SULPHUR AND PYRITE 353 



openings from which the sulphur has been dissolved by the 

 Frasch experiments. In view of the heavy flow of water which 

 may be expected through certain of the strata this uncertainty 

 is an element of great peril. 



In Nevada sulphur occurs at Rabbit Hole Springs, 35 

 miles from Humboldt House, in Humboldt county. The de- 

 posit is of the solfatara type; and the sulphur, associated with 

 gypsum, etc., fills the craters of a few extinct hot springs. 

 The sulphur rock is in beds of considerable thickness and ex- 

 tent, included between limestone and magnesian rocks. The 

 ore occurs in masses of various sizes up to several hundred 

 pounds in weight, which are mixed with clay among heaps and 

 layers of ashes and light gravel. The ore is mined by adits and 

 drifts run in from the level of the wagon road, which extends 

 entirely around the hill at a considerable elevation. All rock 

 containing more than 8 per cent of sulphur is mined, and the 

 product is taken to the refinery and refined in iron kettles 

 heated by dry steam. The refined product is carried in wagons 

 to Humboldt House and shipped thence by rail, chiefly to the 

 powder factories and acid makers on the Pacific coast. 



The deposits which are the source of most of the sulphur 

 mined in Utah are located in Beaver county near the Millard 

 county line. They were known to the early pioneers, who ob- 

 tained small quantities of nearly pure sulphur from the numer- 

 ous caves in that vicinity. Soon after the year 1870 the claims 

 were located under the mining laws, and a small refining fur- 

 nace w^as installed which was worked intermittently unt:i the 

 year 1891 , when the property changed owners, and the plant was 

 modernized and enlarged. Under the new management the 

 mining operations of the company have been continuous and 

 successful. The ore is removed by open cuttuig, and the furnaces 

 are worked during the summer only. Four of the six stacks in the 

 refiningplant are generally operated at a time, and about 50 tons 

 of 20 per cent rock are treated daily, yielding the refined pro- 

 duct in the form of rolled sulphur, which is sold as such or is 

 ground in mills to make flour sulphur. 



It has been proposed to separate sulphur from the ore by 

 heating it with hot air, with steam under pressure, or with 

 superheated steam. But these methods have been improfit- 



Vol. 6-23 



