The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-07-27
LOCATION OF MINE EXPERT
MENTAL STATION STILL
IN DOUBT.

Information from washington in
dicates that Secretary Lare Is dis
posed to designate Seattle as the loca-
ton of the mine experimental station
which will be established In the north
west There are four places being
considered, namely Moscow, Butte,
Spokane and Seattle, and considered
solely from the standpoint of the in.
terests to be served, and that Is the
only thing that should be considered
the claims of the four rank in the or
der named Indeed 1t Is impossible
at this time to understand what claim
Seattle can put forward that is wor-
thy of consideration. The only min
ing territory, outside of coal mining,
that is tributary to Seattle that is
worthy of consideration is Alaska,
anu oeCTeldIy lAdHe HAS ueiiiHlely ue-
clded to place an experimental sta
ton In that territory. With the ex-
ception of Alaska. which is already
provided for, there is no point in the
northwest further removed from the
mining section than Seattle.
While the secretary of the interior
Is authorized to name the location of
the experimental stations, 1t would
appear that he would naturally be
guided to great extent by the ad-
vice OF the director of the bureau of
mines, who will have immediate jur-
isdiction over them and who is in
timateiy familiar with the Mining re-
sources of the territory to be served.
In his report for the year 1915 Van
Fl. Manning, director of the bureau
of mines, clearly indicated his views
as to the location of these expert
mental stations in the following Ian
guage:
Under the law three mining expert
mental stations can and should be es-
tablished during the current year, each
in an important mining center, where
Investigations under government super
vision will increase the yield of min
erals now being mined or will result
In the mining OF deposits now UNI
worked"
The widest stretch of imagination |
could not bring Seattle within the re-
quirements here outlined. And to a |
lesser extent the same is true of Spo- |
kane. They are both far removed
from the seat of actual mining activ- ,
ity and are in a state that is COM
paratively unimportant so far as the
mining industry is concerned. The
northwest as commonly understood
includes the states of Montana, Ida
no, Washington and Oregon. The To-
cation Of an experimental station to
serve these states should be based
first upon its accessibility to the pro-
ductive mining area, and second to
the area of prospective mineral value.
From this viewpoint both the state
OF Washington and Oregon should be
eliminated to begin with, for 80 per
cent of the mineral production Of the
northwest comes from northern Ida
no and western Montana. If the sta
tion Is to be located lin an important
mining center" the place must be
found in one of these two states. Then
II II is to serve prospective mining
fields, 1t should be located at point
most available to them. 1t is on
these grounds that the mining inter- {
ests of Idaho are advocating Moscow. (,
It is accessible to the great mining I
territory of this state and Montana. /
and at the same time 1t is admirably L
located to serve the interests of "a
Washington and Oregon. The state Z
university, which includes the Idaho '
school Of mines, Is located there, and q
the facilities for mining research I
work already maintained there would a
combine with those of the govern e