The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-11-28
POTASH DEPOSITS
MOSTLY WORTHLESS
People Should Use Care In
Making Investments
PROMOTERS OFTEN DECEIVE UN-
WARY REGARDING THEM.
United States Geological Survey Sug-
gests That Care Be Taken BY Those
About to Invest.

That most of the nitrate deposits in
the United States are worthless from
the point of view of investors and that
those asked to put money into them
should do so only after careful inves-
LEGATION and after getting in touch
with the department of the interior is
the advice given in the November
Press Bulletin of the United States
geological survey. 1t is suggested
that prospective investors secure
government examination Of bona fide
samples taken from deposits before
putting money into the enterprises.
The following is the article in full:
Nitrate deposits in many parts of
the United States have been examined
during the last two years by the Uni
ted States geological survey, depart
ment of the interior. The importance
of finding a natural supply of nitrates
within our own borders, which might
serve our needs in case of war, has
given incentive to this work and has
directed widespread public attention
to the subject.
Prospectors in many places have
raised great hopes by finding good
surface showings of these salts, but
investigation has seemed to force the
acceptance of a general adverse judg-
ment as to their value-a judgment
that has been adopted with the great
est reluctance by all concerned. In
cidentally, advantages seem to have
been taken Of the situc ton to promote
certain stock-sellin~ enterprises, even
after the evidence as to the worthless
no e 40 Ia~p-ffp hoanf,,o ioio
to satisfy any competent judge, so
that one is forced to question either
the good faith of the promoters or
their practical judgment
AS a result of careful study of these
deposits, and particularly of evidence
gathered on recent visits to prospects
in different parts of the country, Mr..
Hoyt S. Gale a geologist of the Fed
eral Survey, has submitted the fol-
lowing general summary, which is
commended to the consideration of
those who are tempted to invest their
money in such enterprises.
Fine specimens of practically pure
nitrate of soda and nitrate of potash
| (saltpeter) have been found in many
parts of the country, and careful in
vestigation of specimens and localities
seems to warrant some definite con-
illusions as to the practical value of
these deposits, especially to those who
are invited to spend their money in
Investigations like those the Survey
has already made.
The nitrate salts occur as crusts or
films on the faces of lodges; as seams
most of them thin, though some are
fairly thick-in crevices of shattered
rock; and as deposits filling spaces in
porous rocks at and near the surface
or extending to a depth of several feet
They are naturally preserved in re-
cesses in the rock lodges where they
are sheltered from the dissolving ac-
/ tiOn of rain, snow water, or even
mist. They are found in lava lodges,
in beds of volcanic tuff or ash, and in
limestone and sandstone Their ex-
istence or preservation is apparently
dependent rather on the shattered OF
porous nature of the rocks than on
! its kind or composition. These de-
posits, which have been referred to as
case or ledge deposits, are of essen
TALLY the same type wherever found
although they vary considerably in de-
tails of occurrence.
The incrustations are found moi
only on the faces and fractures O.
lodges of solid rock, but some of then
form layers or cementing constituents
in the loose soil and rock breccia al
the bases of cliffs, or lie in places
protected from the weather Som,
samples obtained from both these
sources are rich in nitrate salts, ant
analysis of such materials will beai
little significant relation to the actua
character or content of the mass o
the rock of which the ledge is formed