The Parker post., 1912-04-06
POTASH FOUND In
MOHAVE DESERT
NEW DISCOVERY WILL CHEAPEN
GREAT FERTILIZER.

Ancient Lake Bed Shown to Contain
Millions of Tons of Potash Salts
Mineral Believed to be in a Read-
Iy Available Form
A large deposit of potash salts an
the Mohave Desert of southern Cali
fomia has been. reported by field men
of the United States Geological Sur
Yey and Bureau OF Soils Analyses
of the brine in BOrax or SearleS Lake
in San Bernardino county. show 6.78
per cent of potash, and the amount or
the material available is known to be
enormous. The potash is believed to
be in a readily available form-that
is, it can be used as fertilizer with
out employing amy special reduction
process-and the climatic conditions
of the area i'll which the deposit oc
ours are especially favorable to it's
separation and recovery by solar
evaporation.
Borax Lake is the last remaining
pocket of a great ancient lake which
has almost dried up, thus concentrat-
ing vast amount of saline minerals.
Millions Of tons of salt, soda and bor-
AK cover the surface of the lake and
deposits of soda and boraX have been
worked, but the development of the
potash in the lake deposits had. not
been considered until recently. Cali
fornia capitalists are now figuring Cn
the operation of the property, and the
potash output may form at least
most profitable by-product, inasmuch
as there is great demand for the more
common minerals carried in the laks
brine
Analyses Show Good Percentage of
Potash.
Borax Lake was visited jointly by
representatives of the Geological Sur
vey and of the Bureau Of Soils, who
took brine samples from six wells dis
tributed over the salt flat Analyses
OF these samples have been made by
the cooperative laboratory at the Mae
kay school of Mines, Reno, New, and
show an average of 6.7S per cent pot
aSsium oxide of the total SALTS pres
ent in the brine. These salts amount
to nearly "A per cent of the weight
of the brine as it is pumped from the
wells. Comparison Of the results in
dictates that the brines are nearly uni
form throughout the lake or flat Ex-
listing data give reasonable assurance
that the brine saturated salt body il
at least 60 feet thick and covers an
area of at least II square miles. As
suming the salt body to contain 25
per cent volume of the brine, the
total amount of potassium oxide is
estimated at over four million short
tons. This estimate is believed to
be very conservative, and the avail
able tonnage may we'll be expected to
exceed ten millions, which would sup
ply this country, at the present rate
OF consumption of potash, for 80
years. AT any rate it appears that
this locality constitutes a very i'm
portant source of potash probably in
ready available commercial form Fur
tier it lis entirely possible that Salt
Wells valley, another Wet-dry lake
across the low divide northwest of
Borax lake, which has been worked
to some extent for borax. may also
contain supplies Of potash
Methods of separating potash from
brines are now under investigation by
the Bureau of Soils.
BoraX Lake, according to the Uni
ted State Geological Survey is one
OF the playas or intermittently wet
and dry lakes common throughout the
arid regions of the west. 1T hes
between the Argus and Slate ranges,
in the Mohave Desert of Southern Cal
ifornia. The lake or flat is about
ten miles long and five miles wide.
and has received the drainage from
the surrounding hills for thousands
of years. vast quantities Of dissolved
minerals being thus dissolved in it.
The water has been evapOrated under
the intense heat of the long, hot sea-
sons, but the salts have remained, SO
that for most OF the year, in fact Of
ten throughout the year, the bed is
Il glstening plain Of white salts, in
attempting to cross which under
brazen sun men have lost their lives.
The mirage plays its strange tricks
here, and at the dryest places the
traveller ran 9auara11v 500 what an