Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1916-12-09
POTASH DEPOSITS
Are WORTHLESS
PEOPLE SHOULD USE CARE IN
MAKING INVE SETMEN
WITH PROMOTERS
BEST AT SURFACE
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SUGGESTS
CARE BE TAKEN BY THOSE
ABOUT TO INVEST

That most of the nitrate deposit
i'm the United States are WORTHLESS
from the point of view of investor
and that those asked to put money il
them should do SO only after careful
investigation and after getting i
touch with the department of the In
terror is the advice given In the No
vember Press Bulletin of the Unitet
States geological survey. 1t is sug
gested that prospective investors Sc
cure a government examination O
bona fde samples taken from de
posits before putting money into the
enterprises. The following is The
article in full:
Nitrate deposits In many parts o1
the United States have been examin
ed during the last two years by the
United States geological survey, de
partment of the interior. The import
ance of finding a natural supply oi
nitrates within our own borders which
might serve our needs i'm 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 vaMe--a judgment
that has been adopted with the great
. est reluctance by all concerned. In
cidontally, advantages seem to have
been taken of the situation to promote
certain stock-selling enterprises, even
after the evidence as to the worthless
n9ss Of the deposits become sufficient
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, geologist of the Fed
eral Survey, has submitted the fol
lowing general summary, which lis
commended to the consideration of
those who are tempted to invest their
money in such enterprise.
Fine specimens of practically pure
nitrate of soda and nitrate of potash
(saltpeter) have been found in many
paris of the country, and careful in
vestigation Of specimens and localitte
ems to warrant some definite con
clusions 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 ledges; as
seams-most of them thin, though !
some are fairly thick-in crevices of
shattered rock; and as deposits filling
space in porous rocks at and near the |
surface or extending to a depth of
several feet. They are naturally pre-
S rived in recesses in the rock ledges
where they are sheltered from the dis
solving action 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
existence or preservation is apparently
dependent rather on the shattered or
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 es-
sentially the same type wherever
found although they vary consider
ably in detail of occurance.
The incrustatiCns are found not
only on the faces and fractures of
edges of solid rock, but some Of thex
form layers or cementing constituents
m the loose soil and rock breccia at
The bases { cliffs, or lie In places
protected from the weather. Some
samples obtained from both these
sources are rich in nitrate salts, and
analysis of such materials will bear
title significant relation to the act {
lal character or content of the mass
If the rock of which the ledge Is !
ormed. 1t appears that the deposits /
ire surflcial-that is, they do not ex- :
end far into the mass of the rock {
md the nitrate salt found is insight Y