NEED ECONOMIC SURVEY 



15 



Developing the Mineral Wealth 



had. Climatic and atmospheric conditions and the constituents of the various 

 water supplies are important process materials to some industries. 



Mis.soula is the first, and. so far as known, the only community in the state 

 to undertake a sceientific industrial survey. The work was begun in the summer 

 of 1923 to ascertain what industries are best adapted to the natural resources 

 of the region and the present and potential markets. 



An instance of the conversion of a practically waste product into processing 

 articles of high commercial value is found at Eureka. Lincoln county, where the 

 International Chemical Products Company has erected a plant for the extraction 

 of mucic acid or cream of milk sugar and other by-products from the butts 

 of tamarack trees. Cut-over lands are being cleared of stumps as a result of 

 the operations of the company, the butts containing a higher mucic acid content 

 than other parts of the tree. Mucic acid is a product of the sugar galactose, one 

 of the chief constituents of milk sugar, and is extracted by the company from 

 the plant fibres in its complex form, hydrolized and then oxidized to form the acid 

 derivative, mucic acid. It is obtained free of impurities and has a wide field of 

 usage in various foodstuffs, soft drinks, jellies and medicine, and also in the 

 mordanting of cloth. The lax'gest demand, however, is in the baking powder 

 trade, either in the form of a straight baking acid for use in the manufacture of 

 flour or in the form of baking powder for direct use. It possesses twice the 

 strength of cream of tartar and will keep indefinitely, two properties that have 

 given it a demand that has necessitated enlargement of the plant. Several by- 

 products are aL^^o recovered, one being oxalic acid, which is obtained in an almost 

 pure state. Tests have shown the wood fibre refuse to be excellent for news- 

 print paper and it is contemplated to use it later for wood pulp. 



