The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-06
SEABoLDTs BIG DEAL.
Salt Laker Tells About Sale of As
phaltum Land.
Qenver ReDublican.

Denver Republican,
Bert Seaboldt of Salt Lake left for
the west last evening, accompanied by
a representative of the Boston company
to whom the gilscnite fields of western
| Colorado have been sold, to whom the
property will be formally turned over.
Mr.. Seaboldt didn't care to talk about
the little episode in Boston in which he
| figured as defendant in suit for COM
missions. All that l will say about
that" said he lis that the more than
300 letters and kilograms that ! received
from Utah and Colorado were the
source of much qualification to me as
coming from the men among whom l
| have worked for twenty-five years, and
! that the plaintiff in the case has not
succeeded in holding me up. 1t is one
of those things that promoters of min
ing properties are thoroughly familiar
with.
The new owner of. the property is
one of the strongest paving companies
| in the United States and has bought
the property for its own use, and not
for the general market. / am not at
liberty at present to say anything about
our plans for-the future. as they are
not yet thoroughly m3tured. l will say
this, however, that we do not propose
to let any grass grow under our feet in
the development aAd operation of the
property. The company is a large con-
sumer of gilsonite. and will naturally
desire to utilize its own material as
soon as possible. i leave tonight for
the field with gentleman who will
accept the property for the company,
and we Will make a thorough eXamina-
ton of the ground with a view of de-
termining the best plan of working, and
in less than month our engineers will
be at work making the necessary sur
veys.
THE veins of gilsOnite which we will
work are upward of five miles long, and
the material is the best ever found in
the world, being practically pure, the
residuum after burning being unworthy
of calculation. 1t is vastly superior to
the celebrated Trinidad asphalt, from
which it is entirely distinct in charac-
ter, as is shown by the name given it
by the Smithsonian institution. after
my friend and business associate Mr..
Gibson. WHO took the first samples to
Washington for analysis. This ~ the
only deposit of gilsOnite known to ex-
list in Colorado, being an extension CT
the big veins found in the Uintah
agency of Utah.
1T took me long time and made
hundreds of experiments before 1 de-
termined what l had found and since
then 1 have been working for years to
secure the titles. but everything is now
secure in a compact form, and before
many months we will have the heaviest
production Of gilsonite in the country.
1T is possible that we will erect
works on the ground for the prepara-
ton of the material for immediate use.
but that has not yet been determined.
In any event this is not important, as
the gilsonite is no nearly pure that the
extra freight on the crude material will
not cut much figure, and the matter Of
works will therefore have to be deter
mined on the relative cost of prepara-
ton on the ground and in the east
Even if we do not construct works
however, we viii give employment to a
large number OF men. For the present
we will have TO haul the product to the
railroads, a distance of about fifty
miles. The exact point at which we
will reach the railroad has not yet been
decided upon, and will be determined
by the surveys. The building Of the
road will be commenced as soon as
possible. We may use traction engines
that depends upon the matter of cost,
which has not yet been accurately fig
ured. Of course railroad viii be ulti-
mately built and our surveys will be
made With a view OF using our road
for the railroad grade.
Il cannot give the price paid for the
but it is not as much as
$4,000, 900. That is a great deal of money,
and it is far easier. to get ii in a news
paper article than in the financial cir
cles of the east. cannot say now how
many men we will employ nor how
much money we will expend in i'm
Such details can only be
determined after the surveys are made
and our plan of operations definitely
settled. We may employ as many as
500 men TO commence with. and. as you
know, the cost of building a wagon |
road on a railroad grade fifty miles |
long is no trifie. suppose that before |
we commence shipping We will expend /
from $500, 900 to 500, 600. / am TO be the /
general manager Of the company and |
viii stay on the ground to direct the !!
operations in opening the mine and |
building the road,