Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1916-08-28
Strahorn R. R. Will
Tap Soda Lakes

klamath Falls Herald: H. l..
Emerson, engineer of the American
Soda Products company, estimates
that they will have total Of one
million tons of soda for shipment
over the new Strahorn railroad, when
this road is built to connect with
Alkali lake beyond Paisley. Mr.. En-
erson has been consulting with Mr..
Strahorn for several days about the
building of the road. He was ac-
companied by John d. Spreckles, Jr.,
president, and F. l.. Young, manager
of the company.
Now that there is a prospect OF
railroad connection, the soda com
pany is planning on the extensive
development of their property and it
is asserted by their engineer that
they will be able to ship 100 tons
a day. This will probably all be
shipped by klamath Falls If con-
struction of the road is begun from
this end as now planned. 1t will
also mean vast expenditure or
money in the development of the de-
posits.
Seuuestered in a vast region,
miles from civilization and settle
ment in Lake county, there lies dry
lake bottom, known as Alkali lake,
around which there is not enough
trees and shubbery to cast a shade
or feed a jackrabbit. In this valley
there is found deposit whose value
no man has been able to dispute.
It lies visible to the eye, and to a
layman would appear but a vast
layer of alkali The earliest settlers
in Lake county thought it alkali, and
named the body Of mud Alkali lake.
Alkali lake is about 60 miles north
Of Lakeveiw and about 40 miles
northeast of Paisley. The hills around
it are barren, but the deposit, it is
said, has untold value when refined
and brought to market. To bring
the deposit to the seaboard is the
plan on foot by the American Soda
Products company of San Francisco
of which John d. Spreckles, Jr., Is
president.
About IA years ago Il. L. Young
of Paisley went out to the deposit
of so-called alkali. At first 1t did
not look promising as future hole
in which to invest money and spend
his time in experimenting, but short
ly he got few men together and
the Oregon Borax company was or
ganized, the opinion of these men at
the time being that the deposit was
valuable for its borax.
Little of anything was done by the
Oregon BoraX company in develop
ment, and not until short time
ago was Mr. Young able to interest
John d. Spreckles of San Francisco
to the extent that he made trip to
Alkali lake and looked it over for
future development.
Mr.. Gpreckles, 1t is said, did not
display a great deal of enthusiasm
in the project until he got some
chemists to work, who, after elabor-
ate experimentation proclaimed 1t
one of the most remarkable deposits
anywhere to be found in the United
States. It is not for its borax that
the deposit is valuable, the chemists
pronounced, but for its soda ash
properties, a valuable constituent in
the manufacture of soaps and paper,
or any other product in which soda
enters as necessary factor.
The lake and adjoining potholes
cover an erea of approximately $40.
acres. In the lake there are, 1t is
estimated, approximately 10000 pot
holes containing the soda ash, the
diameters of which vary from 20
to 100 feet.
Experiments have shown that as
soon as the soda ash is removed from