4i6 JOSEPH STRUTHERS 



At Alameda, near San Francisco, at Marion, and at Daggett. 

 The largest borax refinery, however, is at Bayonne, New Jersey. 



There are four companies engaged in the borax industry in 

 California — the Pacific Coast Borax company, the American 

 Borax company, the Western Borax works, and the Frazier 

 Borate Mining company. The Pacific Coast Borax company 

 continues to supply a sufficient quantity of borax to satisfy 

 the requirements of the market ; and apart from its operations 

 at Borate, prospecting work for other colemanite deposits has 

 been carried on in Death valley and much additional property 

 has been acquired. The deposits in Amargosa valley were 

 carefully examined and large sample lots of ore were trans- 

 ported by traction engines to Manville, 100 miles distant, and 

 thence by rail to the refinery for testing the quality, in order 

 to determine the value of the property. 



The plant of the American Borax company at Daggett has 

 been greatly extended by the addition of two 20,000 gallon 

 tanks or digesters for the treatment of the crude material from 

 the adjacent mud deposits by the sulphuric acid process. 

 The enlargement of this plant has greatly increased the out- 

 put of boric acid concentrates, and the results have been so 

 satisfactory that a further extension of the plant at Daggett 

 is contemplated. A new refinery is in course of erection at 

 Pittsburg, to which will be shipped the concentrates from Dag- 

 gett for the final refining. 



The mines of the Western Borax works are located in 

 Inyo county, and those of the Frazier Borate Mining company 

 in San Bernardino county. 



Apart from the output of the above named concerns, a 

 small quantity of borax has been obtained from the marsh 

 deposits in California and Nevada, but the total amount pro- 

 duced from these scattered sources has been of so little com- 

 parative importance that the borax market was in no way 

 affected. During the past few years Oregon has contributed 

 to the domestic supply a small quantity of borax from the 

 marsh deposits in Harney county. The output has averaged 

 about 400 tons annually. The chief borax producer in this 

 state is the Rose Valley Borax company, controlling 2,000 



