Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-12-19
stPitch Lake, and ASPHALT.

IdICsl 1Iak0 &Q0 ASD00lts
Ono or two vessels reach New York
every week from Trinidad, freighted with
asphalt which is dug out of Pitch Lake
and shipped to this country to be used 70,
various purposes. Pitch Lake il ono Of
the great curiosities of the West Indies
1t is vast deposit of hydrooarbonaceus
material. MIR. Field, an enterprisinp
gentleman of New York, has lease from
the British Government of the Lake and
it, contents, and has organized company
known as the American Asphalt Company.
They are shipping large quantities to
America, which finds ready salea n various
channels. DR.. Stevens, the geol ,e,st, visited
the Lake some time since, and gave very
interesting account of it, which was pub.
lished il the American Gaslight Journal
and Chemical Repertory. We make a
brief extract from bis letter:
Walking along tho shore We found
the beach lined with boulders, gravel, and
sand, all formed from pitch. At Point
Boyer, tho location OF Dr.. Fields company,
we found = different aspect of the pitch
point. 1t here seems not so much to be
an outflow from the Lake, az an outburst
from the clays of the hill.
A section along the highway, from the
boiling work to the summit of the bill
where the lake is sesn, 300 feet above the
level of tho sea, shows first some six or
more feet of pitch ut the water level, and
beneath and above it eight or ton feet of
clays and parti-colored marle, with
ferrug ginous sandy masses. Near The sur.
face u the first plateau il a bed of sea-
shells; then follow clays mingled with
pitch some twenty feet to another plateau,
where again sea.shells are found from
thence on up to the summit of the bill,
some 500 feet, clays mingled with dead !"
and decaying pitch are to be seeo. Along
tho road there is nc sign Of an overflow COW
ering the surface, As at La Brea and in the
road from La Brea to the lake.
DR.. Fields road strikes the lake at its
west side: where re holds about one half
Gifts area (tbe whole being lO2 aores) by
lease from the Colonial government
Arriving at this point the lake presents a
bizarre appearance. The surface is fiat,
with innumerable fiat islands Of pitch.
black and naked; at other times covered
*ith scanty growth Of aquatic vegeta:
ticn: Between each two diminutive islets
ofpitch there il sulee Of pitch filed with
water: some of these sulce can be stepped
across, others are 30 wide ono must wade
it he would cross the lake. FROM. these
islets the pitch diggers pick it up for about
. foot in depth. This shallow excavation
is then abandoned. In rainy weather the
pit soon becomes flied, with water. In
either case it soon rises up from the bot.
tom the cavity again becomes filed, and
in a few weeks it may be again re~dug for
market. !
The pitch at the Lake, when freshly dug,
presents the following physical appear.
ancs. In color, dusky brown, rather than
black, vesicular, with large cavities, as if
once filed with gas. These vesiclee ap-
pear on the surface like large blisterr,
often having apertures: The mass 10
yielding to tho tread and soft TO- the pros
sure. 1t tastes gritty, and crumblee easily
under the teeth. 1t is entirely innocent Of
the peculiar taste of bitumen in it's natural
condition not 90 when it il boiled. 1tthen
becomes spicy, sweet, having the peculiar
taste Of bitumen, and is elastic.
Pitch is prepared for market by boiling
twenty -four hours, stra;ning, and then run
ming into barrels of iron forms. MIR. Fields
company has two sets of boilers in constant
operation, and is producing q more mar
ketable product than all the other estab-
lishments. AS an article for paving it is
now looming into large importance. For
this purpose it appears to be unequalled.
1t is here stored up in larga magazines
for future use. The area Of the Lake is
l02 acres Ola by survey-H w. and the
depth 40 has been aseertained by boring,
is 800 feot. Its circular form, and its loca.
ton on the top Of La Broa Point, a, will
as its great depth, give rise to the common
opinion that it is the crater Of an extinct
volcano, that is now filed With ritch, and
which we call lake. For gas it seems
Of feoually great importance. Its richness
of carbon-if the due proportion of hydro.
gen can DO equally as .heaply aspplied,
seems to fit it as especially adapted to gas
establishments. There is no other point
on the glcbe where tho same amount of
carbon is stored, SO accessible to the sen
for transportation.
DR.. Fielu's new establishment has all
the elements of Yankee thrift and enter
prise.
New YoRK's new five-acre market
house at the foot of Thirty fourth
street, has been opened to the public
for week. The marketmen pay about
50 a week for ten square feet Of floor.
ing each. In connection with the mar
ket are to run two small boats connect.
ing with Washington Market and South
Ferry. The building is owned by a
private corporation and cost 81, 500, coo.
The number of grain and molasses
distilleries III operation on the LIST of
November last was 206, with capacity
of 22S, 47O gallons daily; tho whole
number in operation OH the LIST inst.
WAS 236, with daily capacity Of 26c,
343 gallons-a daily increase in No
vember o6 33,873 gallons. This in
crease is the natural result of the
autumn harvests.
A PORTRAIT Of tho Cznr Alexander of
Russia, painted by his order ,ls u pres
cnt for Hon. A. q. Curtin, lutte United
States Minister to 81. Petersburg, is
on exhibition at Philadelphia. The
painter was G.. Bothmann, the most
Fo,,o o,.. a. rk:ok IS Tho D.,,,:,~ .~.A1