The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1888-04-27
cryolite Mining.


Captain Louchlan Mckay. In com-
mand Of the Sovereign of the Seas,
one Of the famous old clippers that
once made Americans pround Of their
merchant marine. Captain Mckay left
New York Tor san Francisco In August,
ISL: the freight money amounted 10
sSs,0O0, very large sum to-day; a bar.
rel OF Hour in san Francisco in those
days Of gold fever sold for about s45.
on Valparaiso, In a storm, Captain
Mekay's ship was dismasled but rigg,d
up again, and reached her destination
In lO2 days. which was a quick passage.
Dlschargng her cargo. the gallant clip
per sailed for Honolulu and loaded
with oil for New York, and made the
extraordinary time Of eighty two days.
For 10000 miles she sailed without
tacking or wearing, and in ten consec.
utiye DAYS she made $500 miles. But
tl'e days Of the noble old clippers are
gone, aud went TO see this veteran Of
the sea about the ships that trade with
Greenland. His are the only vessels
that go regularly 10 the far of land of
Kane. They go out In ballast for al.
though Greenland imports wheat
brandy, coffee, sugar, tobacco aud fire
wood, II is not from this country. They
bring back a metal tefemed cryoite.
which they obtain at a port called
lvigtut, on the southwest coast of
Greenland. II is bleak country, even
in tie short summer, during two
months Of winch, June and July, the
sun is always above the horizon. Mos
ses, stunted shrubs. dwarfsh trees and
huckleberry bushes are about the only
vegetation. and the bare mountains in
the grip of the great glaciers and the
generally dead and desolate aspect OF
the country make II appear as strange
aud unreal as that Lray corpse of a
world. the moon.
Cryvlite looks like ice. aud hence the
name signifies lcest0ne. IL is all taken
TO Philadelphia and Is used in manu-
featuring soda, alum, lye, prucelain
piano keys, duur knobs, clock dlals and
other articles. The seven barks in the
trade each carry about 500 tons of this
strange mineral and make fourteen
voyages in "A year. Last year they
brought S,400 tons to this country.
Those at lylgtut are the only known
mines In the world. Specime8 of this
mineral has been found In the Ural
mountains and on Pixies Peak, but no
other actual mines but those in Green
land are known. 1t takes twenty days
to 90 to lyigtut and thirty to return.
The Danish gOlernmen owns the
mines, and they are worked by u com.
pany that pays "A royalty TO that gov
ment.
The vesseles in this trade are built
unusually strong in order to withstand
the rlgurs Of that frozen region; they
have steel plates ON the bow, iron ON
the stem or forward part Of the vessle,
double planks ON the sides, and arp
Iilled in with timbers, and yet three
years ago one of the stauHch barks was
lost in the Ice and one that reached tie
open sea WAS never afterwards heald
from. The danger is not SO much from
ic, bergs as from the great blocks Of
floating ice or "tlOw ice" For eight
months OF the year, or in the winter
season, tits II continuous night, and
navigation is especially dangerous
/ During the four summer months of the
wear vegetation makes rapid progress,
but il is OF dwaI fish character, ana
the tallest trees do hot exceed eighteen
feet. The greatest recorded cold of
Greenland is sixty-eight degrees below
zero, and the greatest heat lifty-three
degrees above, While the average for
the year is three auuve zero.
The httie port whence the supply of
cryulitr is obtained has a population OF
about $50 miners and as many Esqui-
maux. 1t is not "A place that invites
civilization, and the natives, debaurhed
10y The whiskey of the Caucdsians TIL
the sale Di that beverage has hern in
terdictrd, probably think they do not
lose much 10y living IN what the clvlli-
zed usually regard asa lost land. cap
tive in the grasp of The Arctic terrors
that guaLd the awful approaches to
that mysterious aud fatal objective
point of human ambition and daring
tie North Pole.-0, W. Riggs, in phlla-
delpha Press.