El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-29

AsHINGTON, D. c., NOV. 2s.-
A/ Uncle sam is going into the
W business OF mining for radium
Fifty-seven claims yielding rich "a
Numbering ore. already taken up,
win be worked in the Paradox valley
Of Colorado, under the direction o.
government experts. the bureau OF
mines has established a mill out there
TO handle and concentrate the raw ma
terial. and experimental Work VIII De
done in a laboratory at Denver with a
view TO finding out new meLnoQS
whereby this most pecious Of all sub
stances nay be most economically sep
arated from the materials with WHICH
in nature It is found combined
Starting from PlacerYiue. and 1ol-
lowing the San Miguel river Tor cls-
tance of u miles, the traveller Ilncs
himself at the entrance OF this wonder
ful valley, which is a canyon It's pre-
cipitous walls rising 1900 to 1900 feet
No more picturesque region could De
imagined, for the walls are OF brilliant
colors, scanned by a strata OF red sand
stone, white sandstone and other strlk-
lngly contrasted mineral formations
The precipices are so steep that pros
pectors hunting for radium are obliged
TO climb along them like 1lies, making
trails as they 60
Look for EeliOHish Green Stains,
What they look for IS yelowish-
green stains on the exposed surfaces OF
oxides OF uranium and vanadiun. which
are always associated with raolum- The
prOspector, his attention drawn Dy sucn
an Indication, blasts q tunnel into the
cliff in the hope Of discovering
pocket Of ore-the latter being a
mineral known as .carnOtite,' which
contains uranium and Vanadlum, to-
Eether with more or less radlu1n- There
are many such pockets, but discovery
of them is hopeless except IN cases OF
accidental exposure
Now. IL is popularity supposed that
ores Of radium are mostly found in Eu-
extracted chiefly from 'pitchblende"
a hard blue-black mineral mined in
Bohemia where the JCachimenthal, the
radium producing deposits are con-
troled BY the Austrian government.
But the fact is that the principal source
of the supply for a number Of years
past has been "carnOtite IA lemon
yellow ore which, occurring IN pockets
in sandstone, has never been found In
considerable quantities anywhere out
side of Colorado. This is the stuff for
which the prospectOrs hunt in the Par
adox valley, which is by far the rich
est radium bearing district in the
world.
The foreign manufacturers OF radium
during past years have quietly bought
up al the caTnoIite they could get hold
OF and have shipped il abroad, where
the radIum has been extracted from II
by laboratory methods more or less Sc
cret In this way Colorado has been
furnishing annually three times as
much radium as all the rest OF the
world put together
The rocky stratum which contains
the pockets OF the radium bearing ore
IS Tar down beneath the surface OF the
earth But IN the canyons where riF-
ers have cut through the mountains as
a knife cuts through a cake. this stra-
tum Is exposed 70 view and rendered
accessible In Ao1trose and san Nj
guei counties (COlo.), and 10 the north
west, in Utah. deposits OF carnOtite are
found, and, before radium had been
thought Of they were mined for ura-
Mum.
Total Supply Less Than Two Pounds.
The total quantity Of radium in the
state OF Colorado has been estimated at
a little less than two pounds. It is be-
lieved by the bureau Of mines, however,
that this is an over estimate. The sub
stance has never been separated out in
pure state, but gram Of radium
chloride today has q market value OF
$9I,OO0-at which rate g. single ounce
would be worth somewhat over $780,
99e- Supposing, then, that in Colorado
there IS a total Of only one procurable
pound Of radium. it ought to sell for
$40, 100000 at the current price.
In all likelihood radium VIII never be
cheaper than It is at present. The car
hottie is much more easily treated for
its extraction than pitchblende, and in
future we shall hold our ores for higher
prices than foreign buyers have been
paying for them hitherto, while pro
ducing on own supplies OF the pecious
substance at home. There is no ques-
ton that the production Of radium viii
increase The available supply being so
limited, with no large resources in
sight outside OF Colorado, the industry
Is worth promoting.
Buy Up the Claims.
The above mentioned 81 claims IN the
Paradox valley have been acquired, not
by the government, but by a number of
wealthy men in New York, Boston and
elsewhere, who, purely for philanthrop-
ie reasons, are anxious to procure "a
dunn IN quantity. When they have got
II. they propose to place Il in the hands
OF the medical profession, especially
FOR dealing with cancer, and, with this
idea IN view, the requisite clinical ar
rangements have already been made at
the Johns Hopkins hospital, In Balti-