The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-11-12

heCuOn with the phSSiCal character
 tics and chemical effects of radi-
 um rays" A cooperative plan Of
 mutual advantage was arranged
 whereby the Institute furnished funds
 for the undertaking and the Govern
 ment Bureau provided it's trained
 men to direct the work with the
 privilege of publishing all data se-
 cured; all radium recovered in ex-
 cess of a certain initial quantity 10
 be divided between the to con
 tracing parties.
 1 Emphasis cannot be laid too Isuously dp)n the fact that to launch 1 this worh successfully in this coun-
 try was an enterprise of no little
 weight and moment. requiring no little breadth of vision. no little ven | turing, on the part of those who
 stood sponsor to it. The whole in dusty was foreign-born and made. while about it lay an impenetra ble
 veil of silence and of mystery, of trade secrets jealously guarded. The one large corporation operating in 1 America uttered a wailing Jeremiad | of doleful prophecy that echoed for
 months. The Government men, they said, were silly to attempt a prob
 of Europe. Failure was pronounced
 inevitable, nor was the outspOken
 animosity taken out in mere words | but by active opposition and a wig orous press campaign foreign and | domestic agents alike did their best
 to dlsCredit the enterprise. How ever. the months have come and gone. and Secretary Lane long ago
 announced to the press of the coun-
 try that the production of radium l from our own ores had passed from | the experimental stage to a success
 ful manufacturing basis, setting the
 seal of authority upon work that
 has not only proved the efficiency of Government cooperation but has definitely established the fact that 1 radium metal can be produced for
 as little as s36,05O a gram, as against i the $12O,000 to s160,0O0 formerly asked by foriegn manufacturers. The
 ore, insurance, repairs. amortiza tion on equipment, cooperation charges, and all incidental expenses. This
 does not necessarily mean a drop | in selling price to that figure, for
 the National Radium Institute is
 not in the market to sell it's pro
 duct, the same being exclusively for use here at home, in hospitals and
 in Government laboratories. The i knowledge of what can be done in
 cutting costs is bound in time, how
 eyer, to affect materially the selling price of foreign producers and has 1 given notable impetus to the in dustry in this country.
 Carnotite was discovered in South
 western Colorado as early as 1881 | but was not then recognized as con l taining any valuable minerals, so, after being tested unsuccessfully for
 gold, silver, and copper, caused lit | tie subsequent interest In 1897 the mineral content was identified as uranium and in 1899 two Frenchmen ty named the ore "Carnotite" in honor of the then President of
 France In 1900 Poulot and Voil- | leque began operating at copper
 mine near Cashin in Southwestern Colorado where they used teaching vatS to extract the uranium. the concentrate obtained here, and later in a mill built by them in the dis trict, retained uranium and vanadi-
 um only, not radium In 1909 sev
 eral companies entered the field and from five to six hundred claims on
 carnotite ore were filed in this dis
 trct alone.
 The Paradox Valley lies at the Western extremity of a high plateau in Southwestern Colorado The Do lores River enters it on the South, debouching from the massive rock walls of it's canyon only to flow
 across the valley and force way into another equally precipitous can yon to the North, in place of fol lowing the valley lengthwise as would seem the natural course. This is
 the reason for the name Paradox" While the carnotite ores occur as
 far South as the Henry Mountains and West and North into Utah, the
 Paradox Valley was the original scene of main operations and is at