Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-07-17
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MYSTERIOUS MoNAzlTs.
An Important Refractory, Lonely Mineral
Fo,fi,d In North Carolina.
What is monazite?"

round In North Carolina
What is monazite?"
Fliiy times the question was put bv n
reporter To as many Of those shrewd
New Workers who mako handsome for
tunes in duh offices in Maiden lane and
burllng slip ard Cedar street and the
regions roundabout, and 80 times, with
mord or less variation Of accent. came
the answer:
Never heard of it. ="
Yet mona2ite is commercial fact of
Importance 1t is boing talked of learn.
ddly in learned societies. it is being
quietly handled here in New York,
while down in North Carolina there is
u monazite boom Of veiled and secret
sort.
Quiet, mysterious references have
been made to it by quiet, sedate busi.
ness men, but the limit Of information
has seemed TO be soon reached. One
Pearl street millionaire, who has han.
died oils for 90 years, informed his
booltkeeper recently that he was go
ing down to North Carolina to buy a
few square miles of land. "What for?"
asked the bookkeeper. "Monazite, re-
piled 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 min law
to Germany, whore the inner secrets of
monazite are to be gathered An agent
for commission firm has been slipping
around from point to point in North
Carolina buying up all the monazite.
There were millions in it. The market
was busted " 1t was used to deteriorate
gold. 1t was a patent medicine. No cne
outside of two people, one in New York
and one in Hamburg, knew what it was
used for 1t was an open secret and not
worth talking about OF such were the
varying and contradictory hints and
phrases that had fioated into the re-
porter's ken, yet when it came to the
simple question, "What is monazite?"
the answer was almost invariably the
negative one just quoted. Sometimes,
however, it was accompanied by half
friendly pointer, such as go down and
see Flinkstein. He knows all about it, "
or Run over to DIR. Schwartzmann' s
place and ask him. " And so by dint of
mounting many dark and greasy steps,
getting into all sorts Of strange smelling
laboratories and by taking up leads and
hints and indications the following
facts about monazite were secured:
Monazite is strange, rare mineral
found in that rich metallic heart Of the
Appalachian mountains that lie in North
Carolina. Some year or so ago one of
the gold mining companies down there
discovered in their places deposit OF
small, brown crystalline sand which
WAS quite unfamiliar to any of the
miners. They sent sample to their
agent here in New York. The agent sent
IL TO famous German analytical chem
ist by whom IL was recognized as
monazite. Up 10 that time II had only
been found in small and scattered de-
posits In such widely separated local.
ties M Finland and Cornwall, Norway
and Bohemia, and IN such small guam
titles that only the richer laboratories
had any specimens Itwas not like any
thing else under the SUI, and 80 the few
brown octahodron crystals that had been
bottled up were labeled monazite, or
the "lonely," or solitary" mineral |
The composition Of the mineral was
even moro curious, for II WAS found 10
contain siz " those undeiinable products
known as "rare earths" and all ending
Ia "ium, ;" which IL q poouliarlty, II
seems, of these imperishable duhls'
What these dusts had gone through bo'
fore arriving at the oalalogued state ~
''iums" aud ''ites can only be guessed
AZ. but the inference is that they had
bsen born Ia a period u intense ooamlo
energy, for lhoy proved % be the most
"Tsfraoloy" things ou record,
Chemists call things refractory when
thsy con neither melt noF buTn lhoin
haak any further toward ihe point ~
elementary Origin, And these slrihH |
woaldn't 80 la.0k a. ail No matter
b0~ great ihs heat. ibey lusi leoailu /
lnoandnreout and gl0Npd WIN hilkhf /
ness that VIA Ike that ~ The suil, bni I
shnn tho fame Was ipnrd % iAny T.
sefs lut rare saFlAs, nia''iiN5sa
'luuis ~ lsfoTo
u kAplsnsd about ibls uipe iAAl
noFtain illuminating company Nas l"'s
iuR flT jnri sych material as mona /
$50 and in soufslaAannDr beard z" ~ /
Investigation Nfge madn rsiefis Ntip .
dispat0lira ~ huIih Carolina. aiia plN .
Hasiia as feuiid ~ ihr i'm Along 'li' /
nFfg hsnts snd W ihs IlFi4 tafls b
ihr riffis ~ aglifsFppf f'shs aha ~ .
ihe bofials a Eullies iie lifpnn - ls'al
lli.s saild y a. Hand aBd binRhi sla .
shlgi,ed ~ ilrgmaHy 1905 u SD = lsa
~ saiid a. fsfnifb fhe imlsFifhaliie iiis F.
tailal M ile fhsps ibaf y ~ unsaf1, sia
lhs lsioo Nani w gniil " fusihef : sg
= iaa. aaa hsn iDsi w ~ $500 siil .
DseF Iilfn ile ssafrh 81 Hiaiafiif Nas
lessu iu rafnafi, snd 100 in AlHfai /
az. hadissp hliebfil, fahasf hslkfl
Fols. hrilosfii ane ligihefaad e',pH /
iifs ibue sa monsflis bsiis H hns
tnff fun