The San Francisco call., 1906-04-11
To EXAMINE
CALIFORNIA; 5
INTER- BEDS
Government Soon
to Get Supply
at Home.
Dependence on Fields
of Chile May Now
Be 0bviated.
Deposits Recently Discovered
in Death Valley Are to
Be Investigated.

Now comes the State of California with
| the declaration that the United States
shall be independent. Once the Golden
State played a conspicuous part in hold
ing the Union intact, and now, after
building it's commonwealth for fifty years,
! she says the country shall be dependent
no more on foreign land.
| Gunpowder, In the last analysis, is the
sine qua non of Il stable government, and
as the inter used In its manufacture in
this mightiest of nations can be obtained
in quantities only in Chile, dependence
has been absolute on the narrow South
American republic.
But down in Inyo and San Bernardino
| counties, in this State, deposits have been
| found offering vast supply, 1t is believed,
of the stuff that Is required to make the
guns boom in the assertion Of the majesty
of the Stars and Stripes.
State Mineralogist Aubury has commu-
nicated to the Government at Washington
the fact Of the existence of these inter
beds, and If the investigation that is to be
made of the fields results favorably the
United States can forever renounce her
dependence on the trust and or the strip
of a republic. The California beds are To-
Gated in Death Valley, and for climatic
reasons the earliest time that the exam
ination can. be made by the Geological
survey Will De next OCTOBER.
SECRECY MAINTAINED.
The fact that the country has to rely
wholly on the Chile inter field has long
been a matter of concern at Washington
What might be the result in case of a
protracted war is readily apparent The
utmost effort has at all times been made
to keep secret the country's dependence
on Chile, and never a word is published of
the appropriations by Congress for the
purchase OF inter supplies. If the fields of
this State prove to be satisfactory in
quality and quantity, as 1t is believed
they will California may proudly lay
claim to great service to the country.
The following Is the letter Mineralogist
Aubury forwarded to Senator Perkins at
Washington calling the Governments at
tention to the deposits In Death Valley:
"I noticed In a dispatch from Washing
ton that Hon. Robert s. Waddell made a
statement to the subcommittee of the
Senate committee on appropriations to the
effect that this country is wholly depend
ent in times of war or peace on one gi-
gantic trust that has the absolute and ex-
elusive monopoly for the manufacture of
all the powder that the Government re-
uuires for offensive and defensive pur-
poses If the statements contained in the
dispatch are correct and the committee on
appropriations intends to pursue this sub
ject further. there is a matter which I
would particularly call to their attention
and which to my mind is deserving OF
much consideration.
FIELD is LARGE.
ITO begin with, the supply of inter,
which material is the basis of all pow
der compounds, is obtained wholly from
Chile, and in the event of war with a
foreign power the material becomes
contraband AS 1t is my belief that a
comparatively small stock of inter is
to be had in this country for powder
manufacture. 1t would appear that
this Government might be placed at
great disadvantage in a long war.
my purpose in writing this is to
call your attention to the large de-
posits of nitrates which were dis
covered some time since in Death VAL
ley. Inyo County, California, and also
County, California caused an inves
tigation to be made of these deposits
and a report of the same was made
under my direction and is embodied in
bulletin No. "a. Saline Deposits of CAL
ifornia,' which bulletin has been for
warded to you.
Owing to the small amount of our
appropriation which could be devoted
to the examination of these deposits,
it was not possible to go into the mat
ter with as much detail as I desired.
However, 1t will be seen from the re-
port that they cover a large territory
and are in some places of very high
grade.
RAILROAD NEAR DEPOSITS.
"One of the reasons for the non n-de-
velopment Of the deposits has been
lack of transportation, but there is now
building from Ludlow. on the Santa Fe
Railroad, what is called the Tonopah
and Tidewater Railroad, which is
backed by f. NJ. Smith and English
capital. This road so far has pro-
gressed to Soda Lake and to the juno
ton of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake
Railroad, and Is being rushed forward
from that point northward as rapidly
as possible. This road was designed to
furnish transportation from the borax
fields and will enter the territory
covered by the nitrate deposits, SO that
the transportation problem is practi-
cally settled
.'While 1T is not supposed that the
deposits will produce as large a per-
centage of nitrates as those in Chile,
have had experiments conducted on the
very low grade material. with satisfac-
tory results, the production averaging
ten Der cent.