to supplement the output of those already in 

operation. The closure of the European market leaves but one buyer for the 

radium ores of Colorado and Utah, which is decidedly to the disadvantage of 

the miner. Had the legislation introduced in Congress been promptly enacted 

the United States Government would probably have been buying these,.ores at 

this time.

While the United States leads in coal mines, the six European nations now 

at war happen to be the six next largest coal-mining countries, producing together over half the world's coal. Interference with both the mining and the 

commerce of these nations must necessarily increase the demand for our coal, 

at least in the neutral countries of the world. It is not generally known, however, to what an extent we have been depending upon Europe, principally Germany, for many of the chemical products derivable from coal, and which we 

have been permitting to go to waste, in the most reckless manner. Coal tar 

obtained in the manufacture of coal gas and .of coke (in retort ovens) is capable of producing hundreds of chemical products, but the chemical industries 

dependent upon coal tar as a raw material have had little development in the 

United States. Our imports of coal-tar products in 1913 were valued at $11,000,000 

at initiating points and when they reached the ultimate consumer probably 

cost double that amount. If the present war continues any length of time the 

American consumer will have to do without aniline colors and dyes, certain 

drugs, and numerous other coal-tar products, or the American manufacturers 

will undertake to supply these essential commodities, which have hitherto carried the label " Made in Germany."

Several of the mineral products mentioned by Secretary Lane as 

those upon which American industries depend, although imported in 

large part, have been discussed more fully in later statements given 

to the public press by the Geological Survey. Press bulletins have 

been published on such subjects as potash, manganese, tin, flint pebbles, arsenic, antimony, and barytes, and in other bulletins the effect 

of the war on exports of copper, zinc, and radium has been discussed.

Within the last few weeks there has been a lively demand for 

information regarding possible sources of mineral products, both 

crude and manufactured. A considerable volume of correspondence 

on this subject has come to the Geological Survey, and with it the 

opportunity to act as an agent in bringing consumer and producer, 

into touch with each other. Equally important is the function of 

pointing out possible sources of minerals which hitherto have been 

imported from European countries, as well as indicating what supplies are available to meet the new demands for exports.

It seems advisable to bring together the information already given 

to the press and to supplement it with other data now at hand, with 

the purpose of furnishing to the public in convenient form a summary of the mineral resources available for utilization under the 

pressure of present conditions. The preparation of the press.bulle-
8 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

tins already published has devolved principally upon the geologists 

of the Survey, who for several years have made a special study of 

the country's mineral resources. The specialists who have thus 

contributed to this bulletin are Edson S. Bastin, Ernest F. Burchard, 

B. S. Butler, David T. Day, J. P. Dunlop, Frank L. Hess, J. M. Hill, 

Edward W. Parker, W. C. Phalen, and C. E. Siebenthal.

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS.

Several reports issued by the Government will be especially useful 

to those who are interested in mineral supplies. These publications 

furnish authoritative answers to many of the inquiries now made 

by importers and domestic consumers and by exporters and foreign 

buyers.1

The Geological Survey issues an annual report on " Mineral Eesources of the United States," which is published finally in two 

bound volumes, but at first in about 65 separate chapters, which are 

issued as pamphlets several months in advance of the bound volumes. 

Each of these chapters treats of an important mineral product..

Other annual publications of the Survey that contain reports on 

the country's mineral resources are the bulletins entitled " Contributions to Economic Geology," published in two series (I) metals and 

nonmetals except fuels, (II) mineral fuels and "Mineral Resources 

of Alaska," the report on the progress of investigations in Alaska. 

The separate papers in these bulletins are also issued in the form of 

advance chapters and include brief reports on geologic investigations in mining regions or on newly discovered deposits or recently 

opened mining districts. Examples of such chapters recently issued 

that are of interest in connection with the present discussion are 

entitled " Potash in western saline deposits," " Nitrate near Melrose, 

Mont.," "Late developments of magnesite deposits in California and 

Nevada," "Analyses of coal samples from various fields in the United 

States," and "A barite deposit near Wrangell, Alaska."

Another recent Survey publication is a bulletin entitled "Useful 

Minerals of the United States" (Bulletin 585), which may be described as a directory of all the minerals that are now of recognized 

utility, with a list of localities at which these minerals occur in sufficient quantity to be of present or possible future value. The directory of minerals is well supplemented by another bulletin of the 

Geological Survey, entitled "The Mining Districts of the Western 

United States" (Bulletin 507), which furnishes a complete index to 

the mineral-producing centers of the western part of the country. 

A series of maps showing the quarry localities of the country is 

contained in the 1911,1912, and 1913 volumes of "Mineral Resources

1 The publications here mentioned, issued by the United States Geological Survey, the 

Bureau of Mines, and the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, may be obtained 

free, until the editions are exhausted, on application to the respective bureaus at Washington, D. C.
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 9

of the United States," and the 1913 volume also contains a map 

showing the distribution of limestone.

The Bureau of Mines has issued a comprehensive report on coal 

analyses (Bulletin 22), representing the important analytical work 

done in connection with the fuel investigations by that bureau as 

well as the field surveys by the Geological Survey. Another bulletin 

on the same subject, including the analyses made since July 1, 1910, 

is in press and will be issued early in September.

The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce issues a "Monthly Summary of Commerce and 

Finance of the United States," which is, of course, the source of 

authoritative data regarding imports and exports.

Another source of information that is of service to the public is 1 

the Geological Survey's list of mineral producers. In response to 

specific inquiries as to the location of mines of any kind tributary 

to any particular market, extracts can be furnished from this list. 

The list, however, is not published, as it includes about 90,000 names 

and addresses of producers and is constantly being revised, the 

changes each year amounting to 25 per cent of the list. It can be 

largely utilized, however, in reply to inquiries from consumers of 

mineral products.

THE MINERAL PRODUCTS.

VALUE AND SUPPLY.

The value of the mineral production of the United States now 

reaches $2,500,000,000 a year. Though this value falls far below 

that of the country's farm products, the magnitude and scope of our 

mineral industry may be best measured by comparing our own 

mineral production with that of other countries, no one of which 

can compete with us in abundance or variety of mineral resources. 

The United States mines nearly 40 per cent of the world's output of 

coal and produced 65 per cent of the petroleum in 1913. Of the more 

essential metals, 40 per cent of the world's output of iron ore is 

raised from American mines, and the smelters of the United States 

furnish the world with 55 per cent of its copper and at least 30 per 

cent of its lead and zinc. These are the raw materials on which has 

been founded a great metallurgical industry, but on which can be 

built much more extensive chemical and metal-working industries.

The table of production published each year by the Geological 

Survey contains no less than 72 items. For present purposes only 

a relatively small number of these items need to be mentioned, and 

for convenience these may be grouped under three general headings mineral fuels, metals, and miscellaneous minerals, the last 

heading including principally structural materials, fertilizers, and 

crude chemicals. In each of these groups there are several minerals 

which- already enter largely into the world's commerce, and their
10 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

consideration is therefore pertinent to the present discussion. The 

country's reserves of certain of these minerals are great enough to 

stimulate larger exports and the interference with the importation 

of others enforces the utilization of reserves as yet relatively untouched. Of a few other mineral products unfortunately the domestic resources are inadequate, or at least undiscovered, and the 

problem they present is one of exploration and thorough investigation.

A glance at the statistics of mineral imports affords a means of 

comprehending in a broad way how great and complex is the task 

of attaining national independence in the mining, metallurgic, and 

chemical industries. Last year the imports of mineral products, 

both crude and manufactured, exceeded $270,000,000. Of this total 

probably $200,000,000 represents raw materials and crude metals, 

the value of these imports being only 8 per cent that of the domestic 

output. In this list of imports the larger items named in the order 

of value are unmanufactured copper, precious stones, nitrate of soda, 

copper ore and matte, nickel, tin, iron ore, pig iron and steel, petroleum products, manganese ores and alloys, platinum, aluminum, 

pyrite, graphite, stone, potash, and magnesite. In the discussion 

which follows it will be shown that this country has an abundant 

supply of most of these mineral products that are now imported 

in large amounts, and that as to them it can be independent of foreign countries. The only essential minerals of the first rank of which 

the United States has no known supply at all commensurate with its 

needs are nitrates, potash salts, tin, nickel, and platinum, the list 

thus comprising two essential mineral fertilizers and three very useful metals. Probably no other nation in the world so nearly approaches absolute independence in respect to mineral resources.

MINERAL FUELS. 

OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPORT.

In its reserves of mineral fuels, the United States holds an impregnable position as a world power in industry and commerce. Our 

production of coal overtops that of any other nation and, in fact, 

nearly equals the combined output of Great Britain and Germany, 

the nations that rank second and third. Inasmuch as the United 

States leads the world not only in coal production, but also in low 

cost of coal mining, and apparently possesses the greatest reserves, 

it follows, as was pointed out by Campbell and Parker in 1908, that 

foreign countries will obviously look more and more to the United 

States for their supplies of coal. The lower cost of production in 

the United States, which is due largely to the favorable location of 

the coal beds and the extensive use of mining machines, is offset in 

Great Britain by the proximity of the coal mines to the seaboard. 

The wages paid in the United States are higher than in any country
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 11

of Europe. This country's preeminence in the production of petroleum is even more conspicuous, so that the opportunity for exporting 

mineral fuels presents no immediate problems for the domestic 

producer.

COAL.

The exports of coal from the United States have never been large 

enough to affect the production materially. They amounted to 

20,000,000 short tons in 1912 and 23,200,000 tons in 1913, or less than 

4 per cent of the total output of the mines in each of those years. At 

present, however, while the six European nations that rank next to 

the United States as coal-mining countries are at war. the demand 

for export coal from neutral countries is inevitable.

It must be granted that the sale of manufactured products for 

export is preferable to the sale of raw materials, but there appears 

now to be a large opportunity for coal export that will not curtail 

in the least either the domestic supply of coal or the activities of 

domestic manufacturers. The exportation of coal to South American 

countries must be of advantage both in establishing trade relations 

and in insuring a balance of trade in our favor. Already shipments 

to European and South American ports have begun, and there is 

demand for authoritative information regarding the quality of the 

coal from the different fields accessible to the seaboard. How this 

information can be obtained has already been mentioned on page 9. 

As stated by Secretary Lane, " Coal is our one resource about which 

there need be no present anxiety." In 1908 Campbell estimated that 

our reserves of easily accessible anthracite and bituminous coal were 

more than eleven hundred billion (1,166,527,000,000) tons and that 

nearly half as much more of the same grades was accessible with 

difficulty, besides comparable tonnages of subbituminous coal and 

lignite. Five years later a new estimate made by the same geologist, 

in the light of much better geologic data, especially regarding the 

extent of the Rocky Mountain coal fields, exceeded these figures by 

nearly 30 per cent. His estimate of more than fifteen hundred billion 

(1,500,000,000,000) short tons in the-United States, exclusive of 

Alaska, was published in a volume on the world's coal resources resulting from an international inquiry made by the Twelfth International Geological Congress. This publication, in preparing which the 

geological surveys of the world cooperated, furnished the first authoritative statement of the coal supply of the world, and showed 

that North America possesses nearly two-thirds of this supply and 

that the United States alone has reserves exceeding those of any 

other continent and nearly double those of Europe.

In view of the steadily increasing consumption of coal in the 

United States the question how long the exportation of coal should 

be encouraged or continued must be considered at some future time,
12 OUE MINERAL RESERVES.

for it will plainly not be wise to deplete too greatly this reserve of 

fuel, on which the Nation's industrial life must depend. At present, 

however, the question of the duration of our coal supply includes so 

many indeterminate factors that any prophecy as to the date of its 

exhaustion must be of questionable value, and it does not now seem 

at all improvident for us to utilize in some degree this abundant 

resource as a means of building up our foreign commerce and making new markets for the products of our industries.

