The Oklahoma miner. [volume] (Krebs, Okla.) 1912-192?, 1921-08-18

Nv manity the reading pub
- lie is sufficiently in
formed Everybody knows that she
was made much Of by our digntaries;
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-
blcs, and flat tired and happy Won-
an finally sailed away with her precious
gram Of radum stored i'm a mahogany
case lined with steel and lead. She
said she was going to take a real rest
and that she hoped in September to
20 back to her work in the Curie in
stitute i'm Paris-now that she again
has radium to work with. The insu-
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
mcnts. She will also carry on an eN-
tcnsiye investigation of mesathorium,
another radioactive substance-enough
of this was presented to her TO bring
the value of the combined gift to SlGJ,-
600.
But where this American radlum
came from and how it was produced
is another story, which may protitabIy
he 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 Ca gram Is
one twenty-eighth of an ouuce). The
illustration by comparison shows how
small is this amount. The lower sec
tion represents that made by the prin-
/ cIpal American radium refinery, the
dark section that made 10y other Amer
lean refneries 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
radnm. introduced a new conception
| into the fundamental problems of eN-
! 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 NJ. Flannery
of Pittsburgh, who had made success
| with vanadlum as an alloy for steel
| devoted his attention to the produc
| ton of radium. The ores OF other
countries being out of the question
NE turned to the Caruotite deposits
Of southwestern Colorado. Prior tC
the World war this cauotite ore hal
been shipped to French and German
| producers ot radium.
The mining and handling of carno
tite ore i'm southwestern Colorado Is
attended with difficulties. The regioT
is deSolate and practically uninhab
tied Water is scarce. Flannery Ina,
his troubles. He had 10 train new
men. He finally established heudQuar
ters at the only spring of clear waite
within 100 miles; here the STANDARD
Chemical company maintains all IN,
offices for its mining work, transporta
tlon and supplies. Eighteen mile
away the company built the larges
radium concentration mill In th
world, through which has passed tn
ore from which has been refined NOR
than half the worlds supply Of radi
um. Burros carry the ores from tn
mines 70 the mill, and water and sup
plies 10 the miners.
Mime. Curie worked on European
ores which contained about one gran