The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1871-04-13
From the n. o. Christian Advocate.
Calcasieu Sulphur Mine.
gEglaoE WON HrRoRT q -. oaANET,
oHIRW MTHUs EEGINEER on THR
COMPANY.


Company, undertook to drill eli
artesian well, IN order to ascertain
the location, the bearings and the
true richness Of D layer Of sulphur,
accidentally discovered scarcely
two years ego whilst boring for q
petroleum deposit.
This frat boring had Just gone
through q petroleum deposit con-
tanning too little oil to be worked
probably. 1t was therefore being
continued, ia the hope Of finding,
ct .. greater depth, . larger guam
tity of petroleum, when at the
depth Of four hundred and forty
three feet below the surface Of 0
layer Of sulphur one hundred and
eight feet III thickness was reached.
Unfortunately, the parties who
worein charge Of the boring opera
tons, being unacquainted with the
full value of the precious metallold
which offered itself To them, went
through it entirely without paying
much attention to the DISCO
very they had just made, and
,contenting themselves with de-
signaling rather loosely the layer
they had found as "pure crystal
line sulphur" They continued to
bore still deeper in search Of the
petroleum deposit hey hoped to
and lower down, when, ii fact,
they had long since gone through
il.
The sulphur layer was discover
ed, ita thickness was approximate
y, sscertained, but its real richness
was completely unknown.
For this reason the ,Calcasieu
Sulphur and Mining Company, es-
tablished principally for the pur-
pose 81 extracting the sulphur dis
covered, resolved, before underta- |
king. To sink d large extracting |
well, To explore the entire layer 81 |
means Of q new boring, and to as.
certain the exact value in sulphur
Of the mineral constituting the
sulphur bed.
Such is q brief account Of the |
motive which induced the renewed
labors Of which we propose now to |
make known the results,
A vertical well, most carefull7 |
drilled by Mr., Mum, who has been
long familiar with that special |
work, struck the sulphur bed at j
depth of 428 feet, and went through |
its entire thickness of 112 feet.
1t would take up too much space,
and besides il would be entirely |
useless, to give here the geological
description OF the varioas layers
shat were encountered before we
touched the sulphur bad; I shall,
therefore, confne myself to de-
Bcription Of the latter, theonly one
which il III important TO study.
The sulphur appears in compact
and amorphons Masses Of q pale
color, interpreted here and there
with yellow crystals.
It'll surrounded BY calcareous
crystalline naatrix, oE 4 whitish col
OK and rather considerable hard
ness but which, nevertheless, il
easily reduced To powder under the
stroke of tho hammer.
1t ID clear, therefore, that the |
working of tho drilling tool through
thiaAbed must for that very reason
have been long and difficult, and
that The fragments brought up
from the well after each stroke
must have come Op i'll the shape
oA powder mOED or less fine, ac-
cording 10 lie relative hardness 81
the various psrts " the sulphur
hed.
The debris extracted from the
we'll, after each stroke, have given
'claar and precise evidence that the
,entsre bed, from the summit To the
'na4o. in of extraordinary richness,
sud also that II III easv to extract