Until the present war broke out Great Britain was the only country that exported coal in considerable quantity, but Great Britain 

is already beginning to feel the pinch of poverty in her coal supplies, and it is highly probable that when peace is once more established she will place restrictions upon her exports of coal. In 1913 

the exports of coal from Great Britain amounted to 82,200,000 short 

tons, and the bunker trade called for 23,555,288 short tons more. In 

the same year the exports from the United States, as already stated, 

amounted to a little over 25,000,000 short tons and the total bunker 

trade at the principal ports New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

and Hampton Roads was only about 7,500,000 tons, indicating that 

most of the trans-Atlantic liners, the majority of which are English, 

have been carrying from the other side a sufficient quantity of coal 

for the round trip.

The high-grade steaming coals of the United States, which would 

be the coals in chief demand for export trade, are found largely in 

the eastern half of the Appalachian coal field, which includes the 

Clearfield, Allegheny, and Somerset districts of Pennsylvania on 

the north; the Cumberland region of Maryland; the Elk Garden, 

Fairmont, New Eiver, and Pocahontas districts of West Virginia; 

the southwestern counties of Virginia; the eastern counties of Kentucky and Tennessee; and the Birmingham and other districts of 

Alabama on the south. Of these coals, those available in highest 

quality are the semibituminous coals of the Pocahontas, New River, 

Elk Garden, and Cumberland districts and the better grades of 

Clearfield. The fields nearest the seaboard are those of the Cumberland and Elk Garden districts, but these fields are approaching 

exhaustion, so that the advantage in this respect will fall to the 

Alabama mines, which are being made more easily and cheaply 

accessible by the slack-water improvements in Warrior River, which 

have already resulted in a marked advance of Mobile as a shipping 

port.

PETROLEUM.

Perhaps the most important, change in the conditions of exports 

and imports affected by the war relates to crude petroleum and 

petroleum products, including benzine, gasoline, illuminating oils, 

lubricating oils, residuum, fuel oils, paraffine wax, and medicinal
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 13

preparations. The exports of these materials amount to over 3 per 

cent of the total usual exports from the United' States, their value 

for the fiscal year just closed being over $100,000,000.

The exportations of petroleum and its products have practically 

ceased for a time, with the exception of an occasional cargo of illuminating oil shipped to some country not in a state of war, especially 

to the West Indies and Mexico. This means the temporary loss to 

the United States of a foreign market, which consumed about onefifth of the oil produced, and its effect has been a still more serious 

disturbance in the conditions of the oil trade.

Up to a few years ago the imports of petroleum and its products 

into the United States were trifling. In 1912 the imports of crude 

oil from Mexico assumed considerable proportions, amounting to

145,247,828 gallons. They increased in the following year to 500,- 

000,000 gallons, and in 1914 to 773,052,480 gallons, worth $11,- 

776,737. This Mexican petroleum can be imported to the east coast 

of the United States at very low cost, to be used for fuel, and has 

been of a decided benefit in replacing oil produced in the United 

States, which is capable of higher utilization. The Mexican imports 

will probably continue. In addition benzine and gasoline have for 

several years been imported to the extent of 15,000,000 gallons, valued 

at about $1,000,000, from Borneo to the Pacific coast to make up the 

necessary supply for that region. These importations from Borneo 

will now cease and probably would have ceased in any event, on 

account of the surplus of gasoline now available in that region.

Mention of the opportunity for domestic manufacture of certain 

medicinal preparations from American petroleum will be found 

under the heading " Other products" (p. 45).

METALS. 

THE GENERAL SITUATION.

Of the rnetals and metallic ores the United States has been both an 

importer and an exporter. Our imports of iron ore are double our 

exports, whereas of metallic copper we export nearly twice as much 

as we import. The general rule, however, probably is that the imports of manufactured or partly manufactured metals largely exceed 

in value the ores and crude' metals brought into this country for 

domestic manufacture, and in our exports a somewhat similar ratio 

exists between crude material and manufactures, so that there is 

presented a double opportunity for increasing the scope and extent 

of our metal industries for both domestic consumption and export. 

Far too much American metal crosses the Atlantic in the crude or 

semicrude state only to come back to us in various manufactured 

forms.

The smelter industry in this country is in some degree dependent 

on foreign ores and matte. The production of metals from such
14 OUR MINERAL EESERVES.

sources last year amounted to $112,000,000, exclusive of gold and 

silver, which would probably increase thjs total 50 per cent. The 

production of copper from foreign sources was by far the larger 

item, the value of the metal being more than $58,000,000, but Europe 

was not a considerable exporter, the ore and matte coming principally from Mexico, Canada, and Peru. Nickel having a value -of 

nearly $19,000,000 and nearly an equal value of pig iron was produced from foreign ores, obtained mainly from Cuba. The largest 

metallic contributions from Europe are the ores of manganese and 

the ferroalloys, most of which are imported from European countries and represent a production of metals amounting to more than 

$8,000,000. Foreign lead and zinc, mainly Mexican ores, amounted 

to about $4,500,000 and $1,000,000, respectively. Although not imported in as large amount as most of the metals already mentioned, 

platinum really presents a greater problem for the future, inasmuch 

as the production of about 39,000 fine ounces, having a value of 

$1,800,000, is derived mainly from Eussian ores and concentrates, 

Colombia being the other foreign source. The sources of the antimony, arsenic, and bismuth consumed in this country are largely foreign, and the world prices of bismuth have been fixed by a European 

syndicate.

IRON.

The European countries that rank next to the United States in 

the output of iron ore as of coal Germany, Great Britain, and 

France are at war, and Austria and Russia are also large producers, 

though they are below. Sweden and Spain in rank. The interference 

with industries caused by military service can not fail to reduce the 

output of mine and furnace and to enlarge the demand for American 

iron and steel. The largest exporter of iron ore to .the United States 

is Cuba and the next is Canada, but the imports from these countries 

can hardly be seriously affected by present conditions. The imports 

of iron ore into the United States are relatively small except to blast 

furnaces on the Atlantic seaboard, although it has been expected 

that unless commerce with the west coast of South America is interrupted a considerable quantity of ore will soon come annually from 

Chile by way of the Panama Canal.

The iron-ore reserves in the United States are so enormous, however, that iron-mining operations can readily respond to an increased 

demand for ore should occasion require it. The foreign trade of the 

United States in pig iron is also relatively small, and the imports 

and exports of both iron ore and pig iron and steel should remain 

low, and efforts should be concentrated mainly on the problem of 

increasing the exports of iron and steel products from the United 

States, as well as that of supplying manufactures of iron and steel 

to the domestic market that formerly depended on imported products.
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 15

According to present information,1 there are strong indications 

that American steel is already needed abroad. Inquiries for steel 

products are being received by domestic manufacturers from consumers in England, Scotland, Japan, and South America. Consumers in England whose supply from Belgian mills has been cut 

off are placing orders for their immediate needs with American 

manufacturers. The demand for steel products on the Pacific coast 

became very active after the declaration of war; therefore the opening of the Panama Canal becomes at once a factor of great importance to the steel industry and should result in the permanent transference to American mills of a large part of the Pacific trade heretofore placed with mills in England, Germany, and Belgium.

The United States has heretofore had only a fraction of the trade 

with South America in iron and steel and machinery, but our manufacturers are now actively canvassing the possibilities of extending 

this trade, and the prospects for increasing our share of it are bright.

MANGANESE.

A serious phase of the interruption to commerce caused by the 

European war is the shutting off of the foreign supply of ferromanganese from the steel manufacturers of this country. The domestic marketed production of ferromanganese and spiegeleisen in 

1912 and 1913 was 227,939 long tons and 226,475 long tons, respectively, and the imports of these alloys for those years were 100,152 

long tons and 128,147 long tons, respectively, of which ferromanganese constituted 99,137 tons in 1912 and 128,070 tons in 1913. The 

imports of these alloys therefore constituted 30.5 and 36 per cent, 

respectively, of the available supply in 1912 and 1913. England and 

Germany have furnished most of these imported alloys in recent 

years. By far the greater part of the ferromanganese produced in 

the United States is manufactured by steel companies for their own 

consumption, so that those manufacturers who have heretofore depended on foreign supplies must either make arrangements to purchase the needed alloys from other domestic companies or else enter 

the field as producers themselves. In either event much more ferromanganese may have to be manufactured in the United States if 

the foreign supplies are cut off for any considerable period. Added 

impetus has thus been given to certain projects which are under 

way for the utilization of the manganiferous iron ores of the Cuyuna 

Range, Minnesota, in the manufacture of high-manganese pig iron 

and ferromanganese at Dunbar blast furnaces in Pennsylvania.

With regard to manganese ores, the situation presents features of 

still greater interest. Notwithstanding the abundant supplies of 

manganese in the United States, its domestic production has been 

relatively small, but the imports have been so large as to indicate a

1 Iron Trade Review, Aug. 20, 1914 ; Iron Age, Aug. 20, 1914.
16 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

strong demand for manganese ore. For instance, during the last 10 

years the annual domestic production of manganese ore has ranged 

between 1,500 and 7,000 long tons, while the imports ranged between 

108,000 and 345,000 long tons. In 1913 the domestic production of 

4,048 tons, the largest since 1908, was insignificant compared with 

the imports of 345,090 tons, and constituted only a little over 1 per 

cent of the available supply. Another illustration of the great disparity between the domestic production of manganese ore and the 

imports may be noted in the fact that the total production of the 

United States so far as recorded, going back to 1838, is 414,738 long 

tons an amount not greatly in excess of the importations during 

the single year 1913. The imports of manganese ore recorded since 

1868 have reached the grand total of 3,859,616 long tons, and the 

records are incomplete for the first 20 years of this period.

The foreign situation as viewed by D. F. Hewett early in 1914, in 

the chapter of Mineral Resources for 1913 on manganese and manganiferous ore, is as follows:

Imports of manganese ore increased approximately 15 per cent from 1912 

to 1913, and this increase came almost wholly from Russia. Unless industrial 

or political disturbances interfere, there is no doubt that a supply of ores will 

be available from the deposits of Russia, India, and Brazil for some years to 

come.

As the disturbances that have arisen will undoubtedly interfere 

to a greater or less extent with the shipment of foreign manganese 

ores, it is cheering to know that the United States possesses within 

easy reach of manufacturing centers abundant reserves of such ores.

The following notes on the domestic sources of manganese may be 

of interest in the present connection:

For commercial purposes materials containing manganese are separated into four classes (1) manganese ores, (2) manganiferous 

iron ores, (3) manganif erous silver ores, and (4) manganif erous zinc 

residuum. Though manganese forms a part of about a hundred 

minerals and is a relatively widespread element, practically all the 

manganese of commerce is derived from material containing one or 

more of the minerals polianite, pyrolusite, psilomelane, wad, manganite, brannite, and f ranklinite.

Commercial manganese ores are those which contain at least 35 

per cent of manganese and otherwise conform to the specifications 

of the trade in which they are used. Deposits of manganese ore 

occur in many parts of the United States, but are most abundant in 

the Applachian and Piedmont regions, in the southern Mississippi 

Valley, and on the Pacific coast. Small deposits occur in the New 

England, Rocky Mountain, and Great Basin regions. The principal 

producing districts up to the present time have been the James 

River-Staunton River and Blue Ridge regions of Virginia, the Cave 

Springs and Cartersville districts in Georgia, the Batesville district
MINEBAL PEODUCTS. 17

in Arkansas, and the. Livermore and Tesla districts in California. 

Districts of minor importance are the New Eiver region in Virginia, 

the northeastern Tennessee region, the McCormick region in South 

Carolina, and the Little Grande district in Utah. Mining and shipping in Virginia are now confined to the Blue Ridge and James 

River-Staunton River regions.

Manganiferous iron ores consist of mixtures of manganese and 

iron oxides and hydrous oxides, which, though usually containing 

manganese in excess of 5 per cent, may contain as little as 1 per cent. 

The proportion of iron in such ores is highly variable, but usually 

exceeds 40 per cent. Manganiferous iron ores occur in the United 

States chiefly in the New England, Appalachian, and Lake Superior 

regions, and minor deposits are found in the southern part of the 

Mississippi Valley and in the Rocky Mountain region. High-grade 

manganiferous iron ore used for its manganese content occurs in 

the Appalachian region. Other manganiferous iron ores, which are 

so low in manganese that they are classed as iron ores, are produced 

in the Appalachian and Lake Superior districts. In the blast furnace they yield a "high-manganese" pig iron, which is used for 

special purposes.

