Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-10
DEATH VALLEY HAS SALT
Huge Deposits OF the lock Found In
Desert Mountains OF Cali
fornta.

Slowly but surely. inch by inch, In the
face Of drought and Intense heat man is
solving the mysteries OF Death valley. and
one by one Its hitherto unlocked treasure
vaults are being thrown open to add TO
the wealth Of the world. There is gold
in large and In small quantities through
out the length OF the valley. particularly
at Skidoo and other neighboring camps In
the Panaminta; there Is copper at Green;
water. enough borax to supply the entire
world for many a year and now II seems
probable that the district will soon be
known as a large producer OF rock salt.
These salt deposits are found in the
foothills Of the Avawatz mountains, at the
southern end Of Death. valley and within
sixteen miles of the Tonopah a Tidewater
railroad. There are four distinct bodies
known as the Death Valley, King. Salt
Basin and Jumbo salt mines. The salt APP
pears to lie in ledge form with well-detined
walls, particularly on the upper or hang
ing side. The deposits have been well
known on prospectors for many years, but
Il was not until the completion OF the
railroad that they assumed any commercial
value. Years ago some OF the material
was freighted to the Tecopa mine for use
in a chlorlnation mill In use on the prop
erty when 1t was mined for its high sur
face values OF silver.
The Death Valley mine consists Of eighty
acres, and 1t In upon this ground that the
larger part of the present development Of
the deposits has been done. The showing
is 500 feet wide by 1000 feet In length,
the salt being covered with wash gravel
and mud to a minimum depth of ten feet.
Where the salt has been most exposed to
the elements 1t has dissolved and mixed
with the mud and gravel, forming an in
crustation harder even than the rock salt.
The development consists of numerous
open cuts, tunnels and shafts, all pene-
trating the surface incrustation and show
ing pure salt in the faces. 1t is estimated
that there are $4,000 tons of salt already
exposed In this deposit.
The King mine lies one mile to the north
Of the Death Valley property and shows
salt more than 100 feet in width, traceable
for loo feet. In one place the rock salt
stands fifty feet above the surrounding
formation. The Salt Basin property lies
one mile farther to the southeast, on what
Is really a continuation of the King de-
post. Two miles farther southeast is the
Jumbo mine, showing a body Of salt
seventy-five feet across.
1t il that at the present time
5000 tons of rock salt are imported into
California from Liverpool and sells to job
bers at about SIG per ton. OF this amount
probably 1,500 tons come to southern Call
fornia and Arizona, where it commands
prices well over $50. The owners Of the
Death Valley deposit claim that their pro-
duct is very hard, firm and fine-grained and
In every way equal to the Liverpool impor-
tation. 1t is probable that $50, 0OO tons of salt
are made on the coast each year by evap-
GRAFTON, this product being used for table
salt, hide salts, ice cream salts and glazing
salts. Salt for packing meats, fish and
fine dairy butter, and which must be par.
t~icularly pure, is brought to the coast
from Germany, New York and Liverpool
Los Angeles Times.