The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1921-04-23

ar,to County may some day be ex-
...,sd to furnish 100 times as much
- =. was ever produced In Kern
co,nty. Cal.," J. M. Fulton. assistant
..,srsl freight and passenger agent
:, the Southern Pacific Railway. said
...u asked what progress had been
made in the efforts to extract oil from
Elko County shaie.
This is low estimate OF the
,..utity of oil which may be reduced
,,om the shale plainly visible In the
county" be said. "As practically all
,As California oil is Of asphltum base
ana the Elko product is parafine base
ss Elto County product bids fair to
u far superior oil. With all the
bIl 6sIds In the country showing signs
y sxhaustation, we can realize what
HAS means to the State of Nevada.
The man responsible for the pos
sibilities showing for the State In re-
duction OF oil from shale of Elko
County 10 r. M. Catlin. Mr.. Catlin
L q mineralogist OF wide reputation.
he is now, and has been for many
years the chemist In charge of the ex-
perimental plant of the New Jersey
zinc Company Of New Jersey.
About twenty years ago he was
we'll known as an important official
Of the mines of Tuscarora and Eu-
reka At that time he made an in
vestigation OF the shale deposits OF
Elko County and saw the possibilities
a method could be found to extract
he oil from the shale-
with this thought he visited plants
n Scotland where oil Is extracted
rom shale and tried out the process
n Elko shales and found the process
'alueless. Every known method was
ried on the Elko shales. and in every
,rocess vital flaws were discovered
shieh made the process OF no value
n commercially exploiting the oil
,earing shale OF Elko.
For the last four years Mr.. Cat
In has been experimenting on the
Of the oil. First he in
tailed q plant In which the shale Is
,urned, creating gas. The gas was
hen confined and used for heating
hale in q large air-tight receptacle
Fhich caused evaporation of oil In
hs shale. The vapor passed of In
ubes and was condensed. practically
retorting process.
But even after this had been ac-
Mr.. Catlin said to me,
Though l have expended of my own
nd my associates money 100000 In
he work you see here. l do not feel
hat have yet solved the problem. !
ave been offered money by various
arties who wish to Join In this work.
ut have said to all of them that !
ould not consequently take one dol
ar Of their money as there was too
'reat a chance for failure" This
0nversation took place year and a
lalf ago.
Since that time Mr.. Catlin has con-
lnued his experimentation and has,
the present time. q large amount
superior quality parafine base oil
tanks at his property three miles
rom Elko. He has 10000 pounds
parann wax-pure snow. His
lant Is running day and night. month
and month out, never stopping
ufnins the shale. producing gas. the
as In turn being used for evapora-
on OF oil contained in the shale.
In the process adopted by Mr.. Cat
H. OF which by no means wish to
'nvey an impression that I have
usnt but a very superficial knowl-
ase' ne Is using a plant similar to
ICE manufacturing plant. The ma
''iais pass through many processes
acn as alteration. condensation
'aporation, etc.
AT this time Mr.. Catlin considers
20 problem has been solved and he
Is ordered additional machinery and
'alpment which he expects to have
stalled and in operation by the end
september or early October of this
NJ. MIR. Catlin says now 4 have nc
'Sson to believe other than that the
'0esss now being used can be ex'
I30f3d Ind a "a s..-&