THE MINERAL WEALTH OF WYOMING. 



BY ARTHUR W. PHILLIPS. 



IN the limited space of a single article 

 it is not possible to do complete 

 justice to the subject of the mineral re- 

 sources of the whole State of Wyoming. 

 The storehouse of undeveloped wealth is 

 so vast, the varieties of mineral so many, 

 that the adequate description ai/d hand- 

 ling of this subject would fill a large 

 volume. 



The writer does not pretend to be an 

 expert in all the different mineral re- 

 sources here mentioned, and is solely 

 actuated in the penning of this article by 

 the desire to publish to the investing 

 public a few facts about the extraordinary 

 opportunities for the investment of capital 

 in developing the almost untouched 

 treasures of Wyoming. 



In this State there are mountains of the 

 finest iron ore, vast deposits of coal, soda, 

 gypsum, salt, sulphur, copper, lead, tin, 

 mica and other minerals, also marble, 

 granite, sandstone, mineral paint, fire 

 clay, kaolin, graphite, cinnabar and 

 magnesium. Silver is found in many 

 places and the discoveries of gold are 

 attracting the attention of capitalists at 

 the present time. Very extensive oil 

 basins exist in Central Wyoming and are 

 now in course of development and will no 

 doubt take the lead amongst the valuable 

 resources of the State. For some years 

 past operations in drilling wells have been 

 carried on at Salt Creek in Natrona 

 county under great difficulties, but the 

 success which is now crowning the efforts 

 of the pioneers in this business, is lately 

 stimulating others to follow their example, 

 and several strong companies are now 

 starting in to develop oil lands in 

 Natrona and Converse counties. The 

 .oil obtained from wells and from oil sand 

 near the surface in these two counties is 

 truly remarkable, considered from any 

 standpoint. Not even kerosene is found 

 in any appreciable quantity in this oil, to 

 say nothing of the lighter products. The 

 average Pennsylvania oil produces from 

 40 to 70 per cent kerosene, while the 

 Wyoming oils contain 90 per cent of high 

 grade lubricants. This oil is beyond 

 question the best crude oil for lubricating 

 purposes that has ever been discovered. 



The oil prodticed at Salt Creek is a 

 dark olive-green color, and has been 

 tested in every way, from the farmer who 

 uses it' on his mowing machine and his 

 wife who uses it on her sewing machine 

 to the locomotive engineer who puts it in 

 competition with the high grade manu- 

 factured lubricating oils of the East. All 

 opinions are the same, as to its being 

 superior in its crude state to the best 

 Eastern lubricating oils, which retail at 

 $1.00 per gallon and upward. 



The present wells are fifty miles from 

 the railroad, and every barrel of oil is 

 hauled by wagon over rough roads at a 

 cost of over $2. 00 per barrel, but even at 

 this rate the business pays well, because 

 of the superior quality of the oil. 



During the past year a refinery has 

 been erected at the railroad at Casper, 

 and every grade of oil is turned out, even 

 to the finest watch and spindle oils, with- 

 out adding any animal or vegetable oils. 

 The quality of the Wyoming oil is superior 

 to any in the known world, surpassing 

 even the famous Russian or Sumatra 

 oils in body and consistency. It is used 

 as a lubricant for many purposes in its 

 natural crude state, and has no equal for 

 such purposes. Wyoming crude oil sells 

 for $10.00 per barrel at the railroads in 

 Wyoming, and has never been sold at less 

 than $8.00 per barrel, and the demand is 

 rapidly increasing. 



By refining under distillation, and with- 

 out adding any animal oils, the finest 

 grades of spindle and watch oils are ob- 

 tained. These refined oils sell at whole- 

 sale for big prices,valve oil bringing $25.00 

 per barrel, engine oil $15.00 and the 

 finer grades even more. Crude oil, just 

 as it is obtained from the ground, sells in 

 Omaha for $1.00 per gallon. 



When it is considered that these wells 

 average twenty barrels per day, and that 

 the expense of operation of the same is 

 very light, any one can readily figure out 

 that profits must be enormous. 



The chemical tests of Wyoming oils 

 show that they are both illuminating and 

 lubricating in character, the latter being 

 the most valuable, and largely predominat- 

 ing, and not found to any extent in any 



15 