Manganiferous silver ores consist of mixtures of manganese and 

iron oxides and hydrous oxides, with small quantities of silver and 

lead minerals. As a rule the iron content exceeds the manganese 

content, but locally the iron is altogether absent.

Manganiferous silver ores occur in the Rocky Mountain and 

Great Basin regions, the principal producing locality being LeadAdlle, Colo. Leadville ores have been used in making spiegeleisen 

from time to time, but none are now used for this purpose.

Manganiferous zinc residuum is an artificial furnace product consisting of manganese and iron oxides in a matrix of slag. It is 

obtained from zinc volatilizing and oxidizing furnaces using New 

Jersey zinc ores. Small quantities of zinc residuum are used annually in the manufacture of spiegeleisen.

Bulletin 427 of the United States Geological Survey (" Manganese 

Deposits of the United States," by E. C. Harder), which is still 

available for free distribution, contains brief descriptions of most 

of the known deposits of manganese in this country and the important deposits of other countries, and concise summaries of the chemistry and mineralogy of manganese.

ZINC.

By a queer coincidence the great smelting centers of continental 

Europe are in regions where active fighting is now going on or may 

be expected in the near future. The zinc smelters of Upper Silesia 

are in the extreme southeastern portion of Prussia, mostly in the

61345° Bull. 599 14 2
18 : OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

Kattowitz, Beuthen, and Tarnowitz districts, which are adjacent to 

one another and lie within 5 or 10 miles of the Polish-Prussian 

border and near the corner of Russia, Austria, and Germany. The 

two smelters in Russian Poland are just across the border from the 

Silesian smelters. They all seem destined soon to be compelled to 

suspend or decrease operations on account of military activities, 

and in any, event their output certainly can not reach the outside 

world. The same thing is true of the smelters in Rhenish Prussia 

and Westphalia, some of which are very near and most .of which 

are within 100 miles of Liege. In Belgium all but three or four of 

the zinc-smelting plants lie between Verviers and Liege or are strung 

along the valley of the Meuse between Liege and Namur; and their 

industrial prospects can well be imagined. The zinc smelters of 

France lie outside of the territory where active military operations 

are likely, and so'will probably suffer only from scarcity of labor 

as the employees are called to the colors and from derangements 

of transportation. The same is true of the zinc smelters in England; but those of Austria-Hungary will, of course, be put out of 

commission. Other small smelters in Europe, Australia, and Japan 

will possibly not be affected except as transportation is interrupted. 

From these observations it can be seen that the zinc-smelting industry of Europe will be in a sadly demoralized condition while the war 

continues and for some time thereafter.

If the war continues for one year, the output of these countries for 

that period would, at a conservative estimate, be only about 250,000 

tons a loss of nearly 500,000 tons for the year. The continental 

spelter market will also be demoralized, however, so it may be that 

the reduced production will still be ample. Apparently England's 

industrial activities after the first readjustments are over may not 

be seriously restricted.

The war only serves to emphasize a condition which already confronted the zinc industry of the United States that smelting capacity and spelter production have increased faster than consumption 

in the United States, as shown by a growth from 93,958 retorts, 

having an estimated maximum capacity, when working on high-grade 

ore, of 404,960 tons in 1910, to 127,754 retorts at the close of 1914, 

with the completion of those now building, having an estimated 

maximum capacity of 542,955 tons. The production in 1910 was 

reported to be 210,424 tons; the production for the first half of 

1914 is at the rate of over 350,000 tons a year, and no doubt the 

second half of the year will witness a considerable gain over that 

figure. The increase of spelter stocks from 4,522 tons at the close 

of 1912 to 40,659 tons at the end of 1913, and to 64,039 tons at the 

middle of 1914, also shows that production is increasing faster than 

consumption.
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 19

The actual gain in capacity is even more than is indicated by these 

figures, for in the earlier years a number of small, antiquated 

smelters that had been idle for several years were included in estimating the total capacity, whereas in the later years almost all such 

smelters have been dismantled or abandoned completely, and there 

have been more new, modern additions than ever before in the same 

time. It is to be borne in mind that a certain portion of the capacity 

is taken up in the redistillation of zinc drosses, and that some plants 

do not yield full capacity because they treat lower-grade ores, so 

thai the spelter produced from ore always falls much short of the 

maximum capacity. On the other hand, the new zinc oxide plant 

at Leadville, Colo., will take a great deal of the low-grade carbonate 

ore away from the zinc smelters, so that the capacity per retort will 

be increased because of the higher grade of the remaining supply; 

and the introduction of ore flotation in the Western States will 

probably raise the grade of zinc concentrates from that section, likewise increasing the capacity per retort.

The following table shows that the production of zinc at the 

mines is steadily increasing:

Colorado .................................................................

Other States .............................................................

1911

137,633

77, 445

47,304

21,905

33,939

27,034

345,260

1912

152, 465

69,755

66,111

13,459

37, 115

39,911

378,816

1913

146,474

84,122

59,673

44,337

32,346

51,430

418,382

The largest increase in sight is the result of the application of ore 

flotation concentration in Montana, but an increase due to the same 

cause is to be looked for in Idaho and possibly in Utah. In Montana the Butte & Superior mill is now producing at the rate of 

50,000 tons of. zinc a year, and the new Pilot Butte mill, which has 

just gone into operation, should raise the State output to 70,000 tons 

a year, or if, as planned, another unit is added to this mill the State 

output may rise to 90,000 tons and more by 1915. In Colorado the 

new zinc-oxide plant at Leadville is reported to be purchasing 14 

per cent zinc carbonate ore, as against a minimum of about 20 per 

cent ore purchased by zinc smelters. As the Leadville carbonate ore 

is not amenable to concentration this means a large increase in the 

available zinc-ore resources of that region. Another source of zinc 

which will be made available in the future is zinc-bearing copper 

ore, the zinc content of which now either makes the ore unsalable 

or, when the ore is smelted for the copper, collects as flue and baghouse dusts, for the recovery of the zinc from which there is at 

present no satisfactory process. Much ore of this sort is mined in
20 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

Shasta County, Cal., and such zinciferous dusts are accumulating 

in large quantities at the smelters in that region.

With the establishment of peace in Mexico it is to be expected 

that imports of zinc ore from that country will again reach large 

proportions, and likewise the imports from Canada may perhaps 

become larger even than they were in 1909, before the imposition 

of the tariff. With the closure of the Belgian and other continental markets to the zinc concentrates from Broken Hill, Australia, 

those concentrates may be partly diverted to the United States. If 

a sufficient foreign market, becomes available the surplus smelter 

capacity in the United States might perhaps be employed in smelting foreign zinc ores under bond, and a business might grow up 

similar to that which exists in lead smelting. .

If an extensive business of smelting foreign zinc in bond should 

grow up it would probably be found desirable to, build special 

smelters for that work at tidewater in the vicinity of New York 

City, convenient to fuel supplies and acid markets and to water 

transportation to Mexico and through the Panama Canal to British 

Columbia and Australia. This business could be done only at the 

expense of domestic production of zinc ore, for the present domestic 

production more than equals the apparent domestic consumption as 

spelter and as zinc oxide and bids fair to exceed it greatly in a 

year or two unless consumption is increased by the development of 

export trade in manufactured zinc and galvanized-iron products.

The opening of the Panama Canal, the necessary establishment of 

American lines of transportation to South America, Australia, and 

the Orient, and in the present crisis the large dependence of those 

continents on the United States for their supply of zinc all make for

a quick commercial introduction of the products of the United 

States zinc industry to those continents an introduction which 

under other conditions might have taken years.

It is known that large stocks of spelter exist in Europe. The 

Ironmonger, of London, gives the stocks at the end of March as 

73,000 long tons and quotes an estimate of 80,000 long tons for the 

end of April. At that rate the stocks on hand June 30 must have 

beeen considerably over 100,000 short tons, compared to 64,039 short 

tons in the United States. The greater part of the European stocks, 

however, must have been held in the interior and must now be isolated, so that for the term of the war they may be disregarded. 

After the war what remains of these stocks will become available 

again and will possibly operate to depress prices, but in the meantime the United States zinc operators will have had the opportunity 

to. dispose of domestic stocks and to become established in the foreign markets.
MINERAL PRODUCTS,

The following statistics of zinc exports from the principal zincsmelting countries of Europe have been taken from the official publications of the countries concerned and are given for 1912 because 

official figures for 1913 are not available for all the countries:

Zinc exports in 19.1.2 from Germany, Belgium, France, and Great Britain, in

short tons. .

ToMoxico. ....................

Central America and West 

Indies....................

Australia and New Zealand. 

Asia, Japan, and East In-

« From 

Germany.

Slabs 

and 

sheets.

822

280 

4,018

5,720

10,840

Galvanized 

iron.

4,370

1,758

0,128

From 

Belgium.

Slabs 

and 

sheets.

2,903 

2,115

202 

4,897 

9,288 

2,547

5,950

27,908

Galvanized 

iron.

97 

8,835

60 

5,446

14,438

From 

France.

Slabs 

and 

sheets.

5,280 

15,328

8,502

29, 110

Galvanized 

iron.

837

5,261 

2,113 

58, 514 

1,282

13, 70S

81,715

From Great 

Britain.

Slabs 

and 

sheets.

465

4,152

4,617

Galvanized 

iron.

29,398 

1,319

4.812 

123, 203 

71,592 

143,525

287,360

661,269

Total.

Slabs 

and 

sheets.

4,190 

2,115

202 

10, 457 

28,634 

2,547

24,330

72, 475

Galvanized 

iron.

29,398 

2,150

10, 170 

138, 581 

130, 106 

144,867

308,272

703, 550

The foregoing table shows a foreign market for over 72,000 tons 

of zinc, of which about 30,000 tons consists of spelter in slabs and 

the remainder of zinc sheets. The American zinc industry should 

stand an excellent chance to take over the trade in zinc slabs and 

such part of the trade in zinc sheets as American zinc-rolling mills 

can furnish. The trade in galvanized-iron sheets is dominated by 

Great Britain, which controls 87 per cent of the total export trade 

in that commodity with the four countries concerned. In addition to 

smelting over 65,000 tons of spelter in her own plants Great Britain 

in 1913 imported 150,000 tons, presumably used chiefly in making 

her enormous output of galvanized iron. It would seem that an}' ' 

expansion in. Great Britain's foreign trade either in spelter and 

zinc sheets or in galvanized iron would entail the importation of 

more spelter from the United States. This country therefore has 

the opportunity to furnish the major part of 222,000 tons of spelter 

a year as long as the war lasts, together with whatever part' of the , 

spelter for the galvanized-iron trade of the southern continents and 

Asia it can acquire. The first demands will naturally come from 

Great Britain, and according to reports they have already begun. 

With the end of the war, however, the continental smelters will begin 

to compete strongly for that trade. The southern continents and Asia 

are therefore more likely to become steady outlets for our zinc 

products, and by the time the war closes American zinc should have 

obtained a permanent foothold in those markets, sufficient to take 

care of the surplus smelter capacity of the United States.
22 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

These calculations do not take into account the increased exports 

of zinc pigments that must absorb some of the domestic surplus zinc 

resources. Moreover, the United States imports each year from 

Continental Europe about 2,500 tons of zinc dust. This supply of 

zinc dust is now cut off, and the dust has already greatly advanced 

in price. Zinc dust is produced at two American smelters and could 

easily be produced at others, so that no doubt the better prices will 

result in the whole demand being supplied from domestic sources 

and thus absorbing another portion of the surplus zinc ore.

UEAD.

The effect of the war on the lead situation is as yet uncertain. One 

month of war has not disturbed the already low price of lead in the 

United States, but it would seem that the conflict must ultimately 

enhance the price. All exports of lead as well as of copper and zinc 

have been forbidden by the English Government, which has requisitioned all visible supplies, so that no lead is now available for 

the English consumer. Great Britain will apparently be the best 

market at present for American lead, although the lead now imported 

into England comes mostly from Spain and Australia, and so long as 

ocean transportation is available it will naturally continue to come 

from those countries. In 1913 the imports of lead into Great Britain 

exceeded her exports of lead by over 180,000 short tons.

