El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-02-08

4 INING sulphur by steam-the
M newest method and said to be
cheaper and more successful
than the old one-is of particular in
terest to FL Pasoans. inasmUch as the
biggest known deposit of sulphur in
the United States lies in FL PasO cOun-
~. The reason it has not been mined
IN the past is It's remoteneSS from
transportation and the difficulty and
high cost of freightinE the crude pro-
duct to the nearest station.
By the new method, it is said that
the operations would be less costly and
that the mining can be carried on at a
chamber of commerce or individual FL
PasOanS to interest the sulphur pro-
ducerS IN the matter, II TINS latest
method or mining IS the real success
that it is said to be. The existence Of
the tremendous sulphur deposit IN FL
PaSO and CulbersOn counties is not
generally known and its exploitation
with a view TO development is one OF
the things that the chamber OF com
merce may undertake with its new
budget; at least, the matter has been
mentioned.
This deposit is said TO be Of an
extremely high grade and in tremen-
the worlds entire supply for many
years, according TO the expert report
made upon it for the Manufacturer s
Record some years ago
FL PasO's salt Deposits.
And the sulphur deposit is not the
only valuable deposit of this character
mense salt deposit in the northeastern
section Of the country, almost directly
north of Fabens, that is said to be as
valuable as any IN the country save
that at Salt Lake City, Utah These
salt lakes were worked many years
ago, an6 the salt was freighted into
Mexico when transportation charges
were much higher than it would now
cost to bring the salt TO the nearest
railroad At one time the salt war
was fought at san EliZariO over these
deposits and several people were
killed. Now the deposits, deserted and
untouched. are doing nobody any good.
large part of the United States sup
piled, and engineers have declared that
II would not be at all difficult to in
tereSt capitalists in the development OF
brought to their attention.
Not Far to salt Lakes
1t is not a great distance across
country from the salt lakes to the rail-
road at Fabens, though at present the
road IS rather bad because Of the sand
The road from HuecO tanks to the salt
deposits is said to be IN splendid shape
and, with a good road from FL PaSO to
HuecO, excursions from Fl PasO TO FL
Faso county's great salt lake would
pc possible, even easy. IN automOb iles,
but as a commercial proposition, a road
from Fabens to the lakes would be the
nearest and the best.
As for the sulphur deposits and the
new method Of mining by steam, it is
stated that the system is already in
operation in Louisiana and in the sui
phur fields near the mouth of the
Brazos river in Texas.
New Mining Method.
Instead OF sinking shafts and min
ing the sulphur in a way that is usu-
ally applied to other mineral sub
stances and which is the method en-
plOyed In Sicily, for many years the
greatest sulphur producing country in
the world, the modern plan of bring
ing the valuable product to the sur
face is to force steam into the de-
post and by means Of the same pres
sure bring the molten sulphur to the
surface.
No longer ago than 1902 the United
states was dependent upon Sicily for
much Of its sulphur supply. In that
year the total impOrtatiOns Of the pro-
duct aggregated 1850 tons, valued at
S3.35l, $50 No longer is this country
dependent upon foreign importation OF
sulphur On the contrary il has be-
come an exporter Of the product. and
with the rapidly increasing production
II will not be many years. 1t is claimed
until Louisiana and Texas alone viii
be able to supply an enormous foreign
trade The FL PasO field is counted
upon as supplying a great deal OF this.
Brings in New Fields.
Not until there was devised the new
and economical mechanical method OF
bringing the product to the surface
fields operated One producing sui
phur well has already been put down
at Bryan Heights. Texas. and prepa-
ratiOnS are being made by the swudi-