Wichita eagle., 1886-09-30
9ai1v eagle
MEERSCHAUM MINE.
A MAN WHO THINKS HE HAS
FOUND ONE IN OREGON.

Meerschaum Comes Erom-Consurnp
ton in the United States.
a subscriber in Oregon sends sort o.
Macedonian cry for help in the form of in
formation about meerschaum. lie doesn'
say why lie wants it, but gentleman who i
famous as an artist carver Of ivory and meer
schaum, and who probably knows moIg
about the latter article than anybody else il
the country, readily OWNED what started
him up.
''He has found q bed Of kaolin, or China
clay, and thinks lie has struck q meerschaun
mine. Persons have been doing that FIRE
quently in different parts of the country, and
in that way some OF the finest and most valu.
able kaoiin deposits Iiavo been found. 1t is q
good thing to have people looking out fol
anything Of value, for even if they don't get
what they are after they arc likely to catch
something else. But anybody can tell very
easily the difference between genuine meer.
schautn and kaolin or any other clay. Wet q
piece Of mecrschaum with your tongue and
then cut shaving off it with a sharp knife,
so. You see it curls up into a regular shaw
ing. Now, try that with lump of clay and
you viii see that all you cut off falls into
dust. If you have microscope you can ap-
ply a still more conclusive test. Break a bit
of mcerschaum, and under the microscope
its fracture will show that it is entirely com
posed Of the most minutely atomatic cocll lie
shells conceivable, twisted and matted TO
gether into a solid mass Nothing else looks
like it,
"But l should not be at all surprised if
meerschaum were to be discovered some
where in this country some day. We have
pretty much everything that is found in any
other part of the world. Why, do you know,
finer amber is discovered in this country than
comes from tho old world. l don't know
where it is found, but somewhere in Mexico,
believe, and it is in large, clear, fawless
pieces very often. There arc specimens of
amber in the Columbia college museum,
taken from coal formations in this country,
and have an idea that our amber is a solidi-
fled and petrified petroleum. You know that
nobody las ever rightly determined yet what
amber is, although it is supposed to be some
kind of a petrificd gum Well, it stands to
reason that if we have the amber we ought
to have nleerschaum also, or natures design
to supply rs with the best pipe material of
homo production would he q failure. But
until we find it we have still to depend
upon the same 3ource of supply that the
Pliny, who knew about as much concerning
this foam of the sea- as we do to-day.
''To answer tho questions OF your Oregon
correspondent: Al the mcerschaum comes
from little place called Eskischa, in Asia
Minor, wbers it is found at depth of about
fifty feet un'ler gronnd; but how it is found
only the TURKS who find it know Those
Turks are very religious Mohamneians, and
an article of their faith seems to be the duty
Of killing any Christians who come about
there asking questions concerning the meer-
schaum They havo kept up that practice for
so many centuries that they have finally
really made it a habit. They don't even en-
courage their co-reliGionists in impertinent
curiosity about it. Merchants who deal in it,
and live within five miles OF where it is pro-
= tiuced, have never visited the mines They
are ph;iosophic people, and prefer lv-
ing rather than knowing. When tho
stuff comes out of the ground it has much
foreign matter of some sort clinging to it,
and mnglinS with parts OF it. a that is
carefully cut away, leaving only the pure
white material, in the strangest, most irregu-
lar, ard fantastic shapes conceivable. As it
Is trimmed with 4 sharp knife, the workman
rubs it with thick oily leaf that gives it a
handsome polish for the market. II is not
sold hy weight but by quantity, its value
being determined by its Ightness and the size
of the pieces in which it is 1t sells by the
box, 1n arbitrary measure. Tho box is about
three feet long, twelve inches wide, and
twenty inches high. Tho contents Of one
box may be worth only $50, ard Of another
$500. The former will consist of perhaps 500
small pieces. while III tho latter viii be only
sixty or seventy.
"The consumption in the United States
amounts TO about GOO boxes year Six or
eight years ago it reached probably l 800, but
the demand hes fallen off one-third in con-
sequence Of The decline in pipe sroLing-or
at least abandonment of tho practice by 50
many Cf thosa who cculd afford to smoho
mcersclaum pipes.
The business in it has fallen of a great
DEAL but there still is, and alyyaYs will be,
sufficient demand for Is 20 make it very well
worth any mans while to frd an American
mire OF il That reminds ne that he article
that came much nearer to tho rea, rleer-
schaun than any ether thing have ever seen
that was not InoerschaUri, was found uo in
Vermont fancy tha5 it must Co kind Of
partly pet:iile,l wood. 1t was very light,
white strcalaa vita darker shades, a1d had
a iibrous grain. very different from rleSr-
schauin in that respect.
"Ioe:EahaI:l carving is not 50 good g h;isi-
ness now Us it used to be. A good carver
earns from 5lS 10 so n week. and in e,,cs;,-
ticral ca'cs So. The Payment is generally
weekly salary, ard ret otten by tho pisoo it
would be dificnlt to find any basis for pay
mert ty the plece, as o,,ch his OF carving is
job by itscif. Tho areistic carver n.ss Re
able 80 aeo a daeiyn in TIE strange, faa.s,s ssc
shape Of caeh lamp, AMI get it out so ss 10
utilizo al that il possible OF. tbs material
That lump, for i.2.,s.ncs, ro;,ld give . large
hariSos-sc bowl from that end; here would
como out thres dser tla buck, with bzancA-
Ing artlAs, sanding, che doe starduig ard
another ly.1g down: foliage in the back
grcanl os tas howl; grass urder foSt aaA
here :cTas sassr,n. III bnat tia carvtr viii
cut oub as.d ihil.h handsomely in fsem ~
and q half 10 ta.'ee ao;E.; ttn coss oi E.s wcYk'
will % hort 81. ;sni SIS bowl w,u ssu for
$3.50 .. whai~a:s.A. What ths rotal px ice viii
10 defanls uso. how much the ouston0
wants is. TAo 9lSaei toIis aro di0pci n
boilsi wax ts sii r7s tie po-cs OF tie cxte-is-,
50 a5 10 ssTess tho evaporation OF k.le oil frsn
the tobacco apd rysp-1 i. Doer tho surface.
where is arJr:r6s ito rich oolor fer which
mootscEsu.a y Ss'nou. Ne. York Sun.