The following table shows the lead output'of the principal producing countries in 1912-13, in short tons:

World's production of lead in 1912 and 1918.

France. .............................................................................

Other countries .....................................................................

1912

392,517

onr; 700

194 666

118^387 100 O7fi

56, 438

32, 187

34,282

115,961

1, 282, 513

1913

411,878

090 71:7

1QO fi97

127,867

68,343

. 55,997

33,620

30,864

118,495

1,270,458

It seems likely that the war will'curtail this output about 250,000 

tons, nearly one-fifth of the total production. Inasmuch as the product of those countries affected by the war would probably have been 

mostly consumed in the countries themselves, and as they are not now 

in a position to use much of the metal in arts and manufactures, it 

seems probable that the market value of lead will not be much 

affected by the curtailment of production.

Lead smelted from foreign ore in bond and articles manufactured 

from foreign lead and exported with benefit of drawback have been
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 23

exported from the United States in large quantities for many years, 

as shown by the following table, which gives also the production of 

lead in the United States from domestic and from foreign ores:

Production of lead in the United States and exports of foreign lead, 1909-1914-

[In short tons.]

roar.

1909........................... ................................

1910............................................................

1911. ...........................................................

1912. ...........................................................

1913............................................................

1914. ...........................................................

Production.

From domestic 

ore.

352,839 

375, 402 

391, 995 

392,517 

411,878

From 

foreign 

ore and 

bullion.

97,040 

94,870 

94, 984 

88,377 

50,582

Exports.

From . warehouse.

86,077 

69, 786 

101, 227 

64,900 

44,544 

a8,833

Under drawback.

4,796 

8,800 

12, 080 

11,320 

9,757

a Six months only.

There has been a rapid and progressive decline in the quantity of 

foreign lead smelted in the United States since 1911, owing to the 

unsettled conditions in Mexico. A similar decline appears in foreign 

exports. For the current year the exports of bonded lead will apparently not be more than one-third as much as in 1913 and about 

one-seventh as much as four years ago. The stock of foreign lead 

of all kinds remaining in warehouse June 30, 1914, was 7,237 short 

tons, principally at New York and El Paso.

For many years prior to 1914 there have been no exports of 

domestic lead ore, bullion, or pig lead. Manufactures only of domestic lead have been exported. During the first seven months of 1914 

the London price of lead has averaged 4.136 cents a pound, against 

3.962 cents, the price at New York. The difference in March, June, 

and July was about 0.3 cent a pound. By August 19 the London 

price had increased to 4.875 cents a pound, a full cent above the 

New York price. Commencing with March, there have been important exports of domestic lead to Europe, as follows:

Exports of domestic lead from United States to Europe, Marcli-July, J.9:Ui.

Short tons. 

March____ _____ ______________ 5, 838

April_________________________________ 5, 931 

May__________________________________ 2, 045 

June ________________________________ 6, 348 

July_________________. _______________ 10, 219+

30,381+

The exports up to and including June went principally to continental Europe, a little going to Russia, as indicated in the table 

below, but with the differential between London and New York 

prices which obtained in the middle of August, lead will no doubt be 

exported to London.
24 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

Destination of domestic lea'd exports.

Short tons.

Great Britain___________________________ 7,153 

Germany ________... ___:___________________ 5,141 

Netherlands __________^________________ 4, 720 

Belgium_______-______________________ 2,101 

Russia __________________ ______________ 448

The production of domestic lead in 1913 was the largest in the 

history of the industry, and considering trade conditions during that 

year it is likely that there was a considerable increase in domestic 

stocks. The exports of domestic lead, however, must have gone far 

toward relieving this condition. A continuation of these exportations must result in advanced prices in the United States.

TIN. .

Probably one of the best illustrations of America's opportunity 

to develop new industries is afforded by tin. The outbreak of the 

European war caused the New York price of tin to rise to 65 cents a 

pound early in August, although late in July tin was sold as low as 

34 and 35 cents a pound. This increase of price was due mostly to 

the insecurity of ocean freights, and already prices are lower, and 

they may go lower still, owing to the stoppage of manufacturing and 

other industrial plants in Europe and the consequent restriction of 

the market for bar and pig tin.

The known American deposits of tin are small, and production 

from them will probably not be much affected by the present higher 

prices. The benefit which the United States may obtain from the 

present situation is the establishment of a tin smelter in this country 

in which to smelt Bolivian tin ores and such small output of American ore as is produced. The tin concentrates produced last year in 

Alaska and shipped from Nome, as well as those produced near Gaffney, S. C., and Tinton, S. Dak., amounting to 84 tons of 60 per cent 

ore, were all shipped to British smelters.

At the present time between 30,000 and 40,000 tons of tin concentrates, carrying more than 20,000 tons of metallic tin, are'shipped 

each year from Bolivia to Europe for smelting. The United States 

imported several times that amount of metallic tin last year and 

would easily absorb all the tin smelted from the Bolivian ore. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the smelting of Bolivian 

ores presents no difficulties that American metallurgists can not readily overcome. Owing to the European war Bolivian ores will now 

be easier to buy, and if ships can be found to carry the ore an opportunity seems to be presented for Americans to begin purchasing ores 

that have hitherto gone to Europe.

A few j^ears ago a smelter was established at Bayonne, N. J., in 

which to smelt Malayan tin ores, but when the fact became known
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 25

the English" Government placed a high export duty on Malayan tin 

ores riot going to some part of the British Empire. Such a thing 

could not happen in Bolivia, and the smelting of Bolivian and other 

ores in this country would to some extent, at any rate, relieve American consumers from the speculative profits of the London market.

COPPER.

With the possible exception of the silver industry, the copper industry will probably feel the injurious effects of the European war 

more seriously than any other of the leading American metal industries. During the last five years approximately 50 per cent of the 

copper turned out by American refineries has been exported almost 

entirely to the countries now involved in the European war. Some 

of this copper has been imported for metallurgical treatment, and 

the imports will probably be somewhat restricted on account of 

shipping conditions.'

During these five years, however, domestic consumers have taken 

only about 63 to 67 per cent of the copper produced from mines 

within the United States, so it is evident that there must be a material curtailment of production while present conditions prevail. 

Considerable copper is of course consumed in munitions of war and 

for other military purposes, but the constructive arts of peace are 

far m.ore favorable for the copper industry than the destructive art 

of war.

American producers have already greatly curtailed their production, and it seems almost certain that the output must be materially 

restricted for an indefinite period, the length of which will depend 

largely on the European conditions.

Out of the total copper exports in 1913, valued at $143,000,000, 

over $126,000,000 represented metal in pigs, ingots, and bars, and 

nearly all the remainder was" exported in plates, sheets, rods, and 

wire. All these exports went to European countries with the 

exception of about $7,000,000 worth, which was sent mainly to 

Canada. Both the imports and the exports of articles manufactured 

of copper and brass were comparatively small. The exports of articles made from brass amounted to only about $5,600,000, an almost 

negligible quantity compared with the domestic consumption. The 

value of the European exports of articles manufactured from copper 

and brass was undoubtedly many times that of the exports from the 

United States. A very small percentage .of the European exports 

came to the United States, so that the war will have little effect on 

domestic trade.

The opportunity for the American manufacturer lies in entering 

the foreign, markets that were largely supplied by European exports 

of manufactured goods. The capacity of the domestic manufactur-
26 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

ing plants has not been strained to meet consumption and the plants 

have not been operated to full capacity, so that as far as manufacturing facilities are concerned they are able to supply a large part of 

any demand from South America, Africa, China, Australia, and 

other countries. With lack of competition from Europe and low 

prices for crude material the export trade should be profitable to 

the manufacturers and result in the consumption of nearly all the 

domestic production of copper.

ALUMINUM.

During the last 10 years there has been a rapid and healthy growth 

in the consumption of metallic aluminum in the United States. 

From less than 9,000,000 pounds in 1904 the consumption has grown 

to more than 72,000,000 pounds in 1914. This increase was partly 

met, in some years at least, by the increase in imports. Although 

most of the aluminum consumed in the United States is of domestic 

origin, a very considerable part of it is imported from France and 

other European countries. With the possible cutting off of the 

European supply of the metal scrap, crude, and manufactured it 

will be increasingly difficult to fill the domestic need.

The use of metallic aluminum is widespread. Its employment in 

the manufacture of articles of everyday use has become so common that such articles no longer attract attention. Its use, however, 

is now being extended to the construction of welded tanks, cooking 

vats, and vessels which are employed by brewers, preserve manufacturers, and fat recoverers, and in similar industries where a 

metal that will conduct heat, will not corrode, and is nonpoisonous is 

essential. Aluminum vessels of large size are used also in the manufacture of essences, sirups>, varnishes, fatty acids, table oils, and 

nitric acid. A recently developed branch of the aluminum industry 

is the manufacture of the powdered metal known to the trade as 

aluminum-bronze powder, which is used extensively as a paint pigment, in explosives, in lithographing, and in printing. The use of 

aluminum wire as a conductor in long-distance power-transmitting 

schemes is of interest. Aluminum foil, though not exactly a new 

product, is now being used on a larger scale than ever before, owing 

to improved methods in its manufacture the result of long and 

expensive experiments which have reduced its cost appreciably. 

Finally, the use of the metal in aeroplanes and automobiles may be 

mentioned.

Plants manufacturing aluminum in the United States have been 

rapidly expending and enlarging their output in recent years to 

meet the growing demands for the metal. One of the largest projects is that of the Southern Aluminum Co., which is vigorously 

pushing operations on the Yadkin Eiver, N. C. This company, with
MINEEAL PRODUCTS. 27

a capital of several million dollars, has, it is understood, been organized by an amalgamation of certain French and Swiss interests 

and of certain metal interests in the United States. The company 

contemplates erecting a plant where more than 100,000 horsepower 

will be developed. Whether the European war will interfere with 

the progress of this work can not be stated, but it is hoped that it 

will not.

The mineral bauxite, the raw material from' which metallic aluminum is made, comes from Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Arkansas furnishes the bulk of the ore used in the manufacture of the metal. The three southern Appalachian States named 

produce the greater part of the bauxite used in the manufacture of 

aluminum salts.

In 1913 we produced 210,241 long tons of bauxite, a marked increase, amounting to more than 30 per cent, over the production of 

the preceding year, and in fact a marked increase over the production of any previous year in the history of bauxite production. This 

increase is attributable in large measure to the advance in the metallic aluminum industry. The imports of bauxite in 1913 were 

21,456 long tons, valued at $85,746, or less than one-tenth of the 

domestic output. Most of this foreign ore came from France, which 

is to-day the leading bauxite-producing country of the world. With 

the interference with mining and shipping caused by the war it is 

a question whether this supply will not be greatly curtailed or completely cut off. This should greatly stimulate the search for new 

deposits and the working on a larger scale of the known deposits in 

the southern Appalachian States.

Bauxite is not only used in the manufacture of metallic aluminum 

but is employed extensively in making alum and the aluminum salts 

in general, bauxite brick for furnace linings, and artificial abrasives.

ANTIMONY. -

Antimony is ordinarily one of the cheaper metals, selling at one and 

a half times to twice the price of zinc; but after the outbreak of the 

European war it reached more than 20 cents a pound, a price higher 

than that of aluminum, though it is now lower. During the six years 

from 1908 to 1913, inclusive, the price of Cookson's antimony ranged 

from 7.45 to 10.31 cents a pound, and the yearly averages ranged 

from 8.24 to 8.58 cents a pound. Much of the time during the present 

year the price has been still lower, and toward the end of July it 

was quoted as 7 to 7.10 cents. Other brands have ranged from 0.25 

to 1.25 cents lower. As has been pointed out in the United States 

Geological Survey's reports, at these prices antimony ores can not 

be worked profitably under the high labor costs prevailing in the 

mining regions of the United States unless the deposits are very
OtJH MIHEBAL EESEEVES.

large and advantageously situated. No deposits of antimony ores 

have been found in the United States which entirely fulfill these conditions, and as a result practically all the antimony metal used here 

is imported from European smelters, mostly from England. The 

ores for these smelters come largely from China, Mexico, and France. 

