The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-01-13

WALLACE. IDAHO, THUR 81
, grade shipping product. and is likely,
To put the mineral in its most desir-
able and soluble form within reach of
lNe general farming industry of the
west and al a price that the farmer
can afford to use it literally and
greatly increase his crop results at a
nominal increase in cost for this add
'd element on depleted soils.
Optimistic forecasts of metallic
mineral development progress are all
ways risky because metallic ore de-
posits are VIGOROUSLY erratic in their
shape, mode of occurrence and per
sistency These phosphate deposits
however are just as dependable and
safely estimated as to probable ultim-
ale resources as are uniform beds or
veins of coal 1t is true that trans
portaton costs have retarded the
progress of these western phosphate
deposits, and has put them al rather
serious disadvantage in relation to
available markets as compared with
the deposits of Tennessee and Flor
IDA; however, the recent progress in /
the simplifcation of methods of con-
centration seem very likely to over I
come this transportation disadvan- I
tage, and do not hesitate to predict
that these rich phosphate deposits
will ultimately prove the basis of the
most important factor in American
industrial progress, as they are fully
capable with adjacent deposits of
kindred nature of doubling the pres
ent agricultural yield of America with
all the contingent industrial traffic
that it is responsible for
Phosphate in the South.
1t has been definitely shown by
scientific study by the department of
the interior under Franklin X Lane
that the rich phosphate deposits of
Tennessee and Florida are within 25
on 30 years of exhaustion. Those de
oosits formed the most important
base of complete mineral fertilizer
products and represented vested
'tt''' NttiAAtti VI ONti poNNfUUOfNO WIFI
nm annual marketed product under
ore-war conditions aggregating s12O-
l00 700 a year That product came to p
he farmer at excessive cost. varying {
rom $50 to $50 per ton. which incud- Z
ID besides the soluble salts of phos- y
'hows. also those of potash and nj o
roeen largely imported from Ger
many Chile and Spain.
Need Research Station.
1t is potentially probable that the =,
illions of tons of relatively rich po- q
assium slicate rock and free nitro f.
oil shales available in the o.
earby territory in Wyoming and
tab, can ultimately provide all the
Iements Of complete mineral fertil-
.er that are now so largely supplied 81
ON foreign sources This should II
realty reduce the cost of the finished e
roduct to fit any kind of soil re- II
uirements from this territory with c
1minal assembling charges, and it =
lould greatly cheaper the require d
ents of the American farmer in this II
,spect and ultimately establish
industry in this terri
ny of vast national importance This Il
a contamination that can be greatly ie
cilitated and encouraged by the C,
Mon Pacific Railway company S,
hose main line and branches ira S.
srse the very heart of this field of IT
od producing mineral substance and 81
hose ultimate development will
'ubtless involve a four track equip c,
ent on the main trunk line of the 90
Mon Pacific. These phosphate de- ~
,sits are of such vast importance 10.
at their utilization should be facili- o.,
ted by the establishment of chem .,
Al research station by the United 49,
ates bureau of mines, designated for o,
e development and elaboration Of
ocesses already well under way by
ivate effort to make economically
ailable to the American farmer this
tural resource in which his future
ccess and progress is inevitably in
lived. he