The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-03
A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.
MOLYBDENUM FOUND IN THE
STATE OF WASHINGTON.
A Very Little Known Metal That
Possesses Wonderful
Properties.

Nineteen hundred and twenty dollars
a pound.
The most valuable metal in the
world.
That is the price the big Krupp gun
factory has paid for it, to coat it's big
projectiles with. Fire will not melt it,
acids will not act on it and salt water
has no effect on it. Heretofore it has
been found in only limited quantities,
the veins generally not being much
thicker than paper, and the Krupp
Company has virtually monopolized the
worlds supply. as. being impervious to
heat, the projecti1es COATED with 1t
were not softened or fused in the big
guns.
Adelbert M. Dewey, special agent of
the United States Department of La
Dor and relative of Admiral Dewey,
and author of the history Of his life.
was in the city yesterday. He had
with him about an ounce of the precious
metal which he had brought with him
from the State of Washington, and to
g Record Union" reporter he told a
tale before which that of Aladdiu's
lamp sinks into insignificance.
He told of three prospectors in the
wild, almost inaccessible mountains of
Washington, who found deposit Of a
metal totally unlike any they had ever
seen, read or heard Of Convinced by
their ignorance of it that it must from
its rarity be valuable, they spent four
years in developing the mine, and there
ara at present thousands of tons Of it
On the dump. No one to whom they
showed it knew what it was. but IN
one Of his official trips Mr.. Dewey be-
came acquainted with them ard they
gave him some specimens in order that
he might find out what it was.
\ Seattle chemist who assayei it pro-
aaunced it molybdenum, and San
Francisco assay had the same result
Not satisfied, Mr.. Dewey sent it to =
friend in Washington, with the request
that he have it assayed. Yesterday he
received letter from his friend, and
also one from Charles D. Wa1cott, Di-
rector of the United States Geological
Survey, assuring him that it was al
most pure Molybdenum, and stating its
value, and asking that a block of it
be forwarded for deposit in the Gov
eminent museum of metals.
porter figured for a minute on the value
of LOCO tons at $1,92O pound, and
VIXEN he looked at the figures almost
had an attack of heart disease. There
they were, too plain to be doubted;
So, $40, 00O,0O0 Far more than the ma
tional debt. More than all the multi
millionaires Of America combined. or
course, with such a large supply thrown
on the market, such price would not
be sustained, but allowing a very lib
eral margin for shrinkage in value, a
thousand tons would enable a man to
live very comfortably.
Mr.. Dewey enumerated the qualities
of the metal and the tests it had stood.
and they are marvellous. The United
States. as an experiment, some years
ago, he says, expended $1,000 for 1T,
AID applied a coat of it to the bottom
Of one of the ships in the navy. 1t
proved not only impervious to salt
water. but after several years of use
no barnacles or other substances were
found to have fouled the bottom of the
ship coated with it. Piles coated with
it are found to be proof against teredo
and rotting by salt water. So Inn
peTVlOuS TO neat - II that u piece OI
wood coated with it and exposed to a
heat Of 800 degrees for thirty-si hours
was found when taken from the fire not
to have been charred within the coat
ing. Iron and steel coated with it are
found not to dilate or contract from the
heat, a very valuable property IT
seems as If the uses to which the metal
can be applied are almost illimitable.
The ore cannot be smelted or melted.
and the only way in which it can be
worked is by pulverizing it and sep
arating it from the rock. Mr.. Dewey
says that there is a vein fourteen inches
wide, of pure oxide of molybdenum, and
forty acres of quartz that is 10 per
cent. molybdenum and that it is be-
Iieved to be the only deposit in the
State. A company has been formed in
Seattle to work the mine. and the own
ers are very sanguine OF success. Mr.
Dewey has been selected as Vice Presi-
dent. If one-tenth part Of what the
owners believe is true. the discovery
must work great revolution In the in
dustries q the world