The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-08-22
BY Jack Jungmeyer

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal, Aug. %.
Word monopoly OF potash, dur
ing the period of the war, rests
today on an issue between the L.
=. government and the temporary
victor in the most spectacular bat
tie for mineral riches ever waged
i'm the West.
! The prize, valued at half a bill
lion dollars, is Searles Lake, a
crystalline body of potash sails in
southern California.
Death and madness have
featured a seven-years' con-
test for this magic, desert
trimmed lake. Gun play, in
trigue, money power and the
law had shifting parts.
Final winner against all coun-
ter claimants, the California
Trona company is today in pos
session, producing so tons of pot
ash per day, pending the out
come of its application for pat
ent.
The General Land Office at
Washington is resisting patent
on the ground that the mineral
laws never contemplated private
acquisition of such property, and
that the majority of the Trona
stockholders are not American
citizens. The matter will soon be
decided before the Secretary of
the Interior.
Begins Potash War
The most interesting figure in
the long fight is Henry Lee, an
obscure San Francisco attorney.
Lacking money and almost
single-handed, he came within an
ace of winning from a powerful
corporation this stupendous prize
the largest known potash de-
post on the continent.
Counterfiling ON 10000
acres of the lake claimed by
the TrOna interests, Lee OPEN
ed the potash war I'm 1910 un-
der a bristling ring of rifles.
His first venture put cloud
on the Trona filings.
Thereafter, from year to year,
Lee attempted to perform the
assessment work required tol
bolster his counter-claim. 1t was
at these times that the clashes
occurred.
Unfortunately for him, he was
heavily in debt. His CREDITOR
assigned their claims to the
Trona company which used them
to attach Lees autos and sup
plies whenever he attempted to
reach the magic lake. And there
was no other way to reach the
potash bed.
Betrayed by Chauffeur
A corps of sleuths was always
on his trail. The first year, after
a wild auto ride across the des-
Iert, Lee was betrayed by his
chauffeur. in the secret employ
of his rivals. An attachment
writ baffled him.
The second year he
eluded the detectives i'm the
guise of a woman, climbing
down a fire escape while
they watched the doors of
his office building, and led
them on two days race
across the state into the
Mojave desert. He was,
however. Overtaken and
again frustrated. Thus IL
went, year after year, with
varying fortunes.
Mad From Thirst
Death had taken its first toll
when Lees engineer succumbed
to sun-stroke while running the
counter claims. Another Lee
employe, unable to pay auto
bills contracted during the fight,
was murdered by a Los Angeles
creditor. A third, waiting for
his deferred wages, wandered in
to the waterless Mojave and
went mad from thirst.
Lees final hope had been that
he might trick the Trona people
into a show of force so that he
could plead duress in an excuse
for failure to perform his assess
ments. But always the willy cor
poration employed legal strategy
the attachment writ.
0utwitted in the desert, Lee
also lost in the courts. The last
litigation was but recently de-
cided against him, leaving the
Trona title clear.
Now the victor faces the gov
eminent - for a stake whose
riches can hardly be computed
and for a substance desperately
needed as fertilizer on every
American farm.
TURN TO THE CLASSIFIED
WANT Ana nN DAHE nnD