, 1901-12-17

der were based on the selling quota
tions of the foreign article and the
entire production was under CONTRACT
with consumers. OF the total I'M
ports to the United States In 1900
England furnished about 110.000,0U0
ID. and Belgium, France and Germany
the remaining 33, 900. 900 lib. Con
tracts Tor 1901 delivery We're booked
at sl.75 to $40 per 100 Id.
There was considerable production
of natural sodium carbonate in 1909.
The production reduced to a basis Of
So per cent ash of natural soda in the
United States came from California
and Nevada. and amount to l4.i OF
short tons (%sl95.30Oe as against lO.50O
| short tons S147,O 00) in 1899. The
producers were the Inyo Development
| Co, of California and Nevada; Girls
Occidental Alkali Co. of Hawthorne.
New. There was no production from
| Wyoming in 1900, the works heretofore
| reported at Laramie having been de-
stroyed by fire. This soda ash was
made from the natural sulphate of So
da found in soda lakes: and it is re-
| ported that the works were not a ON
mercial success.
Now turning to the local conditions
as they exist at Green River, Wyo-
| ming. the following data will be of in
tereSt:
During the summer of 1895. a cor
poration was organized by local CAPT
tai under the name of the Green River
Fuel e. Oil company for the purpose
of sinking for oil or coal in that vicinl-
| ty, the company having obtained an
option on forty acres of land and To-
| Gated Just outside the city limits. Con
tributions approximating $4,000 were
raised by sale of stock and a contract
made for sinking a well in the fall
of that year. Operations were contin-
ued during the fall, but when a depth
| of 700 feet was reached the machinery
became disabled and it was determin-
ed to suspend operations until the fol-
lowing spring. 1t was observed that
at a depth of 1876 feet the water pump
ed from the well was strongly i'm
pregnated with alkali. and upon IN
vestigation it proved to be natural So
dunn of carbonate, or sal soda, and
of a better quality than any manufac-
tured in the United States. The next
season numerous wells were sunk vary
ing in depth from 1875 to $50 feet cov-
ering an area of five or six hundred
acres. These wells all gave a similar
analysis and the amount of water that
could be pumped from the river bot
tom on which they are located was
found to be inexhaustible. There was
pumped from the original well over
60. 900 gallons of water in t~wenty-four
hours without any appreciable decline
in the water supply, nor in the strength
of the soda solution which yields an
| n 90 IF 90 RI OK nor nnnf in coda
crystals: or in other words 25 pounds
of sal soda to every 100 pounds Of wa
ter.
Prof. Wilbur c., knight of the Uni
versity of Wyoming was among the
first to investigate these remarkable
wells in 1895, and the following ex-
tract is from a report made by him to
the Green River Fuel & Oil company
at that time:
after examining your well and nav
ing Prof. Slosson analyZe the water,
believe that it will prove to be of
greater commercial importance than
the average oil well. Prof. Slosson's
analysis shows the water to contain
SO per cent sodium carbonate, or
23.248 per cent of sal soda. which
means that the water contains 1854
pounds of sal soda to the ton. There
is but one question to settle before the
extent of this apparent discovery can
be fully relied on. You must pump the
well and learn If the water will re-
tain a large percentage Of soda, and at
the same time furnish a large amount
of water. Should the water grow
slightly weaker it would still be rich
enough to pay for evaporation and
yield a good dividend upon a proper
investment. Under existing circum-
stances l recommend that you first
test the quantity Of the water with a
pump, and at the same time take sam
pies at intervals and have them test
ed for their soda contents. In case
the solution remains about the same
and will furnish, say, 10000 gallons
each day, it will be advisable to erect
watts and evaporate the solution in or
der to obtain the sal soda crystals.
Sal soda is a form from which many
other leading soda products are made,
and it will not be very expensive to
inaugurate from time to time other
processes for the conversion of sal
soda into compounds of much great
er value. Bicarbonate of soda is made
by passing carbonic acid gas through
the water taken from your we'll while
in tanks. Carbonic acid gas is OBJ
tanned by burning limestone of which
there is an abundance in the vicinity
of Green River. The lime can be sold
as a b%y-product, or used in the nan
facture Of other soda compounds. A
.second compound that you can easily
manufacture from the sal soda Is
causic soda which is utilized SO ex-
tensively in soap making, and many
other places where a strong I've is
needed. This compound has hereto
fore been made from carbonate of soda
solution by adding lime. The solu-
ton is usually placed in long iron
tanks that are supplied with steam
while the lime is Stacking. The lime
is usually placed in wire netting so
that any refuse al be easily removed,
The liquor thus obtained is boiled
down and the soda is in the caustic
form.
If your well a produce 10000 gal,
Ions of water daily that will yield TWEEN
ty per cen of sal. soda crystals upon
evaporation, you have one of the great
est money making investments that |
have seen in this state for many years.
Should the present well not yield
enough water you can easily sink more
wells and bring your production up to
almost any limit. as long as you can
obtain a solution of any strength to
pay. The soda industry of the United
States is growing rapidly. At pres
ent most of the soda compounds are
made from common salt. The impor-
tation of the leading soda compounds,
to the United States each year make
a total Of over six million dollars. so
you see there is plenty Of oom in our
markets for any of the soda compounds