Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-02-16
wild" BAKING POWDER
THAT'S THE NAME GIVEN TO WYOM.
lNC'S DEPOSITS OF SODA.

block of natural soda that Wyoming
placed in the mines and mining build
ing at Omaha was the astonishment of
thousands of people. 1t has been the
means of bringing soda experts from
different parts of the United States
into Wyoming to investigate the ex-
tent and richness of the States de-
posits, with view to erecting huge
alkali works along the margins of her
great soda lakes.
Wyoming has the most extensive
soda deposits in the world. The peo-
pie of the big Western State believe
they have enough natural soda in their
soda lakes to make all the soda bis
cults of the world for the next two
centuries and then throw in for good
measure sufficient sal soda and soda
lye to cleanse all the "tribes of earth"
during the two centuries they are
feeding on the Wyoming biscuits and
still have plenty of soda left to make
window glass for the United States for
generations to come. They believe
that within the near future Wyoming
the worlds output of soda.
Wyoming is thought to have more
than twenty soda lakes of commercial
Importance. These lakes are widely
scattered throughout the State and
are invariably found in depressions.
Most of these depressions have an in
let but no outlet; hence the opinion
of geologists that the soda came in
with the spring watep and leached
out, the water evaporating, thus leav-
ing in some instances beds of soda
more than fifty feet in depth and hun
dreds of acres in surface dimension.
The surface of these lakes, through
the action of the sun and air, has been
incrusted over with q powdered soda
closely resembling great patches of
pure snow. On examining them with
a rick one might well imagined tb .
h ern on l.ie ef ice r17-h vAlcn
light snow had fallen, for the soda be-
meath is a transparent crystal closely
resembling ice.
Professor Wilbur G, Knight, OF the
chair of geology of the Wyoming
State University at Laramie, has done
perhaps more than any other Westerner
to ascertain the chemical richness of
the Wyoming soda deposits. Speak
ing of Wyoming's inland seas of soda.
Professor Knight said:
''Large companies are now being
organized in the East to establish
alkali works in Wyoming. These COM
panies are being backed by big capital
in New York, Chicago and elsewhere;
and while England and Germany un-
til recent years have produced the
greater part of the worlds sui phate of
soda from common salt, we hope soon
to replace the imported product with
our Wyoming soda.
''From my investigations of the soda
deposits of the State, L believe it safe
to say that there are at least 40, 000,-
900 cubic feet of soda already in sight.
When we consider what development
work may bring forth, the soda beds
of Wyoming assume enormous pro
portions. In the immediate vicinity
of these deposits are excellent beds of
sand and limestone, and also an abun-
dance of fuel in the form of coal,
which insures the people of Wyoming
that these soda lakes will be used in
making glass, soap, baking soda and
sal soda. 1t has been already demon
strated that the Wyoming soda makes
frst-class window or plate glass.
There is little doubt that plants will
also soon be erected for the manufac-
ture of the ordinary soda compounds,
such as sodium carbonate, or baking
soda, and soda lye, used in making
hard soap.
''There is absolutely no reason why
this natural soda cannot be converted
into other soda compounds that are
more valuable than the sulphate, and
sold, at least in competition, with the
Eastern or imported product made
from salt"
The Mormons were the first to make
practical use of the Wyoming soda.
! They discovered the carbonate of soda
on the Sweetwater River in central
Wyoming, and for years annually made
uflpS dCIoSS buo SuSe VI uou ucSeIu III
freight wagons, distance OF more
than 800 miles, to return to Salt Lake
with sufficient soda to do their cook
ing and washing for the year. These
immense soda deposits have since
been used extensively by the in
habitants of Wyoming and the adjoin-
ing States.
Perhaps the greatest curiosity
among all the soda deposits of the
State is the soda we'll recently drilled
at Green River, that is now furnishing
water that contains twenty-four per
cent. of sal soda, and this soda is
more than ninety eight per cent. pure.
Chicago capitalists have recently pur-
chased large tract of land here and
are now laying plans for the erection
of plant.
Wyoming soda has been marketed
to some extent since 1886. There was
| \ large plant erected at Laramie that