El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-23

under the ground, so that II resisted
all the attempts OF the miners
Then came from Germany a young
! chemist named Herman Frasch. who went
into the employ Of the Standard OIL COM
Z pa1y He was an inventor as well as
| a chemist. and he became interested in
/ taking the sulphur and other offensive
odors out Of coal oil He had made GOOD
! investments and was growing rich wher
I he heard OF the sulphur deposits Of LOUIS
lana. and turned his mind toward getting
/ them out Of the ground
He came down to the Gulf OF Mexico
! and made many experiments He drilled
I wells here and there oVeH the deposit,
I and finally concluded that he could put
[ down pipes into the sulphur and melt II
| by means OF superheated water In sucn
a way that the liquid sulphur could De
| forced up to the surface OF the earth be
I tried it and II proved success In 1904
l he was taking out sulphur in paying guam
titles. and the following year he had
enough to supply the American market and
I ship 1000 tons TO France.
Italians Driven from Market
In the meantime the Italians tried 70
! undersell Frasch in the United States He
Z sh3W ed them what he had and offered 70
I 20 into a combination with them to sup
ply the worlds market They laughed At
3 him but he sent additional shipments 10
France and undersold them; and, to make
I a long story short. IL cost them a million
! or SO Of dollars before they were ready 20
Z make a contract with him to keep out OF
/ the Am erican market and to pay him an
annual bonus not 10 enter their market In
/ Europe.
Since then the Louisiana Sulphur COM
pany has. II reports are correct. been max
! Ing enormous profits The stock Is said
! to be worth upward OF $500 a share, and
/ II is currently reported that every share
brings in dividends OF more than AlZOO
/ a year. or 500 a month. year In ana
year out The original value Of the shares
/ was 800. so that the stock really pays
Z Tann -arreuf
Discovery at FreepOrt-
And now We come to the discovery OF
these great deposits OF sulphur at Free
port They were found shortly after the
! oil began TO spout on Spindle Top hill
I The petroleum deposit at Beaumont. which
began the oil Industry OF the southwest.
I lay under a great dome OF rock, and II
I was associated with sulphur Capt A F
I Lucas who discovered that oil. conceived
! the idea that he could find oil under any
similar dome along the gulf coast There
, were many Of them and he explored
great number Among others he sank q
well into the dome under which this sui
phur lies II was then known as Bryan >
mound, and IL lay here in the prairie only
IS feet above the low coastal plain
Capt Lucas has told me how he sank
the well into the mound and how. after
he lad gone down about 500 feet. there
caEue a rush OF vile smelling poisonous
II polluted the air for miles around II
was strong enough TO kill mule and was
deadly to man and beast II drove the
miners away from the well and IL kept on
flowing for months
Capt Lucas was prospecting for oil. not
for sulphur. and he had no idea OF the
value OF his discovery He allowed ms
lease 10 lapse. and II was not until within
a few years ago that the property came
into the hands Of the present owners. E. P
Swenson and Others. who comprise the
Freeport sulphur company, which has
spent millions in sinking wells and In
/ building the great plants by which the
sulphur is brought to the surface
But suppose We visit the mine and see
how the sulphur flows from the earth We
start at the new town of FreepOrt. which
Is two miles away and ride in automobiles
ov y the prairie On little hill in the dis
lance We see what seems 10 be enormous
factories with tall derricks about them
and oil tanks nearby Between US and the
buildings great mountains Of light yellow
stand out against the blue sky The fac
tories contain the machinery which heats
the hot water and forces II M
feet down into the earth; the oil tanks
are filled with the fuel oil that furnishes
the great heat necessary for melting the
sulphur. and the mountains Of yellow are
streams Of lemon-yellow gold, which are
pouring forth day and night all the year
Many Acres of Buildings.
This is our view from the distance As
the car brings Us closer. the bulldogs
seen 10 Increase in size until they cover
many acres. The great blocks OF sulphur
grow larger and larger. and the immen-
sity OF the plant dawns upon Us LOOK at
that huge pipe which follows the road
over which we are riding. That was laid
10 carry fuel oil from the tank steamers
in tlfss hsrbor out 10 the plant The mines
require $500 barrels OF oil every day, ana
there are so, 900 barrels in the tanks which
stand over them The company has a
fleet Of tank steamers for bringing this oil
from the wells OF TampicO. in Mexico. ana
., .afrar~ . fa 10
The factories are really great hot water
plants They are filled with huge-boilers
which burn more than million and
half gallons of oil every week and neat
from g ,0O0 600 to 100000 gallons OF
water a day. This water must be raised
to a temperature OF 49, degrees, or l-O
degrees above boiling II is then puinped
down into the ground through pipes a
thousand feet long at a pressure or -ov
mounds to the square inch II goes through
the beds Of sulphur and melts them TO a
LIQUID. which the compressed air mac nihes
force TO the surface 50 that II low
might be compared with the wine known
sulphur Beds Cover 800 Acres.
The beds OF sulphur cover about 5ev
,,re- The chemical lies IN pockets and
vafns in a gypsum formation heavily
loaded with water but when II comes 20
the surface Il is absolutely pure ana II
b,q only TO cool To be ready Tor SAFE ~
rbcmicai assays it Is proved 10 be over %
Der cent pure sulphur. and it IS sold on
-, e-narantee that il IS g9h percent pure
Now come back with me and let Us iooh
=. tbe hinge blocks OF sulphur which stahu
o,,t .vainst the blue sky. There are a
b-1f dozen waiting for the steamers 70
- md take them away. ana others are
$50 ~ the flow OF the wells. Here =
~ mai covers more than an acre and Is
49, tban 40 feet high Il is a mighty CUBE
~ tf~bt yellow as clean a. 2 canary o'ra
90 fron, the bath. Il has the cubic con
fanrs I should judge. OF a half dozen larse
Osts Nearby It IS another which Is zvo
reet vide By 800 feet long and as high as
= four story house. II contains almost Two
al > half million cubic feet and II weighs
I an foId. about 1eo.O tons
'rbers is a railroad track running oy the
second block 1 have described and one
sactIon OF II has been blasted down with
dynamite 50 that the sulphur may be bro
ken into such shape that IL can be put on
the cars They are loading the cars now
The yellow rock Is picked up by clam
shell bucket attached TO the end OF
crane worked by engine The bucket
takes two tons at bite. and the steam
crane swings II around and drops il onto
the cars. The car is loaded in a very few
mi lutes. and we can see long trains OF
this light yellow chemical moving across