So long as the war lasts, and especially so long as sea traffic is disturbed, the production will be curtailed and prices raised, for the 

use of antimony in type metal, and especially in bearing metals, is 

fixed and will continue. Other uses, such as the making of coffin 

trimmings, which consume a surprisingly large quantity of antimony and from which there is no secondary recovery, might conceivably turn to aluminum or other metals as substitutes.

For several years the production of antimony in the United States 

from domestic ores has been confined to that contained in antimonial 

lead and small quantities recovered in the electrolytic refining of 

copper and lead. A production of antimony from foreign ores 

which can only be estimated is also made. The antimonial lead is 

mostly a by-product in the smelting of the precious metals, and 

efforts are made to save all possible, so that this production can not 

be largely increased. The quantity saved in electrolytic copper refining can probably be increased, though not enough to make it a 

serious factor in the market.

The production, recovery, imports, and approximate consumption 

of antimony in the United States for 1913 are shown in the following 

table:

Production, recovery, imports, and consumption of antimony in the United

States, 1913.

Antimony contained in antimonial lead from all sources, including by-product antiImports:

Metal and rejralus. ..............................................................

Crude antimony and ore (probable antimony content) *.........................

Quantity

(short

tons).

2,540

2,775

6,240

1,200

12, 755

Value.

$430,491

462, 115

798,581

137,780

1,828,967

Besides these items, more than 1,000 tons of oxide and salts of 

antimony, valued at over $117,000, were imported.

It is probable that under the pressure of high prices attempts will 

be made, as in 1906-7, to work American deposits. If this can be 

done without great initial outlay, some antimony miners will probably make good profits; but it may be only a few months before 

prices will be back to or near those prevailing during the last six 

or seven years.
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 29

In the United States deposits of stibnite (antimony sulphide) near 

Gilham, Ark.; Battle Mountain, Lovelocks, and Austin, Nev.; Burke 

and Kingston, Idaho; Tonasket, Okanogan County, "Wash.; Graniteville and San Emigdio Canyon, Cal.; Antimony, Utah; Red Bridge, 

Oreg.; and other places are potentially productive in times of prices 

as high as those now prevailing.

A greater benefit than the temporary operation of the mines 

would probably accrue to this country from the establishment of 

smelters which would import and smelt Chinese, South American, 

Canadian, and Mexican antimony ores. At present the only regular 

antimony smelting in this country is done by a smelter which is said 

to be a branch of an English smelter.

ARSENIC.

The consumption of white arsenic in the United States in 1913 

amounted to about 7,200 tons, valued at $570,000, of which 2,513 

tons, valued at $159,236, was produced in this country as a byproduct from copper and precious-metal smelters, and the remainder 

was imported largely from European countries. For the present 

imports of arsenic will probably be seriously diminished by the 

European war. The American smelters can save much more arsenic 

than they do now, for the cheapness of the product has prevented the 

saving of all that Was practicable, and the war would seem to open 

the way for an increase in the American output.

Works for the exclusive production of arsenic have been erected 

at only two places in the United States Brinton, Va., and Mineral, 

Wash. It is difficult for such plants to produce arsenic to be sold in 

competition with the by-product of the smelters except in periods 

of high prices, such as may again prevail if the war and its industrial disturbances are long continued.

PLATINUM..

The production of platinum from domestic sources in the United 

States in 1913 only amounted to 1,034 fine ounces. Of this, only 483 

ounces was taken from placer mines in California and Oregon. As 

the estimated world's production in 1913 amounted to 268,339 ounces, 

the United States output amounted to less than one-half of 1 per 

cent. Of the world's output Russia contributed over 90 per cent 

and Colombia about 6 per cent. In addition to refined metal and 

manufactures of platinum valued at $3,065,489, the refiners in the 

United States recovered 39,154 fine ounces of platinum from imported, sands and ore. Much of this was probably used in the manufacture of jewelry. It is rather difficult to determine exactly what 

effect the war will have on the Russian mines. The output will 

undoubtedly decrease, but the European consumption of platinum
30 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

for jewelry and other purposes will be negligible. Prices for the 

metal were high during the last two years, and any large increase 

in values will probably result in a lessened consumption. The supply 

of crude metal available from sources other than Russia will not 

probably exceed 20,000 troy ounces. The high prices in 1913 did 

not result in any increase of the output from domestic mines, and it 

is not likely that the yield of platinum from such mines in 1914 will 

exceed 2,000 ounces. The sources of the domestic output have been 

limited to placer mines in California and Oregon and the Rambler 

mine in Wyoming and to the recovery from the refining of foreign 

and domestic bullion, scrap, sweepings, etc. It is reported that ore 

which carries considerable platinum is now being mined in Nevada. 

Although it appears that the supply of platinum will be only about 

25 per cent of that formerly available, it will be sufficient for necessary mechanical purposes if it is not diverted to mere purposes of 

personal adornment.

RADIUM.

The European war has, for the present at least, totally closed the 

European market to American radium ores. As is well known, the 

uranium ores of Colorado and Utah are sold exclusively for their 

radium content, so little use being known for the uranium that the 

ores can not be sold for their content of that element. The closure 

of the European market leaves the miners without a buyer; so that 

while the war lasts, and probably for some time afterward, the 

market will be restricted and without the benefit of competition.

As already pointed out by Secretary Lane, had the bills introduced 

in Congress been passed, the United States Government would probably have been in the market as a buyer, and the miner might now 

have a chance to sell his ore.

MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS AND MINERAL PRODUCTS.

CEMENT.

The United States imports relatively little hydraulic cement, only 

84,630 barrels having been imported in 1913, whereas the domestic 

production in that year was nearly 93,000,000 barrels. There is little 

or no need to import any cement, for all parts of the country are 

now fairly well supplied with mills for the manufacture of Portland 

cement, and the supply of raw materials is practically inexhaustible. 

A significant feature of the cement industry, however, is the fact 

that, though only about 80 per cent of the normal cement-producing 

capacity of the country is employed at the maximum, there is often 

an overproduction; yet the exports of hydraulic cement have scarcely 

exceeded 4,200,000 barrels in any year, this amount being only about
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 31

5 per cent of the total output not sufficient to take care of the 

surplus production in a year of great activity.

There seem to be excellent reasons for stimulating the export 

trade in cement as rapidly as possible, for, although the .export of 

a relatively bulky and low-priced material such as cement does not 

promise large direct profits to an individual producer, indirectly the 

creation and maintenance of an export trade should benefit the industry at large through the opportunity afforded of disposing of surplus 

stocks and thereby tending to maintain steadier prices.

American manufacturers have not yet made the most of their 

opportunities to establish greater export trade. Statistics show that 

the export of cement from England, Germany, Belgium, and France 

not only have been considerably greater than those from the United 

States., but have borne a much higher ratio to the production in 

these countries. The quantity of cement exported by France in 

recent years is estimated to have reached at least 23 per cent of her 

production, and that of Germany about 17 per cent. There are few 

cement plants in South American countries, and in the past these 

countries have been supplied mainly from Europe. There is evidently an opportunity now for the cement industry of the United 

States to secure this trade. The extent to which we have made ourselves independent of foreign cement in times of peace is shown 

by the fact that 20 years ago our domestic product was less than 

one-fifth (18.2 per cent) of the consumption. In 1913 our imports 

were less than 0.1 per cent of the domestic production, and our 

exports were from 30 to 40 times the imports.

BAEYTES.

Since the outbreak of the war in Europe many American users of 

foreign barytes have been forced to look at home for their future 

supplies, and it may be well to inform the general public that there 

is undoubtedly a good supply of barite in this country. Barytes 

has a wide variety of uses in the manufacture of paint, lithopone, 

wall paper, glass, artificial ivoryj insecticides, fertilizer, etc. The 

largest consumers of barytes are the manufacturers of "ready 

mixed " paint and of lithopone. The largest plants at which these 

products are made are near the Atlantic coast.

In 1912 the United States produced 37,478 short tons of barytes, 

valued at $153,313, or $4.09 a ton, and imported 26,186 short tons of 

crude barytes, valued at $52,467, or $2 a ton. In 1913 the domestic 

production was 45,298 short tons, valued at $156,275, or $3.45 a ton, 

and the imports of crude barytes were 35,840 short tons, valued at 

$61,409, or $1.71 a- ton. From these figures it can be readily seen 

that the users of barytes located on the eastern seaboard have been
32 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

able to procure foreign barytes cheaper than they could buy domestic 

barytes.

The following facts regarding the location both of mines in operation and of undeveloped deposits are given by the United States Geological Survey and will be of present interest.

In the United States the principal sources of supply are the Missouri and Appalachian districts. In 1913 the Missouri district furnished between 68 and 69 per cent of the total production of the 

United States, and among the Appalachian States Georgia, North 

Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Virginia, named in the 

order of production, reported an output of crude barytes.

So far as known, no barytes has been produced from Alabama 

mines since 1906. There are some deposits which probably could be 

worked in Calhoun, Etowah, and St. Clair counties, in the northeastern part of the State, and in Bibb County, near the center.

Within a radius of about 15 miles centered about Cartersville, Bartow county, Ga., considerable iron ore, ocher, arid barite are mined 

from residual clays derived from Cambrian and Ordovician rocks. 

The deposits are on the east side of the Appalachian fold and form 

a northward continuation of the Alabama field.

In Kentucky barite deposits are known in the central (Blue 

Grass) and western parts of the State. Barite has been mined in 

Boyle, Fayette, and Garrard counties south of Lexington, though 

deposits are known in 13 counties centered about the capital.

The greater part of the barytes produced in the United States is 

obtained from deposits in Washington, St. Francois, Franklin, and 

Jefferson counties, of east-central Missouri, and from Cole, Morgan, 

and Miller counties, in the center of the State. Practically all the 

barytes, locally known as "tiff," is mined from shallow shafts and 

open cuts in the residual clay.

Two districts in eastern Tennessee contain important deposits of 

barite. The French Broad district, on the North Carolina line, 

south and a little east of Knoxville, includes parts of Cocke and 

Sevier counties. Owing to lack of transportation the veins in this 

region have not been extensively worked. In the Sweetwater district, including parts of Loudon, McMinn, and Monroe counties, 

centering about Sweetwater, there has been extensive development 

and a considerable production of barytes in the past.

In Virginia barytes occurs in three unlike areas in the red sandstone and shale series of the Triassic; in the old crystalline metamorphic rocks, particularly in the Piedmont crystalline limestone 

area; and in the valley region of faulted and folded Cambrian and 

Ordovician limestones. The deposits in the Triassic red sandstones 

of Prince William County, in the northeastern part of the State, are 

of little importance at present, though they have been intermittently
MINERAL PEODUCTS. 33

worked since 1845. The barite deposits of Bedford, Campbell, and 

Pittsylvania counties, in the south-central part of the State, centered about Evington and Toshes, are in highly altered crystalline 

rocks formed from old sedimentary and igneous rocks. Barite has 

been found associated with similar rocks in six other counties in the 

Piedmont region, but has not been mined to any considerable extent. 

In southwestern Virginia, in Tazewell, Wythe, Russell, and Smyth 

counties, barite occurs in the Cambrian and Ordovisian limestones 

or their residual clay.

Deposits of barytes are known in Mariposa County, in California; 

in Clark, Elko, Mineral; and Nye counties, in Nevada; in Blaine 

County, in Idaho; and in Alaska. Most of the deposits in the Western States are undeveloped, as there has apparently been a scanty 

market for this material in that region, and railroad freight rates 

have not permitted western barite to compete with either foreign or 

domestic barite in the principal centers of use in the East. In 1913 

E. F. Burchard, of the United States Geological Survey, discovered 

a considerable deposit of barite associated with quartzite schists on 

Castle Island, in the Duncan Canal, 40 miles northwest of Wrangell, 

in Southeastern Alaska.

