STRANGE MINERALS.

West Coast Times, Issue 7299, 21 January 1889, Page 4

STRANGE MINERALS.

Included in the mineral resources of Utah, apart from its precious metals, are deposits of alum, some recently discovered veins of which are 18in. thick and several hundred feet in length, of dazzling white- | ness and great purity. Beds of nitre are also found sufficiently pure to readily fuse when thrown on hot coals. Ozokerite or natural mineral wax, a rarity elsewhere, is here found in large quantities. It is acid, and waterproof, and can be used for Imparting these qualities to other substances. As an insulator it is said to be perfect, and would doubtless be found a superior insulating material for electrical appliances. It could also be adapted as the base of a cheap yet desirable paving material and for indurating piles and posts to prevent decay. A somewhat similar discovery is gil•onite, found on analysis, to contain about eighty per cent of carbon or asphalt in pure form. Of the latter a pure vein has been discovered three leet wide and over a mile in length' a supply that, if worked, would be found almost inexhaustible. As is now well known, the Great Salt Lake is an immense, limitless magazine of salt, that can be readily obtained in any desired quantity by the simple process of evaporation. From this lake vast quantities of snlpbate of soda are also secured, blown on shore at certain temperatures by the winds, where hundreds of tons are often piled up in a single night, that can be utilised in the cheap production of soda and carbonate of soda.