The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1895-06-21
HUNTING i oR MONAZITE.
The People Of That vicinity All But
Grassy Over the Strange Dlscov-
ery-.How the Mineral ls
Obtained.

Inc eutnuSiasm with Whlch the
search for monazite Is now being pros
ccutcd in. the Piedmont section OF
North and South Carolina is something
remarkable. Men, women and chill
dren talk about it, dream about it
search for it, and would perhaps eat i,
if it could be prepared SO that it would
be palatable. For two hundred years
the planters ON the coast stumbled over
phosphate rock, which had been
brought to the surface, and considered
itof no value. Finally, says the New
York Sun, after the late war, man Of
scientific turn of mind began to investi-
gate this rock, and as result an in
dustry has sprungup that now amounts
= millions of dollars annually.
In like manner gold miners year
;fsar year in their search for gold
li3ng the streams of this Piedmont
stion have been finding in their pans
I heavy yellowish sand which they
cast aside as worthless, This has all
been completely reversed in the last
twenty months, and nowadays pros
pector will cast aside fair specimens Of
gold while prosecuting his search for
menazite. To obtain monazite from the
hundred little streams that are found
in the monazite belt the prospector
sets out provided with shovel and pan.
With his shovel he scoops out a hole in
sile bed Of the stream or near by it. He
;:oes through the alluvial deposit until
he strikes a whitish sand and gravel.
OF this he takes painful and washes it
out, carefully examining quality and
quantity. After prospecting IN several
different places, he is able to decide
whether the branch, as these small
streams are called in the south, is
worth working. Ifit promises well a
trial is made.
Contractors do most Of the mining,
taking leases and paying a royalty of
from one-seventh to one-ffth. Occa-
sionally the monaziteprivilegeis bought
straight out, and in some instances two
hundred dollars an acre has been paid.
Sometimes, however, the owners work
their own lands.
Common, unskilled laborers are en-
ployed to do the work. "Strippersn
are the hands who clear away the top
soil. removing all timber growing
thereon. They go down to the sand
and gravel The gravel gang comes
naxt They carefully lift out all of the
E.onazite sand and turn it over to the
washers, who get out all gravel silver,
and clay, leaving mixture OF heavy
material behind. This goes through
second washing, and the material left
is marketable monazite.
The washing is done in a wooden
trough from twelve to eighteen feet in
length, twelve inches wide and twelve
deep. There is cast iron perforated
plate at the upper end of the box,
through which the monazite droDs.
wnle tine llghter STUFF and clay float
away. A stream of water flows through
the box. Expert washers receive one
dollar day, but there are plenty Of
men who do this work fairly well,
and are anxious to work at slxty-iiye
cents per day. Overseers and time
keepers receive one dollar and hall.
This is considered fair wages down
south, where there y little demand for
day labor now.
The sand is about as current as gold
dust, SIX cents pound beng the aver
age price. IL is ESTIMATED that group
OF well-managed hands Will make
twice their daily wages. Letters OF in
qalry come from ali countries seeking
information ab0utmona2ite, and, Judg-
ing by the number and character OF
these received by the geological survey
from various European countries, the
industry and the amount OF money
brought into this Piedmont section for
monazite this year Will hardly amount