The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1894-01-25
THE CRY0L|TE MINE.
Greenland Has the Only One of the
Kind in Existence.
FOUND NINETY YEARS AGO
num- Only Three Women Are AL
lowed to Live There.

scattered about at the wides intervals in the
ports along both'coasts of the Atlantic Ocean
puts to sen and heads away for point in
the lee OF Cape Desolation, on the southwest
coast OF Greenland. The ships OF this feet
have the strongest and best of canvas and
gear aloft, while the hull is not only unusu-
ally strong everywhere but is built solid at
bows, covered with an extra layer OF plank
there, and then armored with steel plates
The passage before this fleet is at the best,
says Frank Leslie's Weekly, one of the most
arduous in the world. The destination is
few miles south of the arctic circle An ocean
river sweeps along I he coast, bearing masses
OF field ice hundreds of miles in extent, and
into and across this barrier the fleet must
fight it's way to the harbor for which it is
bonnd and when loaded there the fight must
again be undertaken in order to return. 1t
is sight fit to turn a andsman's hair gray
even under the most favorable circumstances;
but when the gales arise, and especially gales
from the south, with their black logs, the
position OF the ship as it losses about be-
tween the threatening ice masses is so fright
full as to be beynnd the power of man to de-
scribe. During last summer out of a dozen
ships that attempted the passage one sue
rceded, after beating about in the ice for over
thirty days; two failed to get in and returned
with crews almost worn out and starved
while fourth was never heard of after leav-
ing port. The rest had fairly successful voy-
ages, happening to find the ice fields open
The voyage is undertaken by the fleet in or
der to carry to Philadelphia the product of
the cryolite mine in the Arsok ford. This
mine is so odd that it is unique There is no
other cryolite mine in the world 1t is worked
in odd fashion, by the men of an odd camp
and it was discovered by an odd prospector
DISCOVERED BY A GERMAN PRosPEcroR.
In 1903 II German prospector named Gle
secke went to Greenland, landing at Cape
Farewell, where he lived with the Eskmos
and with them he Travelled up the rugged
coast in the skn-eovered comiaks until he
reached the Arsuk ford. An Eskimo who
resided there told him that few miles up the
tiord was curious stone, which his people
called tho ice-that-nevermets They used it
in dressing pelts, rubbing the stuff on the
flesh side. where it acted somewhat as soap
might. GieseCke went to the place and fonnd
at the waters edge n cropping of white, soft
rock that when wet looked exactly like wet
snow-mixed ice. IL was an entirely novel
substance, so he gathered samples, prospec-
tor fashion, and he had hard luck with them
which is also after the fashion of prospectors
On his way home in danish ship British
cruiser captured the outfit, and Giesecke lost
all he had However, the chemical world
learned that Giesecke had found the fioride
OF sodium and aluminium, and it was named
cryote, which means ice-seone
No one but chemical students took note of
it, however, until Professor ]. Thomson. of
Denmark, made some experiments with it
about forty-fve years after it was found and
demonstrated that chemically pure alum
could be cheaply made from it as well as sal
soda, bicarbonabe OF soda and some other
useful substances. So company to work
the mine was formed, and, about 1850, men
and materials were sent up there to niue the
stuff and ship it to Copenhagen. Thersat
lvigtut came into existence as n mine camp,
and it is to this day the only white settle
ment in Greenland. 1t is, of course, a Dan
ish settlement, for Greenland is one OF the
colonies OF good old King Christian. First
OF all they built house to live in. using tim
Der and boards to build up walls and stuffing
the spaces between ceilings with moss. Then
most OF the houses we're shingled over all,
but that built for the superintendent was
covered with smooth Norway pine. There
were double doors and double floors and
double windows. and the best of coal burning
stoves, while huge coal bins are erected close
by. So, the storehouses to hold other sup
plies sufficient to lastthree years we're erected
and filled, and they have been kept full con.
tinuously
The cryolite deposit was walled in and COW
cred over with gray granite. When the Gov
ering had been cleared off they found a mass
oil pure white cryolte about 600 feet long
and 200 feet wide Investigation showed
that this was the top of pocket or chimney
of the material that plunged down at an
angle OF 10 degrees with the horizon into the
mountain that rises there. 1t was also learred
that the cryote, though pure on top, was
mixed with much carbonate of iron in the
chimney OF ore
r..
For several years the working OF the de-
post did not pay, but in 1864 a Yankee firm,
the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Com
pany, contracted to take two-thirds of all
that the mine could produce, and since then
the mine men have been getting rich while
paying the crown a royalty of one-f fifth The
most interesting use made of the stuff in
America is in the production of aluminium,
the metal that has made such rapid strides
in the arts recently. 1t would seem odd to a
Rocky Mountain miner TO find this deposit
worked as u quarry. An open hole $50 by
$50 feet large and 100 feet deep has been dug
out in the work of thirty years. In summer
miners simply blast up the bottom and cut
down the sides OF the hole; other workmen
break up the blocks, separate as far as posi-
BILE the iron ore, and run the whole up an
incline railroad operated by steam. The
refuse has been used in making and extend
ing the dock mt which the stuff is loaded into
ships. The water that falls and sweeps into
the mine is lifted out by common steam
pump. In winter the work of clearing away
the covering rock and cutting down terraces
goes on wit h tolerable regularity even though
the latitude is above 81 degrees The men
then work on an odd staging. The mine is
filed with water and the men work on the
ice that quickly forms. One of the oldest
mining accidents happened when, one day,
quantity of cartridges were accidentally fired
beneath this ice staging, splitting it up in all
directions. 1t is not often that miners are