Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-07-03
Especial correspondence.)

Especial Correspondence.
I'm T.af1NES, Cornwall, June 24.-On
SaA a hill just back of this ancient,
duanitest ana most picturesque
~ of English towns is a huge rubbish
heap that is said to.sbe worth for
tune because of the radiun1 In it,
IsANhena3t hat ste ntasasas first lnale
and cabled to America 1t was probab-
ly treated with the same sort of face
tious scepticism hat similar yarn,
coming from America, would receive
here. But now that the existence of
the most infinitely costly Of all miner
alssis vouched for by that distinguishes
ed scientist. Sir!sWilliam Ramsay, the
unslghtly rubbish heap has become an
object of serious interest. To denounce
It's pretensionsi to- hidden wealth as
humbug would be tantamOunt to ap-
plying the same epithet to Sir William,
which would be exceedingly libelous-
over here anyhow
Sir William Ramsay is credited with
knowing rather more about3tne mys-
FERROUS. Observation-Disclosures sub.
stance than any other man in England
What he says about Iadium goes He
was interviewed the other day about
a story from America that a compare
lively cheap substitute for ra1ium had
been discovered there which also
wrought miracles of healing. He said
there was nothing i'll it. And that set
ties iti5so far as the British public.
Z is concerned
The big rubbish heap the accu.nu-
lated refuse. of the Trenworth copper
mine that was shut down in. 1856 For
over half a century 1T has existed an
ugly {scal. on the face 81 "a lovely land
scape which has yielded. slowiyFsto ma,
lures healing handiwork. When the;
mine was AW orked great quantities Of
pitch blende, from which alone radium
Is obtained. We're found among the7cap-
per ores But science then hadUnot
even dreamed Eofi the Nistencer of rad
Jun and its wonderful properties. II The
pitch blende was found to- depreciate
glstttiy the values OF J; the copper ores
with Aehich&it was mi xsd. fs 7 he, miners
were, therefore, ordered to ,chucilitit.
aside whenever they came across it.
This they did, never suspectfng.t the
value ofs5whati they were throwing
away, with. the. result that when the
mine was aba ndoned great Quantities
of5pitch blende We're mingled WithPthoS
other refuse at tho pit head. dumps
\ PROCESS or HIS OWN. ...s;;
From this pitch blende Sir William
Ramsay, has 3ex ti.acteus. IA tii,m .by- a /.
process of his own which is said to be.
fla r. more expeditions than that COM
monty employed. TIe declares the stuff
to be fully equal in It's prod tIc-s
5tivcness of radio active materials and
uranium compounds, to any pitch
.blende which ever came under4n1r no.,
ttice from any part of the world.'.7 On
the basis of the analysts he has made.
OF the specimens submitted Z to him
every ton of It, he says. might be ex-i
ipected to yield a quarter gramme of 4
ri WY
much-no more than a little pinch OF. .
salt-but at present gprices it is worth
ST., 800,
From the rubbish heap about 40 tons
OF pitch blende have been obtained thus
far and barely. half of 1T has yet beenf
down $50, 900 worth of copper was
taken from it. Some of the sanguine
who have got hold of it
think it quite possible that the rubbish
heap alone may yield that much worth
of radiurn. What they may obtain
from he mine itself is problematical.
Sir William Ramsay says that Yield
of two-thirds of an ounce--ratner
more, believe, than now exists in
the world and worth at present t. prices
more than $500. 000--inay be looked for
annually in the near future.
On What he bases that expectation /
don't know. The mine Is only 200 faith
oms deep and III p to Within about 100
feet of the top it Us filed with water.
And that water cannot be pumped out
and the mine explored until the new
for ST. Ives. now well under
way IS finished The water In the
mine is radio active. When the mine |
s pumped out 1t is said that the water /
will be bottled and sold. and dnua.- /
ess it will be discovered then. that it
possesses wonderful medical virtues OF
some sort, though for many years i he
St. Ives folk haze teen drinking 1t
without discovering that 1t had any
properties Perhaps that
nay be attributed to the fact that their