The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-09-14
Millions In Tungsten--War Demand
Has Made New Industry In Colorado
arthur Chapman in Collier's.)

Tungsten is word that has beer
spelling mining fever In Colorado fol
more than a year. Tungsten Is re-
sponsible for the most remarkable
mining boom In that state since Grip
pie Creek set pulses jumping, and has
sent prospectors SQUIRTING into the hills
of Colorado. The tungsten district
has been sneered at by miners fol
years. And one of the mining camps
is without a salono or dance hall.
When war orders sent American
muniton makers speeding up thelr
plants, there was an unprecedented de-
mand for tool steel. Turning out big
shells called for high speed steel and
plenty of 1.-THE kind of steel that can
be driven through less highly tempered
metal hour after hour without losing
In quality. All this high speed tool
steel Is composed of from 16 to 20 per
cent of tungsten introduced in the
form of tungstic acid Tungsten Is
found In few places in this country.
In California it Is found in the form Of
scheeite. The most extensive tung-
sten deposits in the United States,
however, have been discovered in
Boulder county, Colorado In the form
of ferberite, a black, crystalline for
nation which was cursed by early
day miners as worthless blackjack.
Eighteen miles from Boulder Is
Nederland, the center of the tungsten
mining district. The road thither leaUs
from the town of Boulder through one
OF the most beautiful canyons In Colo
RADIO. The big, snowy Trapahoe peaks
tower over 1t against the sky line like
row of sharks teeth.
When tungsten prices suddenly went
skyward after the outbreak Of the
war; Nederland became big town
overnight. Ten thousand miners and
tenderfeet fiocked into a district not
more than ten miles square. Town lots
In Nederland jumped up to fabulous
prices. Beds were in such demand
that keepers of hotels and rooming
houses In some instances established
an eight-hour shift. Signs were put
vi, In hotel rooms notifying guests that
no one could sleep more than eight
hours without being charged another
dollar for his couch. Sleepy men sat
UP and nodded until others slept to
the eight hour limit and were notified
to vacate their cots. Big trucks rolled
into Nederland day and night loaded
with household materials. Many of
the miners brought their families
House tents sprang up everywhere.
Scores of leasers drove to the tung-
stem field in their own automobiles 1t
was mining de luxe, made possible by
modern transportation methods and
the fact that the tungsten field was
easier of access than any other mining
district ever located in the west. Pro-
moters from Denver motored to Ned
erland and looked over few likely
same day.
Tho First "Dry" Camp.
Nederland itself was the first big
mining camp to be opened in a pro-
hibition state. At night the town was
crowded with miners from the sur
rounding hills. Automobiles were
parked in the street four deep. In the
pool hall the miners were gathered IN ,
such numbers that it was difficult to
shoulder ones way through the crowd.
But the men We're simply standing
about talking tungsten. They CONVEX
sational note was low pitched, and was
never broken by drunken whoop. Oc-
casionally miner invited companion
over to the bar to have a drink of soda
pop or some other mild beverage.
Shades of 49, Nothing stronger was
o'clock most of the miners had game to
their tents or to the town rooming ,
and by eleven o'clock the camp h
was absolutely quiet The first prohi- 6
Dition mining camp would have fur
lished no inspiration to Cy Warman, q
me of Colorado's early-day poets, who +,
,ang; :
ITS all day in the daytime, I
"And there is no night In Creole" q
High graders" have stolen hundreds fl
# dollars worth of ore from the Ned 3
'dland tungsten district. They have @
ilched sacks of concentrates from h
lnder the noses of leasers. They have 4
ven entered mines and broken down |,
-eins of rich ore which lay exposed s
eady for stripping and shipment. They II
ave taken fake leases on barren pro- ii
erty in order to be near mines which v
we're known to be rich In high grade Is
re. One Of the alleged leasers gener-
lily managed to get employment in the n
cal mine and pass out the high grade IA,
re to his confederate on the barren s.
round. Scores of such tricks have @,
cen worked at the expense of tung- W
ten leasers and owners, and it has IN
cen necessary to establish guards lie
round the mills. OF
A Rise Of 1000 Per Cent. W.
Previous to the war much tungsten or
as brought in from other countries. lie,
urma was large shipper of tungsten M
Id so was South America. As mat III
r of fact comparatively little was m,
led in this country Europe had he
a IA a much mara ganaraI uSa of Al,