The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-28
xrsrERIous MoNAzrTE.
A I-porta.t. Rsrr-etsry. Le-siy Ainerss
Fo.-d in North Caroti...
What Il mouazite =


what In mouazite 2"
Fifty times the question was put by Soy re-
porter to As many OF those shrewd New iorkers
who make handsome fortunes in duh ohcesi IN
Maiden lane and Burling slip and Cedar s'reet
and the regions roundabout, and nifty times,
with more or less variation OF accent, came the
answer:
"Seyer heard Of It."
Yet monazite is q commercial fact OF impor-
,ance: Il q, being talked Of learnedly in learned
societies: It is being quietly handled here in
New York. while down in North Carolina there
IA n monazite boom Of q yelled and secret sort.
Quiet. mysterious references have been made
to It by quiet, sedate business men. but the
limit OF Information has seemed 20 be soon
reached. One Pearl street millionaire. who has
handled oils for fifty wears, informed his book
keeper last Monday that he was going down to
North Carolina TO buy q few square miles Of
land. what for ~ asked the bookkeeper.
"Monazite," replied the millionaire. and that is
all that he could or would say. Another old
gentleman Just around the corner on Pine street
has sent his son-in-law to Germany where the
inner secrets OF monazite are TO be gathered.
An agent for q commission firm has been slip
ping around from point to point In North Caro-
lima buying up all the monazite in sight.
There were millions In IT. The market was
busted" It was used to deteriorate gold. IL
" Us u paNCh Az ~
people, one in New York and one in Hamburg.
knew what IL was used for. II was an open
secret and not worth talking about. or such
were the varying and contradictory hints and
phrases that had noated into the reporters KEN
yet when II came 10 the simple question, What
is monazite - the answer WAS almost invariably
the negative one just quoted; sometimes how
ever. Il was accompanied by. half friendly
pointer, such as Go down and see Flinkstein:
SchwartzmAnn's place and ask him.. And so
BY dint q mOuhtIPg many dark and grsHsy
laboratories and by takingiu up leads and hints
and indications, the following facts about
Monasite is q strange. rare mineral found in
that rich metallic heart OF ne AppaiAshian
S Ssnies 90 doSn H here Une di e IN their pi.oers
Was quite unfamiliar TO any Of the miners.
They sent . sample 20 their agent here In New
analytical chemist By whom it. vas recognized
as mSns I; Up 70 that time 4 had only Y sseR
widely Separated i%ocaiities as FinisSd and Corn
wall. Norway and Bohemia, and in such smsl!
quantities hat only the richs, labor.iories had
STon crystals that had BEEN BOILED up, We're
mineral. The composition of the mineral was
even more curious for y WAS found 70 contain
!" rare esTths" and ali ending In jun" which
Is a popularity, 1t seems. Of these imperishable
oubls- nal NuC6E % kouo NAIOukh -
fore arriving at the catAlogued state of "iums"
aud "ites" can only be guessed Al, but the IN.
intense cosmic energy. for they proved 10 be the
most refractory" things on record.
Chemists call things refractory when they
can neither melt nor burn them back any further
toward the point of elementary origin, and these
earths wouldn't go back at all. No matter how
great the heat, they Just became incandescent,
and glowed with q brightness that was like that
OF the sun; but when the fame WAS turned on
they were just rare earths, undestroyed iums"
Is before.
IL happened about this time that . certain
Illuminating company was looking for just such
a material as monaxite, and In correspondence
heard OF 1t. Investigations were made. experts
were despatched 10 North Carolina. and mona
Lite, was found by the ton Along the river
banks and in the river beds, In the clefts OF
auriferous rocks. and at the. bottom Of guile.
the brown crystalline sand was found. and
bought and shipped TO Germany. But IL took a
lot OF sand to furnish the imperishable material
in the shape that was needed. and the price
went up until Il reached $3.50 a ton, and from
that up 10 5000 and over. Then the search for
monAIile Was begun in earnest, and now in
Alexander. Madison, Mitchell. lancey, Burke.
Polk. Mcdowell, and Rutherford counties there
Is . monAzite boom