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

-REEPORT, Texas, June al have
~ come to Freeport to write Of ar
l. industry that means much as tc
victory or defeat in our great war
with Germany. Away down here in
southeastern Texas. at the mouth OF
the Brazos river and within a short
distance of deep water in the Gulf
OF Mexico. lies a great bed Of pure
sulphur. The bed is more than 500
feet below the surface Of the earth,
and it is crowned by a huge dome
OF rock which has a necklace of
ouicksand. It reaches only % feet
above the surrounding country and
to look at il you would think it only
hill. The deposit OF sulphur is
just like another great bed that lies
under q similar dome in southern
Louisiana on the edge OF the gulf,
and the two deposits are now fur
nishing 90 per cent of all the sulphur
used in the United States. Each is
producing tens Of thousands OF tons
every month, and both will be worked
to their full capacity throughout the
war.
Vital To the Nation.
But before I describe the wonders
going on here. let me tell you how
vital this sulphur has become to our
life as a nation. II is needed to
make the sulphuric acid which is
employed in all high explosives. and
it is the basis OF acid phosphate. the
81 H-N
rely for our food supply
In the past we bought some Of our
sulphur from Japan, but this is now
going TO Russia, where it is used for
making munitions OF war. We once
got the most Of our supply from
Sicily. but that was cut off when
the Louisiana mines were developed.
and Of late We have been making
our sulphuric acid from pyrites. the
most Of which we have been import
ing from Spain and Portugal We
took from those countries last year
a million and a quarter tons. but the
supply has been cut of by the SUD
marines, and IL will have to be re-
placed in large part by these sulphur
mines.
Just now we are using more sui
phur than ever before. Our usual
consumption has been in the neigh
borhood Of 100000 tons per annum-
Last year we used more than three
times that quantity, and the bulk
of the excess went into high eXplo-
sives for the projectiles shipped to
our allies From the Freeport mine
a quarter OF a million tons was
shipped TO one munitions factor. and
l understand that large contracts
have been placed for the future.
The fertilizer companies will need
more than one million tons of sui
phur for the acid phosphate required
by the farmers; but their supply will
be restricted by the amounts needed
in the munitions factories and it may
be also by our shipments to Europe.
Sulphur is used also in many man
ufactures. Prior to this war 40 per
cent of our product was consumed
in making wood pulp and news print
paper. Sulphuric acid is a necessity
in refining petroleum. 1t is en-
ployed in the making of sugar, and
also in steel. iron and coke manufac-
lures In connection with lime II
forms the lime-sulphur insecticide
which is used everywhere in our
orchards. and it means the success
or failure Of our fruit crop In short,
il is the basis Of so many different
industries that we must have it in
order to live.
sulphur From Mt. Aetna.
Until the sulphur mines OF Louis
lana were developed the most or the
worlds supply came from the Island
of Sicily. 1t was dug up about the
slopes Of the volcano Of Aetna, and
Italy supposed that she had a mon
opoly of the business for all time
to come This was so notWithstand-
ing sulphur was known to exist in
Louisiana It had been discovered
there about the close OF our civil
war. but the deposit was covered with
quicksand and was buried 500 feet