The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1917-07-07
POTASH FOUND
NEAR LOVELOCk
STAMPEDE FOLLOWS DISCOt-
ERY OF MATERIAL NOW
BEING SOUGHT

'1'E
over the discovery Of a vast deposit
of potash. within eight miles of the
city limits. believed to be of COM
mercial value. A quiet stampede
to the property has been going on
of the past week, and for three
miles in the ne%ighborhood of the
discovery monuments mark the
claims of town residents who had
the quiet tip handed them.
j. G.. Smith. the discoverer of the
fields, located the property last Win
ter, without Knowing the value Of
his find. and recently went out to
make a more detailed examination.
Samples sent to Reno. to be anal
yzed at the university. gave re-
suits which checked with a telegram
just received from the government
laboratories in San Francisco, stat
ing that the rock ran five per cent,
or over the lead line set to divide
the worthless from the rock of
commercial value.
Immediately on receipt of the
telegram the excitement started. as
potash is reported very rare, and is
so much desired by the govern
ment that it has offered a large re-
ward to the finder of a commercial
deposit, which will probably be
claimed by Smith.
According to those who have been
to the property, located at the head
OF Coal canyon, there is a whole
mountain of the stuff, and nearly
all. as nearly as can be learned
from the samples taken from var
ious parts Of the surrounding coun-
Try, of sufficient value to warrant
working the ground.
In the opinion of mining men
who have visited the land. the de-
posit is large enough to keep a
plant employing five hundred men
busy, and there is the possibility
hat the government may De asked
to do as was done in the case of
the Searles lake project, in which
the federal authorities put up the
plant, operated it to get the potash,
I dlu pau over Tic pIolllS W lit
owners of the claims.
Prospectors out in the hills to-
day say hat owe the ridge from
the Smith discovery there is an
other deposit of rock very much
resembling that of the original,
and that when broken the rock
has a very strong potash taste. Sam
Piles of this ore are being sent
away for analysis.
Old-timers who have been fami-
liar with the Coal canyon for a
long time admit that many times
they have examined the potash de-
post, and some of thsm have had
it assayed, but never analysed, lit
tie thinking that it might contain
the ~much-sought potash.
SO generally has the news of the
strike been circulated in Lovelock
that on Sunday and Monday bust
ness men went by machine, while
clerks and men who little dreamed
that they would ever be interested
in mining, but who had been ''let
in on the inside" took horses and
made for the deposit, and there
staked out their claims, and are
now sitting back to await the
money which they expect to get
for their days work.
Smith, the original d~iscOyerer, said
of the deposit: II staked out seven
claims fer myself. That was all |
wanted. AS soon as | found ont The
/, al value of them ! came Lack with
more supplies and tipped off my
friends There is enough Of he
stuff to give nearly every II in The
town a claim, and | don't want to be
a pig"
In a telegram to Smith, the lab
o~ratory people at san Francisco
have asked for particulars as to the
size of the deposit and for more
samples take nfrOm other parts or
the country. From word received by
other claim owners, it is said that
the head of the laboratory, or some
official representative of the govern
ment will be here within the next
few days to go out and make an eN-
animation of the deposit.
Potash is used for many pu
principal among the uses being in
the manufacture of explosives, in
the making of cyanide and for fer
t~ilizer. In the past this country has
relied to a large extent upon i'm
ports from Germany, and with the
beginning of the war and the cry
- conservation of food products
and the efficient handling of the soil,
the need a increased materially.
The price of the product has increas-
ed from $40 a ton to more than
$500. In an effort to secure the ma