BAUXITE. 



BY JOSEPH STRUTHERS. 



[Joseph Struthers, minerologist; born at New York city in 1865, and attended 

 the School of Minos, Columbia college (now Columbia university), graduating in 

 the course of chemistry in 1SS5; for fifteen years after his graduation he was on the 

 staff of instructors of the department of metallurgy at Columbia university ; organ- 

 ized and conducted the first summer school in practical metallurgy of Columbia 

 university (1896), which was at Butte, Mont. Dr. Struthcrs has visited many 

 metallurgical plants in the United States and Europe, and he has carried on special 

 metallurgical investigations; he has written numerous articles for the Engineering 

 and Mining Journal, Mineral Resources of the United States, Twelfth Census of the 

 United States and School of Mines Quarterly, and is assistant editor of the Transac- 

 tions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers; appointed Field Assistant to 

 the United States Geological Survey for 1901 and 1902, and in May, 1903, special 

 agent for the United States census.] 



The mineral bauxite was first discovered in the year 

 1821 near Baux, France, by the well known French chemist, 

 Berthier. He attempted to utilize it in the manufacture of 

 alum, but, because of the large proportion of iron oxide it 

 contained, he was unsuccessful. Later a deposit of the white 

 variety, of greater purity than that of Baux, was discovered 

 at Herault, also in France. The mineral did not, however, 

 become of commercial importance until 1868 or 1869, when 

 Sainte-Claire Deville, a French scientist, in the com'se of his 

 experiments in the manufacture of aluminum, discovered 

 the value of bauxite as an ore of this metal. 



In 1881 occurred the first recorded discovery of bauxite 

 in the United States. The find was made by Edward Nichols, 

 at Hermitage, Floyd county, Ga. Afterwards deposits were 

 found in Polk, Bartow, Gordon, and Chattooga counties. 

 In 1891 R. S. Perry reported the discoveiy of the mineral 

 in Calhoun county, Ala., although it had previously been 

 found in that state in Cherokee county, where it had been 

 known as iron ore blossom and as Clinton fossiliferous iron 

 ore. Other deposits were afterwards found in Cleburne 

 county. In 1891, too, the mineral was reported by the 

 Arkansas geological survey as having been found in Saline and 

 Pulaski counties of that state. Other deposits have been 

 found, notably in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New 



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