New-York tribune., 1921-04-10
In the Person of the Ra-
dunn Prospector the
Old West Comes Some
of the Way Back. One
Carload of Ore Brought
$4,000. 1t Is the Sum-
shine of fParadoxValIev

often crops out in canyons and pulches
Being so brightly colored it is readily
dlstlnguishable. The layers are of vary
Ing thicknesses. Sometimes a ledge
that looks promising will yield little
carnotite, and sometimes faint indica-
t1ons will lead to heavy deposits. On
one claim mined by government experts
for the National Radium Institute sew
eral tons of high grade carnotite were
found in soft, claylike mass of black
vanadium ore.
Ore Carefully Sorted
According to Grades
After the ore has been found and
mined there comes the work of sorting.
The ore is carefully separated into
grades. The high grade is put into sacks
for transporting to the railroad. The
low grade is sent to the mill for con-
centrating. One man can sack from Is
to 80 sacks of high grade ore in q dav.
Inc sorting must be done by daylight.
as it is difficult to distinguish the color
OF the ore by artificial light. Only the
most experienced men are utilized as
sorters.
Names Of claims in the carnotite min
ing fields are reminiscent of the names
In the oldtime gold mining camps
There Is hint of adventure in such
names as the Maggie c., Medea, Dixie
Vanadite, Buckeye. Montana, Urania
and Henry Clay.
The bug holes," Of which mention
has been made, are carnotite denos;ts
filling holes in the ground several feet
deep and from three to five inches in
diameter. 1t has been suggested that
these bug holes,' which are filed with
carnotite of the highest grade, have
been formed by lightning. They are q
source OF no little profit, and are akin to
the pockets of ore found in certain min
ing districts.
Bureau of Mines Cuts
Cost of Production
A cheap and effective reduction nroc-
ess for carnotite ore, as compared with
the processes at first in vogue. was
worked out by Bureau of Mines experts.
with the assistance of DR.. James
Douglas, of New York City. and DR..
Howard Kelly, of Baltimore. who
wanted to get radium for hospital pur-
Loses. The doctors advanced the funds
and the government experts devised the
process and erected plant at Denver.
where 100000 worth of radium was
produced by the so-called National Ra-
dunn Institute. The process then be-
came public property. It is estimated
that from June, 1914, when work in the
plant began, to January. 1917, when it
was stopped, eight and one-haIf grams
OF radium had been produced at one
third of the current price. In addition
the process had saved the uranium and
vanadium content of the ores.
Radlum is also found in pitchblende
IN Gllpln County, Colorado, but it Is
much more easily extracted from the
dry, powdery, yellow carnotite hidden
in the rocks and gulches of the soutb-
western part of the state. No such SUD-
ply has been found in any other part of
the world. One Colorado county. in
which the Paradox valley is located is
SAID to have produced seventy-six
grams of radium out of the world
supply of one hundred and five
grams, or about four ounces. With
radlum coming into more general use in
hospitals all over the world. these
strange deposits of living sunshine in
Colorado have come into increasinp
prominence. If radium is to take rank
as one OF the great curative agencies of
the world, it is evident that these Amer
lean fields from which Nine. Curie,s
gift comes will hold out the chief hone
to distressed humanity.