Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-12-26
MffRSCHAUM MINE PROVES A BONANZA NEW MEXICO DISCOVERY MAKES
 GOOD FOR OWNERS AFTER
 FOUR YEARS WORK. FIRST LA UGHED AT Three Carloads of Mineral Made Into
 Pipes Each Month in New York.
F I R S T LA UGHED AT

New York, Dec. 25.-There is only one merschaum mine in this country. Up to year or two ago there mig as we'll have been none at all. AboYt five years ago company formed to take over the mine declared confident ly that 1t was going to make meer- schaum pipes out of the product
 For four years we were the laugh ing stock of the trade" said a mem. Der of the concern the other day. But were doing the laughing ourselves now"
 He flourishes before the visitor, eyes orders for more gross of pines than anybody but mathematical, prodigy could count And he shows q picture of the new plant which is to be occupied very soon. At present the Work has grown to such point that the walls of the small factory over on the East side are bulging worsa every day.
 Tn thls small building they can turn out only about thirty-five gross os pipes a day. This comes, nume..1. to more than million and a half plpes year, which would seem enough to supply every pipe smoker In the country. But the new plant VIII turn out 100 gross a day. One or the orders flourished so proudlv oy the manufacturer is for 800 gross. and came from Boston dealer.
 Mine in Asia Minor.
 mere IS only one other meerschau,n mine Tn the world. At least, nobody knows Of any others. That one is 1T, Asia Minor, and supplied the material TOT all the meerschaum pipes made up to year ago. The American mine is about thirty miles from Silver Citv N M., and has been known for some time, but nobody had faith in it. Sau- pies of the product were sent to tn. GoVernment for an opinion as to its value, and were declared by the ana lysls to be commercially worthless.
 That's what they were. too, for a iohg time. The trouble was that. whereas the Turkish meerschaum is absolutely pure. just as it is mined the New Mexico variety is loose and tull Of calcites Ii looks as if some. body had mixed up some stiff plaster Of Paris, blown lot of air into j,. and let il set. It not only looks spOngy. but when first mined it s very moist. so wet, in fact, that r must be allowed to dry out before it can be crushed
 It was the perfect1ng of the process of handling the crude product that took the time and the money, took those four years of time and the con- pany doesn't like to remember how much money. Turkish meerschaum occurs in what is known as kidney formation; kidney-shaped pieces, some of them about the size of a fist Pipe bowls are cut directly from thesc Jumps without treating them in any way.
 Comes in lS.Inch Veins,
 New Mex co meerschaum occurs in veins, sometimes eighteen inches in diameter, sometimes Spinching out to a much thinner stre ak. These veins are plainly visible in the ledges which crop out on the hillsides, show ing so white that they are conspicuous in the landscape.
 The process of mining is much the same as that employed with other min- erals. for meerschaum is classed as I mineral. A tunnel is opened and shafts sunken from this. The veins occur in corglomerate and are well defined. Their peculiar moisture is present ev en when the surrounding rock IS very dry.
 The rough pieces of aeerschaum.