The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-24
BUILD REFINERY
IN UTAH COUNTY
Oil, Mineral Rubber and AS
phalt Are Produced Near
Spanish Fork.

At Mill Fork station, on the Denver
* Rio Grande railroad, SO miles from
Salt Lake, the Paraffine OH company
/ OF Utah Is building mill and refinery
for producing high-grade lubrieating oil
from an enormous deposit of oil-im-
| pregnated sand rock which has been
developed in the company's group Of
claims at Daisy Fork, six miles from
the station and four miles south Of
spanish Fork. The first carload of oil
Will De shipped TO Salt Lake within the
next so days, according TO DR.. Ciar-
ence Barrett, secretary and manager Of
the company
The project is an unusual one, on ac-
count of the unusual character of the
formation from which production is to
be made. At the depth Of 20 feet in its
No. shaft the company has a vein of
the oil sandstone 35 feet thick, and
enough work has been done in other
portions of the property, says DR.. Bar
rett, TO prove that the supply might al
most be termed ineXhaustible. Lying
directly underneath the blanket deposit
of sandstone is a deposit of asphaltum
80 feet thick, which chemists have pro-
nounced ideal for paving material
Hot Water Extracts Wax.
Subjected to simple process or treat
ment, in which boiling water performs
the important part, the sandstone yields
stance which appears to answer virtu-
ally every practical purpose which rub
Der serves. 1t is, of course, a form of
asphaltum, and samples are to be tested
by the Goodyear experts to ascertain
just the extent that It will supplant
rubber. Local tests prove that it is an
excellent substitute for rubber in the
making Of betting, roofing and for
many other purposes, it being water
proof, cold-prOof, nOn-inflammable and
always pliable.
From this mineral wax, or rubber. the
ordinary process of refining produces
90 per cent heavy lubricating oil OF -
degrees Baume gravity. The oil with
stands 500 fire test and disclOses no in
dicatiOn of paratfine wax when sub
jected to a temperature of ten degrees
below freezing. It is expected to be In
demand for flying machines and other
machinery which requires high test OIL.
The sand rock yields refined oil at
the rate of 50 gallons per ton, DR.. Bar
rett says The plant at Mill Fork IS
to have an initial capacity for treating
ten tons of the rock a day. The oil
produced sells at retail at 40 cents
gallon. The matter of charging pro- |
duction would be one mainly of capital |
for development and for charging the
works, and the cost of producing 1t Is
said, will be less than that from the
ordinary pumping We'll
Can Cut Asphaltum Prices.
AS a matter of fact, DR.. Barrett has
no doubt that flows of oil will be en-
countered by drilling below the as
phaItum deposit. but for the present he
prefers utilizing the sand rock. As for
the asphaltum, he declares that his
company can deliver 1t in Salt Lake !
city, in any quantities desired, at less |
price than the cost of production in !
California of the article which is used /
here for paving In other words, he /
says that he could deliver 1t here for /
Sc a ton, making a good profit, and that |
is IS a ton less than the California as
phaltum costs here.
DR.. Barrett has had long practical eX- /
perience in the oil fields and refineries |
of Pennsylvania. Canada and the Pa /
cific coast Associated with him rs 4
large interests in the Paraffine Oil /
company are Thomas A. Williams, who 4
is president Of the company and L. M /
Bailey, who is trea surer. The company /
is capitalized for 100000 shares, with /
81, 900 shares remaining in the treas /
ury. Bonds in the sum of 100000 We're /
issued to raise money for the plant, /
which is to place the company upon a 4
basis.