Mohave County miner. [volume] (Mineral Park, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1882-1918, 1901-06-15
Great Niter Beds Found.

of Borax lake, lies a mountainous sec
ton, devoid OF any other vegetation |
than the artemisia, or desert bru sh, and |
In many places even that is entirely |
absent. This arid region, which con-
tains many thousand acres of land, is |
reached by the wagon road which leads !
from Barstow to Leach's point, and
thence ON to Death valley. 1t has been
explored time aud again by prospec
tors, aud in 1893 was thoroughly gone
over for oil, As many scattered location
notices of that date, found recently.
Although indications for oil are very
favorable, aud oil seeps out of the
ground 10 many places, those who went
over the ground three years ago aban-
doned the project, and today the land
shows not a derrick to remind one that
the ground was ever tapped.
With all this coming and going only
seventy miles away from Barstow, it
never occurred to the unskilled pros
|
that there might lie uncovered in this
arid district mineral wealth of far
greater Importance than gold, silver
aud copper. Nevertheless such l. the
fact. 1t H. one vast inter bed, and it il
claimed will rival the nitrate fields of
Peru aud Bolivia in the near future,
aud rs the beds are practically inex
haustible, that part of San BeuardiuO
county where the saltperer deposits are
situated i, bound TO open up rapidly.
Judge A. NJ. Bragg, formerly mem.
Der of the bIari OF eiucatiua of Los
Angelic, has just returned from thee
inter fields after stay of three
M pnths He said yesterday that he
aud some friends had received infor.
q, ion before his departure that u
company had Incorporated Ia San
Francisco several month, ago under
the name of the Peruvian Niter com.
pauy for the purpose Vt locating sonr
of the land near the Slate range.
Bragg and several other Los Angeles
men Immediately started from re
toward BoraX lake to investigate what
the Peruvian compsny had discovered
out that way, aud they fonnl that the
entire region was more or less Que vat
salt peter bed, the deposits ranging
from two aud oue.half to sixty per cent
OF inter mixed with earthly matter aud
brax. Some of the unclothed bills are
mounds composed literally of nothing
else. These eight Los Angeles men 10.
Gated 1900 acres under seemingly
very elastic decision of the surveyor
general of the United States. As Judge
Bragg understands Thu decision any
, eight men may go on locating quarter
section after quarter section until the
whole country j. taken up, taking care
To place monument at the corner oil
, each quarter section.
The Peruvian Niter company, taking
, advantage OF this Interpretation of tn,
, law, pushed aheai very rapidly In its
, endeavor to cover the earth with monu
, menls aud wound mp, when there was
, nothing more to locate with grand
f. total of 10000 acres. OF this amount
, however. it Is claimed that the com
, pany purchased 400 acres a short time
ago for $500 %. Another syndicate Of
. Los Angeles men, composed of Rogers
, Rathbun aud others, that had succeed
ed in erecting monuments to protect
5000 acres, has bonded its land to New
! Workers for 350,0J0S.
! These inter deposits were discovered
D iu January by prospector who wal
3 an expert at the business, and the new'
. of the find caused more than Ordinary
. excitement, but the process of snap
ping up everything in sight so long a,
] rocks to build monuments held out
: soon put stop to locating, and all thu
+ saltpeter land was taken up in shor
z order. There is absolutely no timbe
i or wood for fuel in the region, bu
3 Judge Bragg thinks that the indica
S tions for oil are so good that a solution
r OF the fuel question is to be found
y Surface water can easily be obtained
G by sinking little tunnels Ia the noun
b tain side, but there are no springs with
n in ten miles of the beds. Two railroad
Q surveys pass through the region anC
!. Judge Bragg Is of the opinion that
J. track will soon cross through the mite
j. beds, so that the question of transpor
$ tation will also be solved. Angelo