The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-03
A VOLCANO FOR SALE.

History.
The owner of Popocatepetl, Genera
Caspr Sanchez Ochoa, has been negoti
ating for about year with dlfferen
parties for the transfer of his magnifl
cent property. Last spring the Mexican
Powder company treated for the acqui
sition Of the sulphur deposits, and the
deal Is still on foot. Last October ar
Englishman, Henry E. Taylor, repre-
senting the largest sulphur manufacture
ing concern in Great Britain, visited
Mexico for the second time in connection
with this matter, and made an offer OF
fifty thousand pounds for the volcano
The firm represented by Mr.. Taylor
some years ago purchased the Sicilian
deposits in California. However Gene
raj Ochoa has not positively made any
transfer as yet, for the different parties
negotiating have so far failed to make
the necessary money deposit.
The extraction of sulphur from Popo-
catepetl, General Ochoa says, Is bound
to be very remunerative, provided pro-
per machinery is employed for that pur-
pose. 1t used to be valued at twenty
two dollars ton, but now Is valued at
thirty-five to forty dollars ton, and
with proper apparatus for the mining
and extraction the industry represents
about one hundred per cent. of profit.
General Ochoa is figuring upon the
construction Of a galloway for the ex-
traction of the sulphur deposits, and a
working model of the proposed cable
line is to be seen in the Office Of Donald
Stewart. Mr.. Stewart some time since
30
mel be driven from point about six
hundred metres below the crater, to tap
the bottom Of the sulphur deposits. At
that time General Ochoas idea was to
carry the cable line up to the peak and
over into the crater. a project which
was impracticable on account of the
very slender support furnished by the
narrow lips of the crater for the cable
supports, and, Furthermore, because it
would have required considerable power
for the hosting of the buckets from the
depths of the crater, and the generation
of power is almost impossible at that
height. Impressed with the engineering
difficulties, General Ochoa now approves
of the plan suggested by Mr.. Stewart, to
tunnel the peak and to connect the
mouth Of the tunnel with the hamlet of
Tlamacas. To make the connection be-
tween the tunnel and the proposed re-
duction works of Tiamacas would re-
quire fifteen thousand feet Of cable, the
longest galloway in the world.
The model represents an apparatus of
the Hallide patent rope made of cru
clble steel wire one inch in diameter,
with a tensile strain Of not less than
two hundred thousand pounds to the
square inch. The patent is that Of A.
s. Hallide, of San Francisco, Call, an
old mining man of the west who has
demonstrated his galloway in connec-
tion with some of the biggest mining
ventures on the Pacific coast. Although
General Ochoa is an invalid and vete-
ran, and therefore under ordinary cir
cumstances is entitled to rest, he is still
dreaming of carrying out this ambi
tious scheme. He refers to the fact that
when the summit of Pixies Peak. rising
fourteen thousand feet in the air, was
reached by cable line people stood
aghast and thought that the limit of
daring had been attained by American
engineers, If General Ochoa carries out
his scheme the engineering achievement
VII ING . Sdh Will pdlG Ill llIlpOl tuIlCG,
for Popocatepetl is 1855 feet above sea
level or nearly four thousand feet high
err than the giant Of the Rockies
The essential feature of the cable line,
as shown in the model, is single end
less moving rope, with fixed clips at
tached. There Is thus but one rope en-
ployed, and that rope travels with the
loads attached by clip fixed to the |
rope. The ropeway is reduced to min |
mum of simplicity.
The entire clip can sustain a load of |
one ton without showing any weakness. |
Its only wearing point Is the strap |
which encircles the cable. The strap is |
cheap and can be replaced with a new
one in about five minutes. The buckets
to be used in carrying the sulphur are
and are attached by a
bail and hanger to the Jugs of the clips
oy bolt and nut. The carrier or buck
It weighs seventy pounds, and its ca
oacity is two hundred pounds of ore.
The load is fixed to the rope and travels
With il. The carrier is filled while pass
ng, while the rope is moving at speed
If about three feet a second The clip
IAN be increased to any reasonable num-
)er desired, IN accordance with the ne
,essities of the sulphur extraction.
The grip pulley is built of parts which
an be separated and carried over the
on muleback. In conveying
he sulphur ore it is calculated that the
ope travels two hundred feet a minute.
'he ore buckets, which are one hundred
eet apart, are, as above stated designed
o hold two hundred pounds. The one
undred and twenty tons a day can be
by the contemplated cable line.
The gray-haired old soldier is a dream
r, but a practical one. He contends
hat limitless quantities of sulphur
a minimum profit of one
undred per cent. in addition to sixty {
We per cent; sulphuric acid bringing
light cents pound, with a proportion {
tie profit, will recompense his endeavor. ,
he plan is estimated to cost about five f
undred thousand dollars in Mexican t
liver, as follows: t
unnel to pierce peak. 500 900 r
cid retorts at Tiamacas........ $4,000 c
ow grade ore reduction works t
at I1amacaS .................... oU,Voo
able line to Tiamacas.. .......... $4,000 Il
og railway to Ameca, the rail- f
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