The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-04-14
vALUELESS PLANT
TO Be UTILIZED
Heretofore Supposedly Worthless
Vegetation of Alkali Plains Said
To Be Valuable for Potash and
Other Properties it Contains-Lo-
cal Men to Organize Company.

1t is strange thing that # ha. aa.
volved upon a Hammond man and
hammond capital to make productive
the great barren wastes of the western
deserts, TO utilize by scientific methods
the one plant that grows in urOfusion
In soil that is burned for $50 DAYS in
the year by the merciIess heat of fhe
sun.
Sage brush, heretofore useless. one
or the few plants that will grow in
alkaline soils in spite of the numerous
handicaps that have driven less hardy
plants out of existence. Sage brush.
the one plant that breaks the monotony
of great stretches of desert will soon
become one of the great sources of
wealth of the country If Sylvester
Sparkling, recently chemist at Reid
Nurdoch's plant In this city, knows
what he is talking about.
There are half a dozen Hammond
men who believe that Sparling knows
what he is talking about even If he
does live in the fertile Mfssessfppf
valley and has probaly never seen a
sage bush growing.
Company To Be Formed.
A company is soon to be formed in
Hammond, capitalized at $50. 900. the
stock of which will be subscribed en-
tirely by Hammond business men and
which will, in the near future, begin
the erection of plant in Nevada that
will make the utilization of this weed
possible.
The principal product which to be de-
rived from sage brush is potash At
the present time most of the worlds
supply of potash is taken from wood
and the parts of trees that are not
available for lumber.
When this wood is put in a kiln and
reduced to ashes the ashes are found
to contain about 81 per cent of potash.
When the ash from the sage brush is
put through the process it is found to
contain 81 per cent of potash or nearly
3 times as much as ordinary wood
This is due to the fact that all desert
plants take up a great deal more min
eral than those which grow in a more
humid climate. In addition to the
potash there are also several other by
products such as wood alcohol, creosote
oil, acetone, etc.
Profits Are Large.
The enormous profit that will be
realized from the working out of this
process may be realized when it is
known that the raw material may be
had for the taking and the government
will be glad to grant the rights to the
company to all of the sage brush that
grows on government land
All that is required for the manu-
facture of these products is heat and
water and even part of the gas which
comes off will be utilized to convert
the liquid into vapor so that it may be
distilled.
Hammond people have not been
aware of the fact that for months. in
fact, since last November. local chem
lists have been busy in improvised
laboratories. one of which is located
in the home of Hobe Godfrey on Tru-
man street. where the experiments
have been going on.
In fact it is surprising that the gov
arnment revenue officers have not heard
Of the secret distilling that has been
going on and suspected that Hammond
was infested with moonshiners.
Great retorts have been constructed
and hundreds of pounds of sage sbrush
have been shipped in with which the
experiments have been carried on
Some time ago letter was sent out
to Carson City, Nevada. asking that a
man be hired to gather several hun
dred pounds of sage brush and ship it
to Hammond Indiana.
Thought That They Were Crazy.
The ranchman who collected the
brush and consigned it to Hammond
must have thought that the eastern
chemists were crazy to want such
quantity of the worthless weed that
that they would be willing to pay s25
to have it collected and SIS to have it
shipped all the way to the Calumet
region.
He little knew that chemists were
sweating over hot retorts distilling the
liquids that were derived from the
plant and if their plans carry there
will be factories built on the sterile