Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-11-27
MEERSCHAUM MINES
This Remarkable Product Almost En-
tirely Confined to Turkey.


The British foreign Office has issued re-
port upon the meerschaum mining indus
try in Constantinople. This product,
which is extensively utilized for the man
ufacture of pipes is almost entirely con-
fined to Turkey. The meerschaum can be
mined by any person at Sari-sou, SepetdJe,
Gheiki and Menlou on payment OF five
pias TO the administration of mines. the
cost of permit. The mines of Sari-sou
are situated at q distance of about IL
miles to the east of ESkichehir. The pit at
Sari-sou was opened 20 years ago. but to-
day there are 5000 mines opened, of which,
however, only 1000 are worked the re-
mainder having been abandoned Some
| i,00r miners work these mines and every
Friday "a market Is held at which they dis
pose of the blocks of meerschaum they
have extracted during the week. For the
accommodation of the workmen some 1,O0
| huts have been erected.
| At Sepetdje, about Is miles to the north
east of EskChehir. there are some 20,0o0
pits in space of six miles, of which only
1Jo are worked. all the others being ex
| hausted. 1t is said that these mines were
opened 1000 years ago which is not in
credible as it is we'll known that ma gne-
STA was formerly used for many purposes
other than the fabrication of pipes; more
over, fullers earth used to be worked on
a vast scale by the ancients, The meer-
schaum mines are worked by some 500 min
ers who live in the surrounding villages
AT Gheiki, in the neghborhood of Sepetd-
| je there are 5000 pits, of which only 100
are worked, giving employment to 400
miners.
| The only place where the administration
of mines authorized meerschaum to be ex-
tracted is Menlou. and here there are only
| 20 pits actually worked by 100 workmen.
| The working of these meerschaum depos-
Its called the Eskichehir mines, which
formerly were actively worked is reduced
to Lao pits, giving employment to some
5000 miners the greater proportion of
whom are Kurds and Persians. These de-
posts are worked on the following print
tive systems
A foreman of ganger, having from two
to Is men under his supervision. having
pegged out piece of ground. generally n
meter wide pit is sunk until a red clay
ey earth. which Is the first sign of the eXis-
tence of magnesia is reached Sometimes
this is reached at a few meters from the
surface. but a rule the miners have
to dig down some 20 meters and often DO
and even up to 60 meters, before reaching
the red earth. wherein the meerschaum is
disseminated in kidney and other irregu-
lar forms. The value of these blocks sell
dom exceeds 30 to 40 cubic ccntimoters. the
greater part of them being the size of a
walnut or an apple.
| On reaching the gangue containing the
blocks of magneSia, the miners drive hOri-
zontal shafts through the red clay. This,
however. is no easy matter as they can
not detaCh or pick off moro than 30 gram
mes of the clay at a stroke. Some of
these galleries are no less than n quarter
of a mile in length, and 1t sometimes hap
pens that owing to these being pierced at
random different gangs meet under
ground. They work night and day, the
galleries being lighted with petroleum.
After a certain quantity of blocks have
ben extracted, the meerschaum still enVel-
oped in its gangue is drawn out of the pit
and stacked in the miners barracks. These
blocks are bought by the manufacturers
of Eskichehr in job lots every Friday,
and there are some $50 persons who reg
lularly attend these markets. The nicer
schaum is then taken to Eskchehir, where
the blocks are cleaned. the operation con-
sistinE of scraping and cutting the blocks
with a sharp instrument or knife the
meerschaum being still soft and easily
cut INTO any shape or form.
| over ! 100 persons are occupied in clean
ing and shaping these blocks which, after
being thoroughly cleaned. are separated
into four classes. according to size and
quality. These blocks being ready for
sale, a bargain is struck between the pipe
manufacturers and the commission agents
and merchants at Eskichihir. of whom
there are about Il dozen. The latter then
pack the blocks of these four classes with
very great care into boxes of equal size
each block being wrapped in cotton to
avoid any friction or shock between the
pieces.
The actual annual output of these mines
varies from 120 to $50 tons. The Eskiche-
hir meerschaum is very highly priced in
Europe on account of its superior quality
and these deposits, Notwithstanding that
they have been worked for centuries, are
stil considered to be Observation-Disclosures.
ontific American.