Witherite, or barium carbonate (BaC03 ), is used in the manufacture of glass and porcelain, and in the preparation of oxygen, barium 

salts, boiler compounds, vermin poisons, and green fire. It is a 

dense, soft white powder, which is poisonous. So far as is known 

to the United States Geological Survey, there are no deposits of 

witherite of commercial size in the United States. Commercial 

deposits have been mined in England, Silesia, Hungary, Styria, and 

Russia. Barium carbonate can be prepared by igniting a mixture of 

10 parts of powdered barite, 2 parts of charcoal, and 5 parts of 

potassium carbonate. Potassium sulphide and barium carbonate 

result from the reaction, and may be separated by water, as barium 

carbonate is very sparingly soluble in water. Another method of 

preparing barium carbonate is by heating 100 parts of powdered 

barium sulphate with 250 parts of sodium carbonate and 200 parts 

of water in autoclaves at 5 atmospheres pressure.

PHOSPHATE ROCK.

Of the mineral fertilizers phosphate is the one of which the United 

States has large reserves. The fields and gardens of Europe largely 

depend on this supply, nearly one-half of our production going to 

trans-Atlantic ports. The great bulk of the phosphate rock exported 

is obtained in Florida and, of course, includes chiefly the better 

grades.

Though phosphate rock is an important item of export, interruption of the foreign sales can not be regarded as a national calamity. 

61345° Bull. 599 14 3
34 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

The phosphate reserves in the East are not large, and domestic use 

can be found for all this material.

The States of Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina have for 

many years been the main source of phosphate rock in the United 

States. The output of Florida, the leading State in phosphate-rock 

production, has about reached its maximum, particularly so far as 

the hard-rock industry is concerned. The land-pebble industry 

continues to show a vigorous growth.

In Tennessee the brown-rock deposits, which several years ago 

were given but a brief future existence, promise to yield as much or 

more phosphate than has already been extracted from them, as they 

are now worked on a large scale with modern machinery and under 

modern mining methods. Pioneer methods are, however, still employed in some parts of the brown-rock phosphate regions and are 

attended by a great waste of good material. With the passing of 

the brown and blue phosphate fields into the control of the larger 

fertilizer corporations, which practice modern mining methods and 

have installed expensive plants to treat the mined rock, a gradual 

change has taken place, and the life of the fields is being thereby 

prolonged.

The South Carolina field was the first to be exploited on a commercial basis. Though mining has fallen off in this field it is quite 

likely that much rock remains for future use. As the most readily 

accessible material has been removed, the remaining rock will be 

correspondingly expensive to mine. The product, moreover, being 

of medium grade, can not compete with higher-grade rock in the 

manufacture of superphosphate. Hardly any rock is being exported 

from this field at the present time.

The new western phosphate field was discovered in 1906, and 

although for economic reasons it has not yet produced on a large 

scale, the main production of phosphates in the future will probably 

come from the West, where the principal deposits are located on 

the public domain. Some of the economic reasons that retard the 

development of the western phosphate fields are comparative newness, lack of transportation facilities, high freight rates, and remoteness from centers of consumption.

Since the discovery of the western fields systematic investigation 

has been prosecuted by the Survey, and this work has resulted in 

the discovery of new and important deposits and has greatly added 

to the known extent of the deposits. Lands remaining in Government ownership that are known to contain valuable phosphate deposits and those that are believed to contain such deposfts have been 

temporarily withdrawn from entry. These reserves are located in 

Florida, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. The work of surveying the western phosphate lands is still going on, and it only
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 35

remains for effective legislation to be enacted to make these large 

reserves available for use.

POTASH SALTS.

N Outside of Germany there is no known commercial source of 

potash salts. If the German supplies are cut off during the European war the agricultural world must either go without potash

"* salts after the meager stock now on hand is exhausted or bestir itself 

to find another adequate source. Many inquiries regarding a do-

/' mestic supply of potash salts have been addressed to the United States 

Geological Survey since the beginning of the war, and the fertilizer 

journals report that small quantities of spot material are changing 

hands at sharp premiums. The situation is undoubtedly still less 

satisfactory than it was a few years ago, when national interest was

, first awakened to the fact that the United States is entirely de1 pendent on Germany for this important class of fertilizer materials; 

The imports of potash salts listed as such in the reports of the 

' Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce include the carbonate, 

cyanide, chloride, nitrate, and sulphate of potassium, caustic potash, 

and other potash compounds. The annual imports of these salts 

during the last three years have averaged about 635,000,000 pounds 

in quantity, and $11,000,000 in value. These figures, however, represent only a part of the potash salts entering the United States, as

^ they do not include the imports of kainite and manure salts which 

are used in fertilizers. The quantity of materials of this class 

imported for consumption in the United States during the last three.

y. years has averaged about 700,000 tons, valued at $4,300,000, annually. 

Thus it is apparent that the value of the annual imports of potash 

salts exceeds $15,000,000.

± Potash salts are employed, in many industries other than the 

fertilizer industry. Already letters have come to the Geological

^ Survey from glass works and chemical industries inquiring where

^ a domestic supply of potash salts can be secured. The chemical 

manufactures of potash include potassium hydrate, or caustic potash, 

and the carbonate and bicarbonate of potash, used principally in 

glass and soap making; the potash alums; cyanides, including potassium cyanide, potassium ferrocyanide, and potassium ferricyanide; 

various potash bleaching chemicals, dyestuffs, explosives containing

-4 potash nitrate, and a long list of general chemicals.

The needs of the manufacturers and the farmers of the country 

are well known and keenly appreciated by the Geological Survey. 

Since the question of a domestic supply of potash salts has become 

of public interest the Government has endeavored to locate deposits

\ in this country and has followed up every clue that seemed to promV ise results of importance. The Survey's work has extended from
36 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

New York to California and from Michigan to Louisiana and has. 

covered all branches of investigation where results might be expected exclusive of the study of kelp. Its investigations have been 

carried out along several lines: (1) Deep drilling for saline residues 

has been done at Fallen and in Columbus Marsh .and Black Rock 

Desert, Nev., and will be continued in Black Rock Desert this year; 

(2) natural and artificial brines and bitterns have been collected at 

all the salt-making establishments in the United States and a great 

many other localities and examined; (3) deposits of alunite and 

other minerals containing potassium have been investigated in Utah 

and other States; (4) certain occurrences of igneous rock known to 

contain considerable quantities of potash salts have been examined. 

Much work has also been done by private initiative along practically 

all the lines mentioned above. The Bureau of Soils of the Department of Agriculture has investigated the kelps. The work is not 

yet finished and will be pushed with increased vigor, provided the 

necessary funds are supplied.

NITRATE.

The third mineral fertilizer is sodium nitrate, which is imported 

from Chile in large quantities, 612,861 tons, valued at $21,630,811, 

coming in 1913. Deposits of sodium and potassium nitrate are 

known in Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Montana, and New 

Mexico and have been described in publications of the Geological 

Survey and Bureau of Soils, but thus far no material of this kind 

has been found in sufficient quantity to promise commercial value. 

The latest report that has come to the Geological Survey relates to 

a deposit in Arizona.

One important domestic source of combined nitrogen is the gas 

works and by-product coke ovens, which in 1912 reported a recovery 

of ammoniacal liquor, ammonia, and ammonium sulphate valued at 

$9,519,268. This output of by-product ammonium sulphate increased in 10 years from 17,643,507 pounds to 99,070,777 pounds, 

and as it is linked with the great coking industry further increases 

can be expected.

Another domestic supply of nitrogen compounds lies in the fixation of' atmospheric nitrogen by electricity. Cheap hydroelectric 

development is necessary to establish this industry, which would 

make our large agricultural and industrial interests free from the 

uncertainties of the foreign supply. It is hoped that the waterpower legislation now before the United States Senate may promote hydroelectric development in large units and thus utilize some 

of the great water powers in the West in obtaining nitrogen from 

the air.
MINEEAL PEODUCTS. 37

GRAPHITE.

Although the value of the graphite imported into the United 

States in 1913 was almost twice the domestic production, the cutting 

off of the foreign supply should seriously affect only the crucible 

industry. There is an ample supply of graphite in this country 

suited for stove polish, foundry facings, and paint pigments, and 

large deposits of amorphous graphite in northern Mexico, now comparatively peaceful, are controlled by American firms and can be 

depended upon for supplies of graphite for pencils, lubricating 

material, and many other uses. Moreover, graphite is now being 

manufactured in the electric furnaces at Niagara Falls in amounts 

far in excess of the domestic production from natural sources, and 

this graphite is well adapted for most of the uses to which graphite 

is applied except crucible making.

The graphite for which we depend mainly on foreign sources is 

that used in the manufacture of crucibles and other refractory products, but as these uses probably consume over half of the graphite 

used in this country, such dependence is a matter of no small importance. Moreover, the manufacture of crucible steel requires graphite 

crucibles. The graphite used in crucible making has been brought 

largely from the British island of Ceylon, although within the last 

few years some has been brought from the French island of Madagascar. This graphite is flaky or fibrous and for this reason is eminently adapted to crucible making. For this use it has never met 

with serious competition from domestic graphite. The earthy amorphous graphite mined in this country and the graphite manufactured at Niagara Falls are not adapted-to this use, and as a rule the 

expense of concentrating domestic flake graphite has been prohibitive. Nevertheless it is to the domestic supplies of flake graphite 

that this country must look in the event of foreign supplies being 

cut off. Practically inexhaustible supplies of this material are 

known to occur in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North 

Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and some other States. Similar deposits 

are abundant in Canada. The graphite in these deposits occurs as 

small flakes in rocks composed mainly of quartz, feldspar, and mica, 

the graphite constituting 5.to 10 per cent by weight.

Several plants are now engaged in working such deposits, and 

many others now idle could be put on a producing basis in a short 

time and at little expense. Although the product might not be equal 

to the Ceylon graphite in all respects for crucible making there is 

no question that it would be adequate, for similar graphite has for 

years been successfully used in Germany.

Another American resource is the graphite deposit near Dillon, 

Mont. The graphite there is very similar to that from Ceylon and
38 OUR MINERAL RESERVES. .

should be adaptable for crucible making. Although the deposit does 

not compare in size with the Ceylon deposits, it might render material aid in case of a shortage.

The graphite deposits of the United States are fully described in 

a report by Edson S. Bastin on the production of graphite in 1913, ' 

recently issued by this Survey.

FLINT.

r

In 1913 nearly $320,000 worth of flint pebbles was imported into 

the United States, mainly from Denmark and France. In these 

countries the flint occurs as irregular nodules in the chalk clifi's that 

border certain parts of the coast, and under the impact of the waves 

the hard flint nodules become freed from their relatively soft chalk 

matrix and are gathered in great quantities from the beaches for 

shipment to various parts of the world. After reaching their destination the more irregular nodules are calcined and ground to a fine 

powder for use in pottery manufacture, but those that have been well 

rounded by the waves are reserved for use in tube mills, their hardness and chemical inertness making them a desirable grinding agent.

The cutting off of the imports of flint pebbles should work no 

material hardship to the pottery industry, as that industry uses only 

subordinate amounts of flint compared with the crystalline quartz 

obtained in Connecticut, New York, and Maryland, and as the supply 

of the quartz is far in excess of the present demands. A cutting off 

of the supply of rounded flint pebbles suitable for tube-mill use 

would probably entail some inconvenience, for so far as is known we 

have no flint deposits that are comparable in both quality and quan- « 

tity of material with the foreign supplies or that could compete 

with them (except perhaps locally) under ordinary conditions of 

uninterrupted foreign commerce.

