The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-08-10
CHEAP RApIuM FROM ALASKA,
Discovered Recently In Rocks OF North
land--Soeiety to Investigate,

the principal exhibit from Alaska at the
Alaska, Yukon.rae Exposition, which
lwill be held at Seattle in 100, will be
the different Colds produced by the
north, there Is another far moN valuable
element that will also have u place IN
the mineral building.
Raiium, according TO leading Paris
hn scientist san be produced in large
quantities from certain Of the rocks OF
the north, and this servant Henri Ber-
tholet, son Of member OF the French
Gallery OF Forty mmortals, ia now in
Alaska arranging for q shipment Of rock
to Paris where It may be treated under
the nose favorable circumstances and
It's value as radim producer aseer-
tainei.
Gold Is worth about thNc hundred dol
lars a pound, That is, II costs three
hundred dollars to extract pound OF
gold from the earth, Radium is worth
about five million dollars pound; at
least it is figured II would cost that sum
| to extract pound OF Radium from the
lpitehbends in which 1t Is found. OF
course no one has yet succeeded In eN'
tracing a pound of radmm and the es'
innate OF its value per pound is more or
less approximate.
Radium. at the present time, IL OBJ
tanned only in one portion OF the world.
| 1t is extracted arom pitchblends OF u
certain kind found only in the Austrian
Empire 1t required that tons Of pitch
blends be treated to produce a few
grains OF radium, aud this Is one OF the
reasons for radium's enormous price.
Recently Austria has forbidden the ex'
port OF pitchbends in quantity, ard as
a result scientists experimenting with
this newest, rarest and most valuable OF
the elements, have been at loss to
know where to get government sup
lply, Now all eyes are directed 10 Alas
ka and Yukon, and great hopes are held
that not only will permanent supply
be obtained from the great white north,
but also that this supply will be in such
form that the cost Of producing ndium
will be reduced from millions OF dollars
Il pound to thousands OF even hundreds.
When aluminium was first discovered its
cost was prohihitive, the process by
which it was produced costing hundreds
o dollars pound. But after years of
Experiments, process was discovered
which placed aluminium in the market
commercially. II is hoped and believed
by leading scientists that raiium will
also be produced in short time com
mercially. and that thereby many OF the
Industrial processes OF the world today
win be greatly cheapened and simplitied.
Like SO many other scientific diseov-
cries, the knowledge that radium was
present in the rocks Of the north came
quite by accident. The society for
scientific research, OF which Mr.. Ber.
tholet is member, received several
rocks from Alaska for purpose entire
| ly disconnected with radium. One OF
these specimens happened to be laid
near a Photographic plate. When the
| plate was developed there was found on
| 1t the outline OF several instruments
that were nearby at the time.
The rock and the plate were In con-
junction. This led to an investigation
which revealed the fact that in all the
rock from Alaska weIe traces OF ra.
ldium. Hence Henri Bertholet's trip
from Paris to Fairbanks. The exact
location OF the mine from whose speci.
mems the radium was taken is not, for
obvious reasons, announced. II is suf-
iicient to say according to Mr.. Berth.
olet, that the deposits are of such ex'
tent that will avoid the necessity In fu-
tuN Of science calling on the unwilling
lpitchblends deposits OF the Austrian
government.
What will radium do' repeated Mr.,
Bertholet. 'Why so great are its pos.
sibilities that the average newspaper
and magazine usually so exaggerative,
do not tell half it, wonders when dwell.
ling upon it. Had q pound OF rdium
here and row boat. | could repelI the
whole united attack of--well, say the
japanese feet were the japanese navy
attacking Seattle. The prospect of
chelper radium means more to the scicn-
tiiic world, and ultimately to the indus
trial world than can be realized at pre-.
sent. | have great hope OF the pros
poets of the trip am taking to Alaska.
1t may mean great things too Tor the
north, for the cheap production Of ra-
dunn will furnish employment ultimate.
ly for--well ! do not care to prophecy
how many men, but the number will be
greater than most people not familiar
with the new elements possibilities can
Imagine"