The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-08

Milford Feb. 6.-Seven miles east
from this town there is what should
be developed into one of the richest
= pYmice quarries in the United States.
The deposit lies on the north end Of a
granite mountain of considerable ex-
tent and is easy of access. 1t is down
hill from there to the railroad, and
enormous loads may be hauled by team.
The deposit underlies deeomposed
granite and is itself underlaid by a
formation some feet in depth of
chalky substance which has proven to
be, in its natural state, a very good
polish for the rcugher wares. and by
putting it through a grinding and
boiling process, manufactures a polish
unexcelled by even the celebrated
Tripoli itself. The pumice is of a very
white color ana ranges from a fine
flour to a coarse grade thus furnish
ing all the requirements for complete
commercial product, the only two or
three other good mines of pumce in
the United States either being too
coarse or too fine within themselves to
be success. An expert in this line
has visited this place with an idea
in view of purchasing it for the pur-
pose of mixing some of the finest grade
products from elsewhere which IS
coarser, but no satisfactory agree
ment could be reached. Stone like
this has a market value of something
like $50 per ton in its rough state, and
when a freight rate of 50 or $40 Will
place it on the market it looks as if
some one ought to be interested in
this article. The property is owned by
Milford men, who, of course will let
go when they get enough. The polish
ing material is abundant and easy of
~manufacture.
J. H. Erickson of Salt Lake City ar
rived in town this morning and QuietI-s
departed for the Rocky district. five
miles out, and is once more working
on the ground surrounding the little
hole 1SX20 feet in dimension. from
which he took SOS 900 in goltfn a couple
of years since He brings grub and
outfit for a summers work and is
sanguine that he will strike another
pocket or two like the one which made
him well-fXed.
Not for ten years has this country
been soaked from top to bottom as it
is now The wagon roads are almost
impossible on ali sides for miles All
over q section ranging from the Della
mar divide through the southern sec
{lon of Utah. from Cedar TO Deseret !
and north, the moisture has fallen in
unusual quantities Here in the Mil
ford district the ground is soaked until
ii VIII hold no more. Transfers are
putting on SIX horse teams where four
horses have taken the loads before |
All freight is delayed on account of |
bad roads. The mails do not make |
regular connections at all times and |
the Delamar bullion stages were late
this week, thus delaying the shipmer7t !
here in Milford nearly "a hours. The /
railroad track IS sOftening. and the /
spring thaw has come. The certainty |
OF ample water for all farming pur- |
poses during the coming season light |
ems the hearts of the residents I'D and |
down the valley.
y number of civil engineers arrived /
in town on one of the early morning
trains this week, and began to stack /
arms and outfits UP against the de-
pot. The question soon settled down
into where VIII the new depot be sit
Gated.' II was then only a matter
OF Few days when the locomotive
should be ploUghing its way south
through the desert ladened with the
perfume OF wool and sheep dip The
older heads wanted us to hold on for
few days They had seen such things
before. Had not the rails once been
laid ten miles on south from Milford.
This had no quoting effect or rs and
the men who were unloading a car of
cinders for the Union Pacific insisted
that they We're preparing place for
the new depot The animation. how
ever. was of short duration. for soon
the engineers began piling their outfits
into a two-horse wagon. and left town
for the southern country. Men
breathed easier and some said with
sarcasm that this was 'only a few
cigarette smokers sent out for a bluff >
Vhe surveying party is somewhere in
the south. The boys were very mum
as TO their business. Milford receives
the mention of railroad extension win
interest, and about the same feeling as
the preachers boy accepted his fathers
injunction 10 refrain from marrying.