Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-05-17


not infrequently they constitute the
deciding factor in some great enter
prise.
Magnetic Oxide Of Iron.
In Codington county, to bring the
Illustration SO near home that all may
get a glimpse Of understanding Of our
lack Of comprehension with respect
to details in the things that now
greatly concern us as a nation, are
vast beds of what is known as black
sand, consisting Of about seventy-fiv6
pc recent. magnetic oxide Of iron.
"How valuable this sand may be
we do not know-nor have we tried
to ascertain, SO far as / am aware.
Had we been eficient-even as ef-
ficient as Germany has been during
the past generation-we might have
learned whether this black sand is
really very valuable.
tIt is known that chemists from
the Dupont Powder Co. have obtained
samples of it from this locality. Per
haps-we do not know-one of the
rarer minerals may be found in these
deposits. At any rate, we have nc
reason to believe that the Dupont
people are investigating merely fol
amusement. We ought to ascertain
for ourselves whether it is worth
while to gather this sand.
Gypsum, Aluminium, Ignite.
The native gypsum found along
the banks Of some of the streams il
Faulk county may contain elements
of great value for aught we know
We do not seem to have tried to fine
out.
again, the clay hills of the Mis-
souri, river abound in aluminium sill
Gates that might be utilized in a grea1
many ways. At least, it might bt
well to investigate in this age of the
use of aluminium as a metal entering
into all of the Industries of the coun
try.
THE Ignite beds of the northwest
ern part of South Dakota will short
III be made use of, if what re read il
the press, credited to Hon. Joseph w
Parmley and others, is an indication
of the true situation in what may b,
termed the states coal fields.
The foothills in and about Rapi.
tCity might be said to be almost pur,
calcium carbonate, while the Blacl
Hills themselves virtually produce, il
some quantity or other, all the min
! erals known to science.
Oceans Last Resting Place.
in addition to what / have alread.
enumerated, we have other Interest
/ ing possibilities within the confinej
of our state. The Bad Lands, for in
stance, in the western part of Soutl
Dakota, as yet unexpIored, must hol'
within their vast expanse untolt
wealth.
How could it be otherwise? Thi
TERRITORY wasth Las resting splac,
of the ocean, SO far as relates to thes
great plains. These greatest Of al
fossil beds Of the world have store
UP within their area the richest o
the oceans deposits throughout mi
lions of years.
If petroleum is produced from Sc
life, and this is the theory.-that j
to say, petroleum is supposed by on
modern scientists to have come iron
the decomposition OF sea life, in som
form, and our Bad Lands district TO
millionsSof years was the home Of til,
ocean, with all the deposits inciden
thereto,--then adjacent to these grea
fossil beds must lie the pools OF OF
this country Of ours SO much. need
at this time.
Boring for Oil Here.
Here at: home, In Codington coun
~, using our own locality as a fu1
ther illustration, outside capital 70
some years has been interesting Il
lself in oil developments With pros
poets for rich find, but what hav'
We done, either as q state n as ind
viduals. in the way Of encouraging
these people, Mostly. a shrug Of til,
Ishoulder or q wise look
Capital now from the same sourc'
Penisylyanias beginning oper
atoms at Interior. $. q, almost ia til
midst Of the Bad Lands. with th'
hopeof being richly rewarded.
$50 IA true, investigations are nov
going on in partsof the statewith
IView To a~Bcertaining the extent Is