On account of the high quality of the foreign flints and the cheapness with which they can be brought into this country, little attempt 

has been made either by the Survey geologists or by dealers in flint > 

to investigate the domestic sources. Deposits of flint pebbles have 

been observed at several localities in this country in the course of the 

geologic surveys, but they have seldom been examined with especial 

view to the possible utilization of the flints in tube mills. The 

information available is therefore fragmentary and may, at the most, 

serve only as a guide to further prospecting and testing. <~

The principal localities at which flint pebbles have been noted in 

particular abundance are all in the Gulf States. The pebbles occur 

mainly in gravel beds, and only part of them are well rounded. In 

some places the gravels are stained and partly cemented by oxides of. 

iron, but elsewhere they appear to be fairly free from iron.
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 39

In Arkansas flint pebbles have been noted at many places in 

Greene, Craighead, Poinsett, Cross, and St. Francis counties, along 

Crowleys Eidge, which is paralleled by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain 

& Southern Railway. From 4 to 7 miles west of Paragould, in 

Greene County, where a public road crosses the highest part of the 

ridge, beds of gravel not exceeding 5 feet in thickness occur, usually 

overlain by 1 to 5 feet of loam. The gravels consist chiefly of gray, 

brown, and pink angular or fairly well-rounded pebbles of flint and 

chert, the largest 6 inches in length, and a considerable percentage of 

white, partly rounded to smoothly rounded pebbles of quartz, the 

largest T inch in length. An exposure on the property of Mrs. 

Mahala Shelton, 6 miles southwest of Jonesboro, in Craighead 

County, on the south side of one of the small headwater streams of 

L'Anguille River, shows from 4 to 11 feet of gravel, consisting 

mainly of angular to party water-worn brown chert pebbles and 

cobbles, reaching a maximum dimension of 1 foot. Red, pink, gray, 

and black chert pebbles and a few smoothly rounded pebbles of pink 

and white quartz were also observed. Excavation for road material 

1 mile east of Wynne, in Cross County, just south of the St. Louis, 

Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, showed 16 feet of gravel, consisting chiefly of angular to fairly well rounded pebbles and cobbles 

of brown and gray flint and chert as much as 6 inches in length, with 

some well-rounded quartz pebbles, lying in a matrix of coarse reddish sand. This material is covered by about 10 feet of loam.

In northeastern Mississippi gravels carrying abundant flint pebbles have been noted in Tishomingo County, a locality about 2£ to 

3 miles east of luka being especially mentioned. Some of these deposits are 50 to 75 feet thick and cover large areas. The flints are 

only in part well rounded and portions of the deposit are iron 

stained. The gravel is extensively excavated for use in road making.

In Texas light opalescent to black flint pebbles are abundant at 

several localities. They are well exposed along the river bluffs near 

Austin, Travis County, where they have weathered out of the limestone. They also occur along Nueces River near Oakville, in Live 

Oak County, and over large areas near Tilden, in McMullen County. 

Only here and there are these flints well rounded, and many of them 

are coated with a thin film of iron oxide.

For certain kinds of tube mill grinding as, for example, the 

grinding of feldspar or of crystalline quartz for making pottery 

pebbles practically free from any iron-bearing mineral. must be 

used, for even small specks of iron-bearing minerals produce stains 

in pottery on firing. For other purposes, however, as, for. example, 

the grinding of gold ores preparatory to cyanidation, the same freedom from iron is not necessary, and rounded pebbles of various kinds 

of hard rocks collected from benches, stream beds, or gravel deposits
40 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

may be used. On the Band, in South Africa, pebbles of quartzite 

that weather out of the " Banket" or conglomerate are extensively 

used, and it is possible that rounded pebbles of dense cherty-looking 

rhyolite, a rock rich in silica, such as occur in considerable abundance along portions of the Maine coast in the Penobscot Bay and 

Eastport regions, could be used for these purposes.

SULPHUR.

Sulphur furnishes an instructive example of the capture of the 

domestic market by the American producer. In 1903 the United 

States imported 191,000 tons of sulphur for consumption and produced only a few thousand tons in Louisiana, Nevada, and Utah. 

Last year the imports of sulphur for consumption amounted to only 

22,605 long tons, valued at $448,564, whereas the value of the imported sulphur in 1903 was more than $3,700,000. In 1903, moreover, we exported 89,221 tons of sulphur, valued at $1,599,761. making the balance of trade in our favor last year $1,151,197.

The sales of domestic sulphur last year amounted to 311,590 long 

tons, valued at $5,479,849, and a large quantity of unsold sulphur is 

still at the mines. This immense increase in the sulphur industry 

is due to the successful operation of the Frasch process in Louisiana 

and Texas, where the industry has already reached the point of 

having its output limited only by the demands of the market.

The imports of sulphur come mainly from Japan and Italy and 

are almost wholly entered at the Pacific ports.

The production of pyrite in the United States does not, however, show the same gratifying ratio of growth. In the last decade 

it has increased from about 200,000 tons to .341,000 'tons, but the imports of pyrite have more than doubled in the same period, and 

last year amounted to 850,592 long tons, valued at $3,611,137, or 

more than twice the domestic production. It is evident that foreign 

pyrite is the controlling factor in the market, the production in 

America being insufficient to supply the demand. The principal 

States mining pyrite are Virginia, California, Wisconsin, Ohio, 

Illinois, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, and New York. The imported 

pyrite comes chiefly from Spain, in which the principal deposits .of 

pyrite occur. The imported Spanish ore is admirably suited for 

making sulphuric acid.

Closely connected with the production of sulphur and pyrite is the 

sulphuric-acid industry, which now utilizes to some .extent the 

sulphur that formerly went to waste in the air as smelter gases. 

The by-product acid made last year had a value of $4,346,272. This 

source of sulphuric .acid'is capable of much larger utilization, the 

production of sulphuric acid from smelter acid being limited only 

by the demands of the market available. These resources are impor-
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 41

tant, because sulphuric acid is so extensively used in the chemical 

industries that its consumption has come to be regarded as a gauge 

of chemical activities in general.

MAGNESITE.

Up to the present the United States has been dependent largely 

upon foreign sources for its supply of magnesite or carbonate of 

magnesia, the imports in 1913 amounting to 172,591 short tons, as 

compared with only 9,632 tons produced in this country. It is 

interesting to note that the major portion of the imports (163,715 

short tons) came from Austria-Hungary, one of the belligerent 

nations, and that most of the remainder came from Greece, and was 

landed for calcining at Hamburg and Eotterdam before being reshipped to this country. The question of the adequacy of the 

domestic supply to meet our needs therefore assumes much importance. Magnesite is valuable for a variety of purposes, which may 

be summarized as follows: (1) Various refractory uses, as brick, 

furnace hearths, crucibles, etc.j (2) as magnesium sulphite for the 

digestion and Avhitening of wood-pulp paper; (3) in crude form for 

the manufacture of carbon dioxide; (4) calcined and ground for 

oxychloride or Sorel cement; (5) miscellaneous applications in crude 

or calcined form; (6) miscellaneous uses of refined magnesia salts. 

The magnesite from Austria-Hungary is received chiefly at Philadelphia and is used in the manufacture of refractory brick. The 

Grecian magnesite enters chiefly at New York and is used for all 

the purposes enumerated above.

The dependence of American users of magnesite on the foreign 

supplies is due to several causes. One is the location of the American 

deposits in California, at so great a distance from the eastern markets 

that the freight rates have been prohibitive. The establishment of 

water transportation through the Panama-Canal may be expected to 

alleviate this difficulty. A second cause is .the difference in composition between the magnesites of Austria-Hungary and those of California. The former generally contain 6 to 8 per cent of iron, which 

appears to be beneficial in the manufacture of refractory brick.

With the cutting off of the Austro-Hungarian and possibly of the 

Grecian supplies there would seem to be every reason why the California industry should be materially advanced. The deposits in that 

State are numerous, and many of them are fairly large and of high 

grade. In the opening and development of these mines their nearness to railroad transportation seems to have been of more importance than the character or extent of the deposits. Certain deposits, 

notably in Santa Clara and San Benito counties, are known to be 

large in extent and of good character of material, but they lie idle
42 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

owing to the distance the mineral must be hauled to a railroad, while 

smaller mines close to railroad stations are being worked.

For certain purposes magnesite is used raw, and for other purposes 

it is calcined, and the imports include both kinds. As in the manufacture of cement, for example, freshly calcined magnesite seems to 

be superior to old calcined material, there would seem to be a field 

for more extensive calcining and grinding in our own country, 

entirely irrespective of the source of the material.

FLUORSPAR.

The fluorspar industry of the United States has shown a steady 

growth from a production of 4,000 short tons in 1884 to 115,580 tons, 

valued at $736,286, in 1913. This notable gain has been conditioned 

largely by the growth of the open-hearth process of steel manufacture, which absorbs about 80 per cent of the fluorspar produced. 

Fluorspar is used also as a flux in blast furnaces, iron foundries, and 

silver, copper, and lead smelters; in the manufacture of fluorides of 

iron and manganese for steel fluxing; in the manufacture of glass, 

enameled, and sanitary ware and of hydrofluoric acid; in the production of aluminum; in the electrolytic refining of antimony and 

lead; and for many other purposes.

The increase in the home production and the imposition of a tariff 

on fluorspar in 1909 have resulted in a marked decrease in the 

amount brought in from foreign countries, and in 1913 only 22,682 

short tons was imported, compared with the 115,580 tons produced 

at home. The imports come almost entirely from Great Britain and 

amount to over 55 per cent of the total English production of this 

mineral. The English product entering at New York is able to compete with domestic " spar " as far west as Pittsburgh.

There can be no question of the adequacy of the American supply 

to meet all demands in case the English supply is cut off. In 1913 

the output came from Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, Colorado, 

New Hampshire, and Arizona, named in the order of yield. Furthermore, the foreign spar is of lower grade than the mechanically 

treated spar from Illinois and Kentucky, and as fluorspar is of value 

chiefly according to its purity, purchasers find that the purer American spar is more efficient and consequently cheaper in the end.

STRONTIUM.

The Geological Survey has received in the last few weeks inquiries 

regarding American occurrences of strontium minerals. Many of 

the domestic occurrences are of minor extent and most of them are 

of little commercial value under ordinary conditions. The two 

strontium minerals of commercial importance are celestite (SrS04 )
MINERAL PEODUCTS. 43

and strontianite (SrC03 ). Strontianite is the more valuable, as by 

simple treatment with acids it is readily converted into the salts desired for commercial purposes. It is, however, rarer than celestite 

and therefore has been mined on" a comparatively small scale. Celestite and strontianite are readily determined before the blowpipe, as 

both of them have a crimson flame due to the element strontium.

Celestite can hardly be assigned a value in the United States, because heretofore it has not been found in sufficient quantities and in 

positions accessible enough to make its exploitation profitable, in

view of the scant demand for it. During 1913 no strontium was re-

. ported as mined in the United States. There is a small market for

strontium compounds, as is shown by the import figures. No strontium carbonate, oxide, or protoxide was imported in either 1911 or 

1912, but in 1913 the total value of imports of these salts was $2,284. 

Probably some strontium nitrate was imported for use in " red fire," 

.but it is not possible to obtain figures of the imports of any salts of 

strontia except those named above. Nearly all the strontium salts 

used in the United States are imported from Germany. Strontium 

occurs also abundantly in Sicily.

The metal strontium is riot commercially used, but its salts are 

variously employed. Of these the hydrate and nitrate are of 

greatest importance. A simple process for obtaining the hydrate is 

the calcination of the carbonate, strontianite, where that is available. The temperature required is much higher than that of ordinary 

lime burning. Strontium hydrate is used principally in the recovery 

of sugar from beet molasses. Strontium nitrate is made by dissolving the carbonate in nitric acid, if the native mineral can be 

procured sufficiently free from other bases that would consume the 

acid. The carbonate used is sometimes made from the sulphate by 

fusing it with soda ash and leaching out the sodium sulphate. The 

chief use of strontium nitrate is in pyrotechny, where it imparts a 

red color to the flame. The chlorate and carbonate are also used for 

this purpose, but to a less extent. The chief users are the manufacturers of fireworks and makers of fusees used by railroads and steamships for night signals.

Strontium in the form of the iodide, bromide, -acetate, lactate, 

arsenate, phosphate, and other salts is used as medicine and in the 

chemical laboratory.

Celestite occurs 15 miles south of Gila Bend, Maricopa County, 

Ariz., associated with gypsum, sandstone, and conglomerates containing pebbles of coarse-grained granite. It is found in the form 

of a bed or beds overlain and underlain in some places by beds of 

sandstone and in others by igneous flows. The bed with which the 

celestite is directly associated is 40 to 50 feet thick. Of this thickness the upper 8 to 10 feet looked most promising as a source of the
44 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

mineral, the remainder of the celestite zone appearing rather sandy. 

