Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-03-18

4
! II YOU want to see samples you will find
| them I'm front Of the ONCE Of one OF the
companies on Canal street. opposite the
custom house of this city. Some gentle
| man with artistic taste attempted to carve
| statue of Lots wife, which is placed
beside the entrance, but she was either an
unattractive person or the sculptor lacked
| the necessary skill to make a shapely
figure.
The miners drill holes in the solid body
of salt and blast 1t out with dynamite
just as they blast out coal elsewhere. A
good deal of the product is refined IN
New Orleans, but the bulk Is shipped to
various parts of the world. There are
supposed to be similar salt deposits in
other parts of the state. There are salt
wells at Shreveport. 400 miles away
The sulphur mines OF Louisiana are
even more wonderful than the salt. and
the supply is inexhaustibe It lies in
liquid form like a great lake or br1m-
! stone, such as we read about In the Bible,
a thousand feet from the surface of the
earth, In the southwestern part Of the
state, $50 miles from New Orleans. and
1t is pumped out like OIL and refined by
steam in the neighborhood. This sui
| 1t has put out of business the Siciian
companies which were mining the de-
posits In the volcanoes of that tumultuous
island. the italian government came to
their assistance rather than have three
or four thousand workmen thrown out
of employment but Louisiana controls
the market, because its supply is so abun-
dant and can be mined at such small
expense.
Report Of DR.. David T. Day.
DIR. David T. Day Of the geological
| survey at Washington has recently made
one of his characteristic reports upon the
mineral resources of this state, and has
been trying to stir up the people OF
Louisiana to realize their value and take
advantage of them. He says:
THE close association of sulphur. pc
| troleum. natural gas and salt ready for
the development of great chemical in
dustries in southern Louisiana has been
| referred to many times in the public
press, just as the association of iron
ore, limestone and coal in the Birming-
ham district was the subject of much
discussion before 1t developed the manu-
featuring Of pig iron at record low cost.
Doubtless the same will be true in Louis
lana before chemical industries In that
locality reach the commanding position
graphic location entities this region
Further" continues DR.. Day.. 1T must
be understood that the oils of the Caddo
region In Louisiana are practically free
from sulphur and well suited for refining
purposes. The limits of this field are as
yet by no means understood. and the
probability is great for much oil from
this region. Meanwhile, the natural-gas
| largest known In the United States. It's
quality leaves nothing to be desired.
Criminal Waste Of Gas.
1.-THE one shame is the profligate Grim
inal waste of this fuel into the air. Sew
enty million cubic feet Of it. and perhaps
more, are thus wasted daily. with the
chance that many of the wells now being
pumped for oil will blow OUT as gas
ollie &c dIr TO
tipathy of the oil man for natural gas
and TO his hope that by allowing this
wonderful material to escape he may OBJ
tain more OIL In the case of the Caddo
field this is an absolute fallacy. the oil
and the gas strata being separated by
hundreds of feet of rock
This is undoubtedly the most criminal
waste of natural gas ever known in the
United States. The light from these wells
can be seen at night twenty-five miles
away, at Shreveport. II is supposed to
advertise the region. The plain fact that
it tells is Willingness to debauch the
country OF its greatest treasure-an at
titude which must discourage the careful
industrial man of other parts OF the
world from taking stock in the region.
THE probability of large gas fields in
the northern part of the state was in
crea sed both by the discovery Of the
Caddo field in Louisiana and more re-
Gently, the drilling OF we'll yielding 25.-
WO,bO0 cubic feet of gas per day., $50
"
siderable attention TO that part of this
state. Such a gas field means less salts
faction to the seeker for oil. but greater
prosperity to the region. because of the
ease with which manufacturing is de-
veloped where this ideal fuel aboundS. In
Louisiana the mounds characteristic of
oil production in southeastern Texas ex-
tend To the east beyond the Belle Isle.
and the phenomenal deposits of salt
which characterize them have long been
a source Of this mineral in Louisiana.
Within the next two years every geolog-
teal formation of this character will be
thoroughly searched for oil and gas, with
the probability Of finding very much more
OF both, especially gas.
Inexhaustible Sulphur Beds.
THE sulphur beds of Louisiana owe
their development to the ingenuity of the
oil producer in drilling wells The Frasch
process of drilling to the sulphur and
| extracting it by hot water is not only
known. but has made the Louisiana sui
phur the dominant trade feature of the
world in this industry.
so much more sulphur is known in
Louisiana" DR.. Day continues. las to
class II among the inexhaustible mineral
supplies of the United States. Salt can
similarly be classed. and the exceptional
variety of the salt must also be empha-
sized. 1t is, therefore, little short of in
expIicable why these two minerals have
not already led to the development of
great chemical industries in southern Lou
| isiana. when backed up by such a fuel
supply as an abundance Of natural gas
| and OIL
1T Is not too much to say that there is
| no known locality in the world where the
natural resources are combined as to
make possible the production of sulphuric
acid. soda and similar products at lower
cost than any place else on earth. and yet
the sulphur and salt, as produced, and
the petroleum as we'll, have been exported
| from the state In the crudest possible