The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-13

It has been stated in these columns,
and the statement has been reiterated
! time and time again, that Dame Ma
ture has been very prodigal in her min
eral gifts to the state of Utah, and
that within the environments of the
commonwealth there were deposits of
nearly every known mineral, and in al
most exhaustless quantities.
While the great storehouses of the
state-the everlasting hills-are prolific
in their wealth of gold, silver. copper
and lead, and are scared and gashed
with veins and beds of coal, asphaltum
and mineral wax. and the mountains
are topped with enormous bodies of
iron ore, and precious and ornamental
stones are to be found at every hand
so plentiful as to astonish even the
most enthusiastic, yet it was not known
until within the last week or two that
an artificial product, the manufacture
of which involves the expenditure of u
vast sum of money. had been discov-
cred within easy reach of one OF the
railroads that radiate through the
state.
In works of mineralogy it is learned
that there is such a product as natural
coke, but SO far as known there has
but one deposit of this commodity to
be found in the United States, and this
was in the vicinity of Richmond. Va.
Although the deposits of coal in Utah
are immense in their proportions, it
was never dreamed that among its
commodities of trade and commerce
the state could boast of beds of this
natural coke: but such is the case.
however. and The Herald is informed
that short time ago vein of this
coke had been discovered in a section
of the country about 40 miles south
of this city, and within 10 miles of
railroad.
This deposit crops out on the surface
for some distance, and a 25 or 30foot
tunnel has disclosed a body of coke
that is all of five feet in width, and
there is every reason to believe that
with depth the size of the deposit will
increase. In quality the coke is all
that could be desired, and at the assay
offices at which it has been tested. the
statement is made that it is a pure
article, and that ii is even superior to
the manufactured coke, as it is en-
tirely free from sulphur, bituinen, and
that it gives out no smoke when burned
and makes less ash than the manufac-
tured article.
The new find, which is considered as
being among the most valuable that
and controlled by ex-Mayor r. y. Bas-
kin and several other Salt
Lake gentlemen who have To-
Gated $40 acres in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the discovery, and
The Herald is informed that it is the
intention of these parties to incorpo-
rate at an early day for the thorough
development of the property.
Already these gentlemen have a force
at work in opening up the coke meas
ures, and it is expected that during
the coming week at least three carloads
of this commercial commodity, which is
used so extensively in the smelling of
ores, will be consigned to this city as
a trial shipment.
Artificial coke sells on the market at
from So to SIS ton, and there is every
reason to believe that the natural ar
ticle, which has been treated on large
scale in natures own coke ovens, can
be mined and marketed at a good pro-
fit, as, according to Mayor Baskin, the
quality or quantity is not problemat-
ical.''
With minerals in such abundance,
and the fuels for its reduction so close
at hand, there is no reason why Utah
should not stand forth among the
states as the peer of them all in the
way of her unrivalled resources, ad-
vantages and attractions.