CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES AND RESOURCES 

 of profit, and some day the companies may modify 

 the process so as to produce naphthalene as a by- 

 product. Some petroleums are rather high in sul- 

 phur and a large amount of this sulphur finds its 

 way into the resultant gas. A process has been 

 devised but not generally introduced which re- 

 lieves this situation, for a large proportion of the 

 sulphur exists as organic compounds and is not 

 removed by passing the gas through the purifying 

 boxes. The gas is reheated, breaking up the or- 

 ganic compounds, and then again passed through 

 the purifying boxes and all excess of sulphur is 

 thus removed and this operation is accomplished 

 with only a very slight loss in the illuminating 

 power of the gas. 



COMMON SALT, BORAX AND SODA. Most of the 

 salt is obtained by evaporation of sea water and by 

 the plants situated around the Bay of San Francisco 

 or at Long Beach and San Diego. The salt produced 

 in this manner represents a large quantity of mother 

 liquor or bittern and some day an economic use 

 may be found for the same. The writer has seen 

 a very small gold bead which was worked up from 

 one of the bitterns from Alameda County and 

 gives this fact merely as a chemical curiosity. The 

 total production of salt in California for the year 

 1913 was 204,407 tons. 



This State produces all the domestic borax in 

 this country and at present obtains the same from 

 colmanite ore deposits which are easily mined and 

 treated. There appears to be no limit to the quan- 

 tity of colmanite mineral and the three different 

 companies which are mining and working the same 

 are endeavoring to find new uses for borax and its 

 products. The pure food law has been a blow to 

 the industry. The production of borax for 1913 

 was 58,051 tons. 



Soda is produced both in California and Nevada 

 and the former State has 1861 tons to its credit for 

 the year 1913. There are several companies work- 

 ing up the natural soda and imported soda which 

 is brought in as soda ash, producing washing soda, 

 for which there is still a demand, and bicarbonate 

 nearly all of which is taken by the baking powder 

 factories. Caustic soda is not manufactured on the 

 Coast and what with the large quantities of salines 

 and cheap electric current there should be a field 

 for electrolytic caustic soda. A strong competitor 

 to the present borax and soda industries has lately 

 appeared in the field, namely a large corporation 

 operating at Searles Lake. It is rumored that 

 already over half a million dollars have been spent, 



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