The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-08-19

formed Everybody knows that she
was made much of by our dignitaries ;
that ten degrees were conferred upon
her by our universities; that Presi-
dent Harding himself made the pres
entation to her in the White House
with appropriate words in the pres
ence of a brilliant gathering of nota-
bles, and that tired and happy wom-
an finally sailed away with her precious
gram of radium stored in mahogany
case lined with steel and lead. She
said she was going to take real rest
and that she hoped in September to
20 back to her work in the Curie in
stitute in Paris-now that she again
has radium to work with. The insti-
tute divides its work along two main
lines. One has to do with the study
of radium and radioactive substances
purely from the viewpoint of the phys
icist; the other deals with their appli-
cation to, the treatment of human all
ments. She will also carry on an ex-
tensive investigation of mesathorium,
another radioactive substance-enough
of this was presented to her TO bring
the value of the combined gift to $780,
900.
But where this American radium
came from and how it was produced
is another story, which may profitably
be told in this connection. 1t is espe-
cially interesting inasmuch as the to-
tai worlds supply of radium is esti-
mated at only 40 grams Ga gram is
one twenty-eighth of an ounce). The
illustration by comparison shows how
small is this amount. The lower sec
ton represents that made by the prin-
.cipal American radium refinery, the
dark section that made by other Amer
lean refineries and the upper layer
that produced abroad. So, though
radium was not produced in the Uni
ted States till 1913, this country now
has made about FIVE times as much as
the rest Of the world.
While Nine Curie, by discovering
radium, introduced a new conception
into the fundamental problems of ex-
istence, she actually produced very lit
tie radium, since she was denied the
ores with which TO work. Moreover,
she gave it all away to the medical
profession of Europe. A very small
portion found its way to New York.
In 1911 the late Joseph M. Flannery
of Pittsburgh, who had made a success
with vanadium as an alloy for steel,
devoted his attention to the produc-
ton of radium. The ores of other
countries being out of the question,
he turned to the carnotite deposits
of southwestern Colorado. Prior to
the World war this carnotite ore had
been shipped to French and German
producers of radium.
The mining and handling of carno-
tite ore in southwestern Colorado is
attended with difficulties. The region
is desolate and practically uniuhab-
tied Water is scarce. Flannery had
his troubles. He had to train new
men. He finally established headquar-
tiers at the only spring of clear water
within 100 miles; here the Standard
Chemical company maintains all the
offices for its mining work, transporta-
tion and supplies. Eighteen miles
away the company built the largest
radium concentration mill in the
world, through which has passed the
ore from which has been refined more
than half the worlds supply of radi-
UNI. Burros carry the ores from the
mines TO the mill, and water and sup
plies TO the miners.
Nine. Curie worked on European
ores which contained about one gram
of radium to every five or six tons.
In the Colorado ores there is about