The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-03-13
MINERAL FREAKS.
Some Queer Deposits in the New
State Of Utah.
Remarkable Beds Of Mineral Rub
Der and Gum Asphalt.

Survey, was sent on there few weeks
ago for the purpose Of looking mp GER
tain natural resources, aud lac has re-
turned with a most interesting report
Among other things, he found great
deposits of mineral rubber-enough
to make gum shoes for a large part OF
the population Of the United States
It is black, and it looked aud felt ex.
actly like ordinary rubber.
"You see, it is quite elastic" said
Mr.. Eldridge, bending piece with
his fingers "Thero is no telling how
many valuable uses it may be put TO
il the future, but imagine il will be
employed largely mixed With the
vegetable rubber Of commerce. For
a roofing material il has already been
proved excellent. In the mining
towns of Utah mineral rubber is util-
lied commonly for roofing, being pre-
pared in sheets consisting Of q layer
Of burlap, with the rubber on both
sides Nothing could be moro
thoroughly waterproof. Because it is
so new not much IS known about this
peculiar stuff and its possibilities.
0nlyfa few tons of it have been mined
near the Uintah Reservation, where it
is chiefly found It occurs in veins,
but the number and size Of the latter
are not reliably knows as yet"
Mr.. Eldridge took up from his desk
a queer-looking, blackish chunck of
something not easily identified that
felt soft to the touch.
"That is another unexplored min
eral wax, and is found in veins like
the mineral rubber. 1t has not been
mined at all, but many uses for it are
likely to be discovered in the future.
To electricians it will be valuable,
doubtless, inasmuch as it is one of the
best insulating materials for employ
ment in their business. But here is
another interesting mineral substance,
also from Utah"
The specimen Of this latter looked
exactly like a piece of Obadiah, or
black volcanic glass 1t was hard as
any rock. "That is gum asphalt"
said the expert 'My chief business
in Utah was to examine the deposits
of this material. 1t is wonderful
substance, and represents great min
eral resource that has hardly been
touched as yet. 1t is nothing more
nor less than an exceedingly pure
kind of asphalt, and its important
usefulness is in the manufacture of
varnishes.
'The substance is found under con-
ditions 80 extraordinary that nobody
has been able to account for them
very satisfactorily. The deposits are
chiefly within and in the neighbour
hood OF. the Uncompahgre Reservation.
You are walking across the country
and come upon queer looking streak
that runs straight as an arrow flies.
You brush away the sand, and beneath
it you find that the streak is perfectly
black. 1t is vein of gum asphalt
"There are many such veins near
the eastern edge of Utah, and some of
them run over into Colorado. They
have tendency to run parallel to each
other, with trend from northwest to
southeast. They vary in width from
a quarter of an inch to eighteen feet,
and they are from half mile to six
miles in length. Nobody knows how
deep they are. The greatest depth
reached is 125 feet Thus far mining
for the stuff has hardly got beyond
the prospecting stage. The veins arc
perfectly vertical.
"These veins of asphalt represent
cracks in the crust of the earth, made
in distant geologic epoch, and sub,
sequently filed in with the gum as
phalt The stuff has much of the APP
pearance and hardness of jet. o.
course it is only useful for making
black varnishes. No, it will never b.
used for paving streets, unless, per
haps as an admixture with ordinary
asphalt to improve the quality OF the
latter; it is too valuable, you see
cannot tell you from what sourse the
substance was originally derived. L