The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1916-02-18
MANY SUBSTANCES OF VALUE
STORED IN MOUNTAINS
SOME OF THE RECENT FINDS
Some Recent Discoveries Showing that
There Is q Great Opening for
Scientific Investigation

Th1S Is country or mysterious anu
wonderful possibilities Nature has
been kind in planting the ingredients
| in and upon the earth, which are only
waiting enterprise and capital to util-
ize and turn into commercial use for
the benefit and enrichment Of man
kind. 1t is great field for the scientist
| and if flock of the right kind can
ever be induced to prospect around
and experiment there is no telling
what the result may be in the enrich
ments of the products Of the county.
G. w. Smith is very much Of an as
sayer, and dabbles extensively into
chemistry. He has an investigating
turn of mind, and is constantly prying
around in the hills, knocking samples
Of rock off the surface here and there.
delving into earth deposits, and in the
privacy of his laboratory searching out
their various constituencies. He has
made some surprising discoveries, and
If he goes on In the way that he has
been going this winter there is no tell
ing what he may uncover. Why, the
country may look forward to this part
of Okanogan county for Its future
supply of many Of the medicants, dyes
and pharmacons of daily use. Some of
the discoveries he has made are really
remarkable, and, moreover. he has the
goods to prove that he is laboring un-
der no hallucination.
So far what Mr.. Smith has succeed
ed in IN extracting or formulating
from the native rocks that rib the near
by hills, and soils adjacent to town,
is confined to few articles, and that
in small quantities, but there is great
Nith a promise of more from where
these samples came from. He is do
ing his work on a small scale, be-
cause his means Of doing are limited.
The fact that he secures results or a
small scale is convincing evidence
that the same results would follow ef-
fort on larger scale, much to the
profit of those making the effort.
Among the various samples of sub
stances he has extracted or concocted
are crome, amonia and potassium
alum, bluestone, copperas and salt
petre. The alum is the pure quill, all
right as taste will convince the most
skeptical. The bluestone is as perfect
as any sold on the market. The william
Gus saltpetre," which he "digged out
of the bowels OF the harmless earth,"
and to which he has added a trifle of
innocent charcoal, produces an explo-
sive powder. 1t looks like the gum
powder of commerce., and a lighted
match gives an optical demonstration
that it has a kick. Mr.. Smith has also
compounded dyes from material found
in the adjacent country that will dye
and the color remains as permanently
as the damned spot" that all the wa
ters of the ocean would not wash out
Mr.. Smith says that not One-hun-
dredth of what nature has stored away
in the mountains Of this country in the
way of chemicals is known, and the
possibilities that would follow rea-
search and investigation are beyond
the bounds of imagination. He has
only SKINNED the surface, and very
limited surface at that, and yet, what
he has succeeded in discovering Is suf-
ficient to make the public sit up and
take notice. He is very enthusiastic
over what has rewarded his investiga-
tions, and he does not pretend to be an
expert in the mysteries of chemical
research. He feels confident that the
materials are at hand in inexhaustible
quantities out of which many sub
stances can be made that are now
largely imported, which have high
value and enter largely into daily
consumption. Mr. Smith believes firm
ly that the day will come when these
resources will be handled on a large
scale and made a profitable source of
revenue, besides contributing to the
building up Of industries in this place.