Connecticut western news., 1876-06-30
SODA MINES IN WYOMING.
Hundreds of Acres Covered with Soil, CrystnlIzed Soda to an Unknown Denth

Crystnllzed Soda to an Unknown Depth. Not long since an Omaha Herald re- porter held an interview with MT. Hardin, United States deputy mineral surveyor, who made the official survey of the soda lakes or deposits under in structlons from the surveyor general of | Wyoming, on application of Dr. Graf. agent and partner of the present owners of those deposits. The survey was made last December. MT. Hardwin had visit ed the lakes in October.
 Reporter - Who discovered those lakes
 MT. Hardin-I nm not able to say who discovered them. Probably the person who named Independence rock, which lies in the immediate vicinity. Fremont, in his first expedition in 1S42. does not mention them. At an early day the Mormons transported large quanti- ties of soda from those deposits to Salt Lake City to be used in cooking, etc. Since 1872 several parties have attempt ed to locate those deposits, but failed to prosecute them.
 Reporter-Who owns the deposits
 MT. Hardin-The owners of the patents recently procured are gentlemen ot wealth and enterprise, and design de- veloping the deposits immediately. The lakes, or more properly deposits, are four in number and lie on the north side of the Sweet Water river, in Carbon county, Wyoming, about fifty-fve or sixty miles north of Rowlins, on the Union Pacific railroad. They extend along parallel to the river, the distance between the most easterly and most westerly being about six miles. Those rorkioa oru1, fSua 1oook;o,,s 44O acres. A small per cent. of this area does not contain soda, as the sur veys conformed to the government sur veys in form, and necessarily include parts of land not mineral.
 Reporter is this soda found2 MT. Hardin Crystallized soda, solid as ice, exists to great depth in all those locations. Shafts to the depths of seven feet and one to the depth of eleven feet have been sunk in some of those de- posits without finding bottom or find ing any change in theappearanceo or con- dltlon of the deposit. will here say that cue of the locations is lake of wa ter, strongly saturated with soda, but not crystallized yet, except when saw 1t, 1t was covered with soda resembling slush ice, but the indications show that It IS like the other, excepting the water, that IS, the water lies on 8 deposit of mud, and the mud lies on bed of crys- talllzed soda of unknown depth, which IS the case with others at certain sea- sons. This is water, mud, and solid soda, the mud varying from an inch to ten inches thick.
 Reporter-How does this soda exist as to quantity2
 H.-No correct estimate of the min eral can now be made, some of those de- posits may be twenty, forty or sixty feet thick; but when we get over ten feet all IS conjecture, until some one with proper tools shall penetrate the bed. The ques- tlon IS easily asked why shafts deeper have not been dug-this question I can partly answer by saying that proper out fits have not been attainable there, and the labor is hard, the deposits being nearly as hard as anthracite coal. I as- sisted in sinking 8 hole just five feet deep near the shore of one of the de- posits in order to set a corner post to one of the surveys, and I was glad to quit atthat depth, and had two men to assist me, and yet there was no change ln the deposits showing that we were likely to be near the bottom.
 R.-What are the chemical properties of these deposits.
 1.-The mineral is a carbonate of soda, containing a small quantity of common salt and sulphate of common soda. An analysis made indicated it to be about the same purity as the soda ash of commerce. The lakes are evi- dently fed by soda springs, whose sources must be left to conjecture, and the supply from the source adds annual ly vast amounts to the already enormous deposits. The amount now on hand is so great that any speculation or attempt ed calculation of the annual accretion is superfuous at this time and may be left to those who may need soda few thou sand years hereafter.
 The most westerly deposit, containing over two hundred acres, has several placers; some near the middle, through which at certain times, as have been informed by hunters whoare acquainted with it, the water and mud are forced up without any apparent cause (probably by difference of atmospheric pressure), and.spreads over the lake, which, evap- orating, leaves a crust of hard soda on top of the mud, varying at different times from one to three inches thick, I saw the lake in October, when the crust extended entirely over it, and was about three inches thick. In December the crust on the lake was only one inch thick, and many portions had none.
 R.-What has become of the three inch crust?
 HI don't know. Possibly it has been transformed and settled through the ten inches of mud, and had been annexed to the solid crystalIized body below the mud.
 R.-Do you know how much soda is consumed annually2
 H.-The amount used in the United States during the last year is estimated at 200, 900 tons, imported from England at a cost of $12, 100000 It's uses are numerous 1; medicine, bleaching and baking powders, smelting ores, glass aud soap making.
 R.-How are these soda deposits to be marketed
 HI learn that the owners design the early construction of a railroad to some point on the w. P. railroad, whereby this will become one of the economic industries of the country. To utilize these deposits will give employ ment to 2,5O0 persons, and will require capital of one and one-half millions of dollars, and almost double the east ward carrying trade of the W. P. rail- road. We may look further, and pre- dict that at no far distant day the soda mines of Wyoming will furnish the civ ilized world with this necessary article,