Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-18

| uocu lOT HsltG wall plhSlci Ill SoH-
struction, hbreG plaster. plaster oi
Paris. and as fertilizer.
The broken down gypsum is shol
| down the mountainside by acria-
trans TO the mill. which is automatic
in its action. and the finished product
Is hauled to the railroad ut Juab with
| huge traction engine with two trac-
ton wagons. each with capacity OF
20 tons. and making two round trips
a day
Gypsum is hydrous sulphate OF
| lime, made up of one moleculc oil
lime sulphate combined with two mole
| cules of wafer. Commercial gypsum
is not usually so puro as this, often
carrying high percentage OF clay, lime
| stone, magnetism limestone. and iron
oNlce Pure gypsum is white and when
| IN 1 crystalline form. translucent
| inc Impurities which ii commonly con-
| talns usually destroy its translucency
and affect its color, so that the mineral
! as mined is an Opaque. finely grained
| mass, varying from white to reddish,
! gray, OF brown in color. That near
Nephi Is gray Gypsum can readily be
distinguished from other minerals by
lis extreme softness for even when In
tEc crystalline form 1t can be scratch
ed b. the finger nail,
The gypsum found at Ncphi Is of
massive rock variety. Alabaster itself.
Is mercy pure. white. fine grained
massive gypsum. and as 1t is used cx-
tensiVely in statuary. the commercial
Importance of the -Nephi deposit can
wcll be estimated
SALT DEPOSITS.
The rock gypsum at Nephi occurs In
the form o. beds. associated with beds
Of rock salt and interstratified with this
penS oil limestone and thicker beds OF
rei shalc. Tae gypsum beds vary In
thickness from six to 60 feet The beds
at Nephi We're caused by the gradual
evaporation of Lake Bonneville. which
carried much lime sulphate in solution.
In Elct any water carries as it's three
coWmoHeSt constituents, lime carbon
ate. lime sulphate, and sodium chloride;
ana When eyaporated deposits of lime
stone. gypsum and common salt arc the
results
FROM gypsum, several varieties of
plaster are produced The calcinatinc
OF gypsum. no foreign materials beng
ADDED either during or after calcination
produces plaster of Paris The caIcin-
atins of gypsum containing impurities
or by the adding to calcined pure
gypsum certain materials which serve
TO retard the set of the product, pro-
duces cement plaster The cllcfnatjng
OF pure gypsum at temperature ex-
cesding 400 degrees f. produces floor
ing plaster and the calcinating at red
hot or over of gypsum to which Ger
.ain substances Casually alum or borax)
have been added, produces hard-finish
pllster. These are all plasters of great
commercial value.
The Nephi Plaster & Manufacturing
company, whose plant was destroyed by
fire this year. has constructed Il new
steel plant at cost of Sos, 600, with a
capacity of 200 tons.
Salt springs continuing pure salt in
solution are situated i'm Salt Creek can
yon, II miles northeast OF Ncphi At
one time $2O,0c0 company was organ
lied to promote the industry. and
though a refining plant was erected and
an excellent quality of salt produced.
the sllt syndicate bought the property
and tore the buildings down. This was
on account of no demerit in the spring
itself, but rather merely maneuver
in the fight for control of prices. Tho
salt imprcgnated water st.lI issues I'm
prolusion from the spring awaiting only
the hand of willing capital
STONE QUARRIBs.
Among the many resources of NephI.
Zone are capable of greater develop
mcnt than the Stone quaIries-one a
red sandstone taken from Dog valley
10 miles west, the other reddish brown
stone taken from the vicinity of Mt.
Nebo. the latter being the quarry that
furnished the stone of which the Des-
eret News building of Salt Lake City
is constructed Beth of these uuarries
are at present Being utilized for local
consumption. though for some years
there was q railway to the Nit Nebo
quarry, it has for some unaccountable
reason been torn up There is. there
Tore great room for judIciouS invest
ment In this respect for the Mt Nebo
rock is very hard and excellent: In
tact 1T is considered the best building
stone N the state where cost Is not the
first consideration.
There are SOME oil wells just south OF
Nephi though at present the Industry
Is in abeyaIce as far as commercial
Importance is concerned
NEPHFS ATTRACTIONS.
AS to the city Itself. many new build
ings have recently been constructed;
and there are indications on every hand
of improvement and progress Nephl
has water system, electric lights,
new pavements and n commercial club.
The schools of Nephl rank among the
very finest in the intermountain west If,
indeed. they do not compare faYoraby
WIN tiiC pNot III llIe lHeIc 1Te
three large school buildings and q
school population OF nearly zee
The Nephl High schOol-now I'm its
twelfth year-is considered by many
TO be the best in the state. a four-year
course Is given with studies I'm Eng
lish, algebra, phySiography. agriculture,
domestic science. music, drawing, cook
inS, sowing. carpentry. physiology. ge.
ometry. history. zoology. botany, rhe-
toric. chemistry. civics. political econ
omy. as we'll as other studies Such an
institution is of course Al great credit
to the city.
Nephi has two churches. Latter-day |
Saints and Presbyterian. and OF the Sc
cret orders there are two, the l. O. o. F.
and Woodmen
There is ample diversion about the |
city. Ducks are plentiful west of tho
city: rabbits arc abundant; chickens
and sage hens are In the mountains. !
there are trout In Salt creek, and black |
bass at Monta Springs, north of the
city. and at Mt Nebo reservoir There
are also some deer in the mountains.
Nephi has two railroads-two passen-
ger trains each WY Il day on the San
Pedro and one train day to MantI |
There Is fine armory and one of the
Oldest national guard companies In the
state.
There is opportunity for n laundry,
canning factory. a cereal food plant. AN
other flour mill a knitting factory Il
good hotel another plaster plant and
mining stock branch, besides coal |
MIXED METAPHOR.
The Wonderful Feat That Was Per-