Arizona republican., 1909-06-15
FUEL OF THE FUTURE
 FOUND IN THE BOGS
THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE PEAT
 INDUSTRY.
Experts Estimate its Value at S38-,
 0oo,O00,o0o.

Washington, June S.-(Special Cor respondence of The Republican "A number of cities and towns in the United States may obtain their light. heat and power direct from peat bogs in the near future. The statement is made by federal experts that mll- lions of dollars worth of fuel lies un- developed in the swamps and bogs of the country. awaiting only the genius and business ability of the American before it drives the wheels of prog ress. Its value. on a basis of g. a ton, roughly guessed at by experts of the geological survey, who have been studying the peat deposits for some time. is more than thirty eight billion dOllars-more money than is represented in all the property, stock implements and buildings owned by the farmers of the United tSates.
 With the coal supply being used at tremendous rate, peat is expected to become a most important auxiliary fuel and one that will prolong the life of the coal itself An important fact which leads the experts to be- lieve that peat will soon. come into quite general use in certain parts of the country is that it is as rule found in quantities in regions far removed from the coal fields, so far that the cost of transporting the coal amounts to several times the cost of the fuel itself at the mines.
 The states containing the greatest amount of peat are the eastern Da- kotas. Minnesota, Wisconsin. Michi-
 
 Ohio. New York. the New England states, portions of Virginia. North and South Caroline, Georgia and Florida.
 thorough investigation of the peat resources is now being under taken by the geological survey, not only as to the amount of peat and it's location, but also it's use. Prof. Charles A. Davis, of the technologic branch, has general charge of the investigations. while Prof. Robert H. Fernald. consulting engineer in charge of gas producer tests, is endeavoring to find the value of peat as a fuel for heating and power purposes. The latter but recently returned from trip to Europe where he investigated the uses of peat and found the older countries much farther advanced along this line than the United States. Professor Fernald returns with the belief that peat will soon be eX tensively used in the United States. In Ireland, he found that peat was being used generally for domestic purposes, but not by the manufac- turing establishments. Sweden is ifs,I bogs are now being extensively util- ized for power purposes" says Prof. Fernald. During the last eight years new bogs have been constantly added to the list until bogs pro ducing from 2,6T1 to 5000 tons Of dry peat for power purposes per year are found on every hand. The con sulting engineers who have installed some Of these plants are unudes- working in the right Girrc- t:,'n. rIao:ng the power plant direct | ly in the peat bog and transmitting | the C ct ,ric curre:it 'O the SUIT Bu::d- ! lag {. wUS The current is being 'I:,' q | fh IT ahufacturilg IL rPoses and al@o | for lighting both the streets and | houses. The installation of the pow er plant in the bog or at the mine | has been advocated in this country | by the technologic branch of the sur vey for installation of several thou sand horse power only, yet this | is applied in Sweden to small | plants and may be feasible in cer- tain parts of this country.
 Another development in the line Df peat industry which promises splendid returns is the use of peat n by-product recovery gas plants from these plants both gas for pow IT and sulphate of ammonia can be obtained in commercially paying quantities. Both the utilization of ,eat for producer gas and for the ecovery of sulphate of ammonia are feasible with American peat. the work done on peat at he survey experiment plant has been mited, it has been demonstrated hat gas for power can be made asiy from both Florida and Massa- husetts peat" Professor Davis, who has just is ued jointly with Edson A Bastin a