The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-25

The current mining news that is pub
ushed from day to day and from week to
week has more Importance than Is popu-
larly attached to it, and often II has more
Importance than is measured by the
amount of space the news Is given in this
or any other column of any paper or the
extent to which heads" are devoted to
It. The current mining news concerning
California is constant record of new de-
velopment work, new mills, new mining
power plants, new processes and, most
important of ALL new investments of cap
ital. This or any other record of mining
development In California gives out
small part Of the news of mining progress
in the State. 1t would not be possible TO
make UP much of news column concern.
ing failures of mines and abandonment or
mining ventures. These occur now ana
then, but numerically and financially they
are a very small fraction of the leglti-
mate mining news of the day from week
to week The news Is news of progress.
Old and abandoned mines are everywhere
being reopened and new mines are every
where coming to the front. The dry sea-
son has put heavy and crushing hand
on productive operations almost every
where the sta a aangns
postponing for year the building OF
mills. ETC., but still the prospecting, eX-
p4tsthion and development 81 tt new IN Pr99R
ment because the phenomenally dry year
has not weakened faith in the California
duced the gold output for 1893.
Among the items of mining news that
have been presented at the front during
the week is one that gives the posi-
bility that still another mineral resource
has been added to the Incompatible list
that is California's. No other State or
. section of contiguous States presents the
variety of mineral resources that Cali
fornia does This new thing is possible
discovery Of molybdenum, and the facts
of the discovery are thus told by the
Kern County Echo:
Isl Drouiiard, the well-known miner,
Marshal Baker and II. Vincent Wallace,
prospecting of several weeks in the high
SierraS at the head of Kings River in
Fresno County: They saw much wild
whitney. numerous lakes, pIenty of feed
and considerable mineral. The prime OBJ
Ject of their trip, i appears was to find
it, and plenty of it, too. This mineral Is
very rare and said to be worth about 81
an ounce. 1t is used for certain kinds of
painting. They claim that this is the first
to be discovered in California"
Molybdenum is one of the rare elements
and its dissemination among the works Of
quantities, and generally occurs in veins
of granite or gneiss or disseminated
through these rocks. Its occurrence has
been noted in number OF places in the
United States, but its production is main
Nv limited to Sweden, where il has been
found in the greatest state of purity and
under conditions most favorable for eco
nornic production. 1t often occurs as a
sulphide, or yellow lead ore" which is
properly ''molybdenite." The use of this
metal is largely in chemical laboratories,
and 1t is also used as an alloy Is
tungsten and other rare metals. 1t Is only
recently that the metal has obtained any
commercial Importance, but this import
ance is likely to greatly increase. Min
eral Industry for the past two years does
not give it's price, and II is not a metal
included in current quotations, but Min
eral Industry for 1894 gives its price at
81 for ten grams. Molybdenum will never
add millions to the wealth Of California,
but the possibility of its occurrence is in
teresting as adding TO the Incompatible
list of California minerals.
j. H Means, who has been for a good
while one of the able staff of field depu-
ties attached to the State Mining Bureau
has returned from a stay of several weeks
in Santa Barbara County, where he has
been studying the asphalt formations of
the region about Mount Pinal and Mount
Solomon. The region which he has stud
led geographically is about three by five
mikes In size and is an interesting one.
He has made a typographical and geo.
and a bulletin thereon Will be published
as soon as the condition of the office Of
the State Printer will permit. Mr.. Means
was for some years an assistant to Pro-
fessor Brauner who now occupies the
chair of geology at Stanford, when he
was the State Geologist of Arkansas, and
his services to the State Mining Bureau
have been of marked ability and value.
He has for one thing investigated the