The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-02-11
EXPLORA.
TONS IN NEVADA

Some significant results have been
Obtain ed from the potash explorations
of :ae t'Iited States Geological Sur
vey in Columbus marsh, on or near the
line between Esmeralda and Mineral
counties, Nevada. Coaldale is a rail
road station at the southeast corner
of the marsh, and the Tonopah &
Goldfeld railroad skirts the eastern
margin of the marsh itself. Columbus
marsh is broad mud plain with
rough, lumpy surface. Little salt
shows on the mud except about the
margin of the plain, where some
boraxproducing plants were located in
the earlier days of the borax indus
try. A small area about the margin
of the marsh was located for borax a
good many years ago, and a part has
been patented. Columbus marsh itself
comprises an area of about 35 or 40
square miles, roughly elliptical in out
line, being nine miles in longest di-
mension from north to south and six
miles or more in width. Shore ter
races at heights of 10 to IS feet above
the flat testify to the presence in this
basin of a prehistoric lake of at least
that depth.
During 1911 the explorations of the
survey geologists with hand-drilling
apparatus were carried into Columbus
marsh and six holes were sunk to
depths ranging from 32 to 50 feet
The drilling was done by Charles E.
Watson under the direction of Hoyt
s. Gale. Analysis Of the solid samples
obtained from these wells have recent
w been completed by w. B. Hicks in
the laboratory of the Geological Sur
/ vey at Washington and show excep-
tionally high potash content in the
salts in some of these borings
| 1t appears from analyses that the
average content of 20foot section of
the core obtained between the depths
of Is and 3S feet consists of 20.59 per
cent potash in the water-soluble por
tion of the sample. These samples
averaged 500 per cent water-soluble
salts in the dried mud and sand as re-
eeived at the laboratory. Such muds
therefore contain nearly six per cent
of soluble salts, of which essentially
one-third (32.57 per cent? is potash if
the salt is figured as the chloride. 1t
should be emphasized, however, that
all these mud samples were brought
up through saline waters, also derived
from corresponding strata, through
the rotated casing used in drilling in
the open air. 1t is but natural to con-
clude that the saline waters with which
these muds were associated may yield
as high or higher percentages of the
very soluble potash salts.
Solid samples and samples of water
from the various strata were separate
/ ly saved from all the wells drilled at
/ Columbus marsh. Both were for
warded to the laboratory for analysis,
but an unfortunate mishap resulted in
the loss of the liquid samples. There
fore, some of the most important evil
dence is still lacking and will have to
be duplicated by further drilling.
Potash Rich Mud of Unknown Depth.
The material at the bottom of the
well is near the maximum in potash
content, and of course it is not known
how much deeper this zone continues.
This amount of potassium in natural
saline deposits of considerable mass of
the desert basin area is believed to
be unprecedented. 1t certainly indi-
Gates tendency to segregation of potash
in such natural saline deposits, the
prime factor on which much of the
experimental work of hte Geological
Survey in search for potash in the
desert-basin region has been based.
AS the value of such a deposit further
information must be had.
Saline muds which contain only five
or six per cent of total soluble ma
terial may not be commercially work
able even though 26 to 40 per cent of
that total soluble portion is potassium
chloride. This is a problem which
doubtless deserves further and careful
investigation and which, when the ac-
tual possibilities of the deposits them
selves have been thoroughly tested, it
may be proper to turn over to private
enterprise for solution.
LANDS Withdrawn from Entry.
On January 16, 1913, the president
withdrew from location and entry all
the lands in Columbus marsh that are
supposed likely to contain valuable
potash deposits. The withdrawal was
made under the authority of the with
drawal act as amended on August "a,
l1912. This amendment makes it ef-
fective against all forms of entry un-
der the mining laws of the United
States except those that apply to met
alliferous minerals. The withdrawal
will enable the government to proceed
in due course to make further exami-
nations of these promising deposits
and to determine if possible whether
they are of large prospective value to
the agricultural interests of the Unit