The mineral presents a variety of appearances. The high density, 

of course, characterizes the purest material. In general it is rather 

light colored.

In California celestite, together with salt, gypsum, and other 

important economic minerals, occurs along the northeast margin of 

the Avawatz Mountains, in San Bernardino County. The minerals 

are located on land of the Avawatz Salt & Gypsum Co., near the 

south end of Death Valley. The nearest railroad is the Tonopah 

& Tidewater, about 10 miles east of the southeast end of the claims. 

The celestite occurs in lake beds associated .with salt and gypsum. 

Above the lower lake beds and below the gypsum occur the celestite 

beds. The celestite is exposed in the form of resistant "hogbacks," 

in some places flanking the ridges and in others cutting them and 

continuing across the valleys betAveen them. The thickness of the 

celestite zone may be locally as much as 75 or 80 feet, but .the exact 

thickness is difficult to ascertain in all places, owing to the presence 

of wash and talus. It must not be understood that the entire thickness of the outcropping reef is pure celestite. It is more than probable that the pure mineral will be found in some places in thin bands 

and streaks and in others more or less intimately mixed with gypsum, 

sand, chalcedony, clay, and the oxides of manganese, iron, etc. The 

tj^pically exposed reefs of celestite are dark brown in color and are 

conspicuous beside the light-colored gypsum. This dark-brown color 

may be due to the presence of manganese or iron oxides, or both.

In the vicinity of Schoharie, Schoharie County, N. Y., celestite and 

strontianite have been found in a rather impure limestone. They 

occur in pockets and thin seams and have been found in greatest 

quantity on the east side of Schoharie 'River, near quarries in limestone of the Helderberg group. Strontianite also occurs in rocks 

of the Clinton formation near Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y., associated with celestite in geodes. The best examples of the occurrences 

were found at the old quarries near Lairdsville, 2 miles west'of Hamilton College. Celestite and strontianite have also been found near 

Theresa and on the shore of Chaumont Bay, in Jefferson County, 

N. Y. About 2 miles from the village of Adams Center, in Jefferson 

County, a vein of celestite is known to occur in the Trenton limestone. 

An occurrence has also been reported near Lockport, Niagara County. 

E. H. Kraus has reported celestite as disseminated through dolomitic 

limestone near Syracuse. Other places in New York where celestite 

is said to occur are at the Eossie lead mine and Stark, in St. Lawrence 

County, and at Depauville, in Jefferson County.

One of the most noted localities in the United States where strontium minerals have been found is Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island, 

Ottawa County, Ohio. Here celestite was found in 1897 during the
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 45

sinking of a well, the walls of which caved in, revealing a cavern in 

limestone. The floor, ceiling, and walls of the cave were found to be 

composed of celestite, and the owner reported that the mineral was 

found to a depth of 22 feet below the floor.

In 1904 a deposit of celestite was developed 5 miles north and a 

little west of Austin, Tex., in the Mount Bonnell and Mount Barker 

district. The celestite is associated with strontianite, Epsom salts, 

and other minerals, and occurs in a flat-lying arenaceous and argillaceous magnesian limestone bed m the Glen Rose limestone (Lower 

Cretaceous).

An occurrence of celestite has been noted near Cedar Cliff, Mineral 

County, W. Va. The rock in which the celestite crystals occur is a 

thickly bedded, nearly horizontal argillaceous limestone. The celestite occurs in crystalline form in flattened lenticular cavities or 

pockets from a foot to a yard in diameter and from 3 to 7 inches in 

height. In the adjacent limestone strontium sulphate was found so 

abundantly as to indicate that the rock was strongly impregnated.

Celestite is known to occur at Drummond, Chippewa County, Mich. 

In Monroe County of the same State it is found disseminated through 

dolomite, and at the point especially studied the upper layer of the 

rock contained over 14 per cent of celestite. Below this layer there 

is a porous stratum with cavities containing celestite and free sulphur. The sulphur is found in considerable quantities and was probably formed by reduction of the sulphate.

Celestite has also been found near Frankstown, Blair County, Pa.; 

in Brown County, northeastern Kansas; in Larimer County, Colo.; 

in cavities in limestone near Nashville, Tenn.; and associated in fine, 

clear crystals with the colemanite of Death Valley, San Bernardino 

County, Cal. Strontianite occurs with celestite in New York, as 

'already noted, and is also found in Mifflin County, Pa.

OTHER PRODUCTS.

The demand for several of the minor mineral products will be 

stimulated by the changes in trade with Europe, with the result of 

increasing materially the production for 1914 and following years. 

In the case of pottery this movement toward a stronger hold of the 

domestic market is already well under way. The production in 1913 

was the largest in the history of the industry. The underlying 

cause of this prosperity is no doubt the improvement in the character of the American product in texture, finish, color, decoration, and 

the prevention of crazing, some of the higher grades of American 

pottery equaling if not surpassing some of the best imported ware. 

The imports of pottery have always been more or less interesting. 

For many years the value of the imported pottery exceeded the 

value of that made at home, but about the close of the nineteenth
46 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

century domestic production caught up with imports, and since that 

time it has greatly exceeded them, the production in 1913 being 

nearly four times as great in value as the imports. There was, however, last year a considerable decrease in exports of pottery, a change 

which should now be reversed by reason of the changes in the world's <j 

commerce that have become inevitable.

For the manufacture of pottery of the better grades considerable 

clay, mainly kaolin, is imported into this country from Europe and - 

China, the value of these imports last year exceeding $2,250,000. 

It seems probable that under the necessity of finding a domestic V 

supply these finer clays can be in large part replaced. Already a 

process of decoloring kaolin is reported as successful, and this may 

make large deposits of kaolin and ball clay available for the manufacture of white ware and pottery. 'v

Another minor product is mineral water, of which the annual 

imports are over 3,000,000 gallons, having a value of nearly a million ' 

dollars. Two-thirds of these imports came from Germany, France, 

and Austria-Hungary, and as soon as the stocks on hand are consumed domestic waters should take, the place of those derived from 

foreign springs. In this connection it is interesting to note that last '< 

year the reported sales from 838 commercial springs in the United 

States were more than 57,000,000 gallons, having a total value of 

$5,500,000. The recent activity of the New York State Eeservation 

Commission in conserving the natural mineral waters at Saratoga 

Springs, as well as in improving local conditions, is of interest in 

calling attention to the many opportunities in this country for 

utilizing such waters and adopting modes of treatment similar to ^ 

those which have made the bath resorts of Germany and Austria 

famous. There is a somewhat popular but fallacious impression that 

certain European waters have medicinal properties not possessed 

by any American waters, and many persons addicted to the Apollinaris, Clysmic, or Celestine-Vichy habit might be equally well satisfied by waters from American springs in bottles of American glass, > 

bearing labels printed in the United States.

Of the abrasives imported into this country last year to the 

amount of $917,000, all could be replaced with domestic products 

except the diamond dust and bort, the value of which was $100,000 

in 1913. Already the domestic output of both natural and artificial 

abrasives is increasing faster than the imports, and the manufac- ^ 

turers need only to realize the abundance of tripoli, diatomaceous 

earth, pumice, garnet, corundum, and emery to reduce further their 

dependence on foreign supplies.

Precious stones constitute one of the largest items in our imports, 

usually amounting to more than $40,000,000 a year. Inasmuch, how- j 

ever, as fully three-fourths of this value is represented by diamonds, -J
MINERAL PRODUCTS. 47

there is little opportunity to substitute the American product. The 

Arkansas output of diamonds is valued at only a few thousand dollars a year, and this sum is exceeded by the value of the annual production of emerald, ruby, opal, tourmaline, and turquoise. The 

sapphires from Montana constitute the only domestic factor of importance in the precious-stone market, stones valued at about 

$200,000 being mined each year.

Common salt continues to be imported in considerable quantity, 

more than a million barrels coming to Atlantic ports last year. The 

country is amply able, however, to supply the entire home demand, 

as the capacity of its salt mines and works is in excess of the present 

output. The imports last year were only 3.2 per cent of the total 

consumption, whereas in 1890 the percentage was 17.2.

Secretary Lane has called particular attention to the "long-felt 

want" in the United States of a chemical industry based on coal 

tar, a raw material of which our gas and coke retorts yield an abundant supply. The commercial production of coal tar in 1912 was 

about 125,000,000 gallons (approximately 1,000,000,000 pounds), to 

which should be added the tar that is at many works burned for 

fuel or allowed to go to waste.

The extent to which this tar is manufactured in the United States 

is practically limited to simple distillation for recovery of the light 

oils (such as benzol), creosoting oils, and pitch. No carbolic acid 

is made in this country, the acid in the tar going into the creosoting 

oils used in the preservation of railroad ties, bridge timbers, and 

other wood exposed to the decaying action of air and water. Crude 

coal tar contains from 0.5 to 1 per cent of carbolic acid and from 10 

to 12 per cent of carbolic oil.

We exported last year 36,500,000 pounds of coal tar, 30 per cent 

of it to France and 20 per cent to Belgium, for which we received 

$150,000. Of carbolic acid alone we imported over 8,000,000 pounds, 

one-third of it from Germany, for which we paid, exclusive of 

freights, commissions, and profits, $675,000. We imported altogether chemical products of coal tar, including dyes, colors, and 

medicinal preparations, to the value, duty paid, of about $12,000,000 

at the points of shipment. The need of aniline color and dye works 

in the United States is now self-evident, as is also the opportunity 

for other branches of the chemical industry.

Several medicinal articles of which petroleum forms a large percentage have been imported, especially a very carefully refined oil 

having about the consistency of a very light lubricating oil. This 

has been made, for convenience, in Baku, Russia, and some of it has 

been manufactured in the United States from petroleum distillates 

imported from Eussia, and has been sold as " alboline," " petrolatum
48 OUR MINERAL RESERVES.

oil," etc. The working up of the trade for these oils on the basis of 

Russian raw material was largely a matter of pure chance, not of 

necessity, inasmuch as oils of the same character can be readily produced from American petroleum, and in fact have been produced 

in small quantities for many years. Thus vaseline oil is a by-product 

in the manufacture of vaseline, and has been used for the same 

medicinal purposes for many years. There is no other product of 

petroleum manufactured abroad which is not also manufactured in 

the United States. Arrangements have been completed whereby 

American alboline will be on the United States market in quantity 

before the end of the present calendar year, whether hostilities 

cease or not.

One of the products of petroleum that has been exported to a 

value between $9,000,000 and $10,000,000 during the last three years 

is paraffin wax. In spite of these large exports, natural mineral 

wax (ozokerite) is imported, for the reason that its melting point 

is very high, and although the paraffin wax from petroleum can be 

produced with this high melting point, the process is difficult and 

costly. Ozokerite occurs in considerable quantity in Utah in the 

region of Soldiers Summit, and has been produced there, but the cost 

of extracting it from low-grade material, together with the cost of 

transportation to the market, which is chiefly in the Eastern States, 

has made it possible for the foreign material, which comes from 

Galicia, to compete with it successfully. The domestic ozokerite 

should now replace the foreign material.

Another material related to petroleum which has long furnished 

a large import trade is asphalt from the island of Trinidad. This 

trade has persisted in spite of the very large developments of asphalt 

from the residue of asphaltic oils, and even under the war conditions 

the imports will undoubtedly continue.

The importation of one product of asphalt, however, has now been 

cut off, and that is ichthyol, a peculiar asphaltic material found in 

Austria, which finds application after appropriate chemical treatment as a very important medicament. The raw material comes 

' from a fossiliferous deposit near Seefeld, in the Austrian Tyrol. It 

is carefully selected and subjected to dry distillation. The distillate 

thus obtained is then sulphonated and subsequently neutralized with 

ammonia. The use of this material has greatly increased in the last 

few years, and it has proved very beneficial. Since the beginning 

of the war its price has doubled, going to over 60 cents an ounce. 

Already a firm in St. Louis has a material on the market which has 

been favorably recommended as an efficient substitute closely resembling ichthyol itself.

o