The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-04-04
HUNTING FOR MONAZITE.
A New Industry in the Piedmont
Section of North Carolina.

HUNTING FOR MONAZIIE.
A New Industry in the Piedmont
Section of North Carolina.
The enthusiasm with which the
search for monazite is now being
prosecuted in the Piedmont section of
North and South Carolina is some
thing remarkable. Men, women, and
children talk about it, dream about
it, search for It, and would perhaps
eat it if it could be prepared so that
lit would be palatable For 200 hun
dred years the planters on the coast
stumbled over phosphate rock, which
had been brought to the surface, and
considered it of no value. Finally,
after the late war, man of scientific
turn of mind began to investigate this
rock, and as a result an industry has
sprung up that now amounts to mil
lions of dollars annually.
In like manner gold miners year af-
ter year in their search for gold along
the streams of this Piedmont Sec
ton have been finding in their pans
la heavy yellowish sand which they
least aside as worthless. This has all
been completely reversed in the last
Twenty months, and nowadays pro-
lspector will cast aside fair speciments
of gold while prosecuting his search
for monazite. To obtain monazite
from the hundred little streams that
are found in the monazite belt the
prospector sets out, provided with
-, hi cho ho
scoops out a hole in the bed of the
lstream or near by it. He goes through
the alluvial deposit until he strikes a
whitish sand and gravel. Of this he
taeks a painful and washes it out,
carefully examining quality and
quantity. After prospecting in sew
eral different places he is able to de-
eide whether the "branch," as these
small streams are called in the South,
lis worth working. If it promises well
a trial is made. The top soil is
stripped off from a small area until
the monazite' stratum is reached
That sand is taken out and carefully
washed, and if the results are salts
factory then work is begun.
Contractors do most of the mining,
taking leases and paying a royalty OF
from one-seventh to one-ffth. Occa-
Sionally the monaZite privilege is
bought straight out, and in some in.
stances 5000 an acre has been paid
Sometimes, however, the owners work
their own land.
Common, unskilled laborers are EN-.
ployed to do the work ''Strippers'
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
next. They turn it over to the wash
ers, who get out all gravel, silver, and
clay, leaving a mixture of heavy ma
terial behind. This goes through a
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 a cast iron per-
forated plate at the upper end of the
box, through which the monazite
drops, while the lighter stuff and
clay float away. A stream Of water
flows through the box. Expert wash
ers receive 81 a day, but there are
lplenty of men who do this work fairly
well, and are anxious to work at 65
cents per day. Overseers and time
keepers receive $1.5O. This is consid.
cred fair wages down South, where
there is little demand for day labor
now.
The sand is about as current as gold
dust, six cents a pound being the av-
erage price. 1t is estimated that a
group of well-managed hands will
make twice their daily wages. Let
ters of inquiry come from all countries
seeking information about monazite,
and, judging by the number and char
acter of these received by the geolog-
ical survey from various European
countries, the industry and the
amount of money brought into this
Piedmont section for monazite this
lyear will hardly amount to less than
100000. Monazite has been found in
small quantities in Russia, Norway,
Bohemia, and in gold washings in
Brazil and in the mica veins at Que
bee, but nowhere has it been found
in such enormous quantities as in this
belt.
A Gloucester, N. j., company is the
lonly concern manufa cturing monazite
in this country. The value Of sand de-
lpends upon the rare metal, thorium,
which it contains, which is separated
from the associated material by very
complicated chemical processes, which
Iare kept secret from everyone except
those who manipulte the operations.
It is then used in the manufacture of
lincandescent gas burners of different
forms.
The finding Of monazite is the best
thing that has ever occurred for the
lpoorer people of the section in which
lit is found. Hundreds of day laborers
lare now feeding their families with
the money made in this industry.
THE PRICE OF HOGS.