The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-13
IN DEATH VALLEY"
Was Found Worlds Great Store
House OF Borax.

Was Found Worlds Great Store
House OF Borax.
From the EDfcure.
When the story of the nineteenth century
is written it will be found that it is chiefly
in the last third that the most astonishing
steps forward have been taken, the first
portion showing rather the laying Of the
foundations for progress than marked feat
ures of the thing itself.
1t is not alone telephone and monograph
and electricity harnessed in hundred forms
| to the use of man, but earth itself has
Joined with air and all subtle forces to yield,
from hitherto unknown resources amyriad
aids to easier living
Petroleum began IL, and In the search for
oil many another mystery disclosed it's elf
1t was plain that earth held in hiding not
only many form OF light, heat and color
but purifying agents, thus far known only
to the working chemist, and first and chief
among these came horax. till the beginning
of the present generation rare AMI costly,
and used only by blacksmiths In welding
STEEL and occasionally in medicine.
Up to 1857 borax came to us from the
East Indies, Persia and Italy, was refined in
Venice and In England. and imported at a
cost of 81 pound, often more, its high
price Offering strong temptation to adulter-
alton.
In 1869 the price had fallen to 40 cents a
pounds and in 1879 to IL, and from that
time boTax has remained a cheap COM
modify within the reach Of all
How has this been brought about2 Out of
DISASTER AND HUMAN SUFFERING,
30 sharp that the valley first found TO be
rich In this deposit bears yet the name,
THE Death Valley" where the discoverers
of the borax deposits found, In 1867. the
remains of emigrant wagons undecay ed,
and their tracks still plain In the hardening
sand, though thirty years had passed since
hope left them and the little company one
by one lay down to die.
Gold alone had been the object of the
party who sought to enter California by the
way Of Salt Lake, aid who. haltinR in the
Death Valley, in Inyo county, Californ mia,
found & heat so intense thnt, added to the
lack Of water, it made further progress i'm
posi- lie, only few Of the stronger ones
escaping to tell the tale.
Later experts sent out to report IL gold
were really to be found in ths valley, came
upon the borax fields, and later the deposits
in Nevada
From the Pacific coast. 1900. 900 pounds a
year are supplied for home consumption,
which has now reached the astonishing
total Of 100000 pounds yearly, with a
constantly growing demand.
Once introduced into family use, whether
in kitchen, laundry or nursery, it becomes
an essential.
Borax forms by capitalization and every
student of mineralogy knows that In this
fact is natures own guarantee OF purity, a
crystal in the nature Of things being abso-
iutely pure.
Reduced to the powdered form which has
been found most useful for daily service it
is, OF course, possible TO add cheaper and
heavier aoulterations, but frequently analy-
sis shows that this IS seldom done aud never
by reputable companies.
In It's present form II has numberless
uses, the arts finding it no less essen Ial
tnan medicine and the household. 1t is not
only dlsinfectAnt but sntiseptic and invalu-
able ii the washing OF clothing or bedding
suspected Of infection.
AS soFTENER OF HARD WATER
1t is Of the greatest use in regions where
lime enters largely into tho geological
formation and the " 0ter is unfit for washing.
As used by pnysic ans, it not only softens
but purides water, hsals ulcers and boils,
relieves Druises, sprains aud burns, allays
Inflammation and prickly heat, is useful Ia
catarrh and acidity Of the stomach, and as
an antiseptic IN typhoid fever, cholera and
smallpox
In the arts Its use is constant. Ii pro-
duces the glazs on china, eArthenware and
tiles and is used 10 the enamel for granite
ware" as a morisnt In calico printing and