220 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



were opened on veins of ozokerite,"* but the operators have had dif- 

 ficulty in competing with ozokerite shipped into this country from 

 Gaheia, and the mines have never been fully developed. 



As originally built the railroad on the west side of the divide fol- 

 lowed Soldier Creek from its head to Thistle, where the creek 

 joins Spanish Fork. This route made necessary the exceptionally 

 steep grade of 4 per cent, or 211 feet to the mile. The operation of 

 the road over this steep grade was very expensive, for three or four or 

 even five locomotives were required to get a heavj^ train from Thistle 

 to the summit. Recently the railroad company has abandoned this 

 steep grade and has constructed an entirely new line which begins at 

 Soldier Summit and extends westward for a distance of 15 miles. 

 The new line has a grade of 2 per cent, or 106 feet to the mile, and 

 one locomotive can haul as many cars on it as three locomotives could 

 haul on the old line. Tlie new line also gives the traveler a much 

 better opportunity to see the surrounding country than the old line, 

 which ran in the bottom of the valley. 



The rocks exposed in the numerous cuts on the new line are gen- 

 erally red or at least are banded with red. These red rocks are the 

 continuation of those that were seen about Colton and are undoubt- 

 edly the upper part of the Wasatch formation. The rocks dip to the 

 north (right) at about the same angle as the slope of the mountain 

 side, but the rocks across the ravine on the north side of the old line 

 of the railroad are very white and carry no trace of red material. It 

 is therefore fairly evident, as shown in figure 58, that the rocks 

 in the cuts along the new line belong to the uppermost beds of 

 the AYasatch. and that the white shale and sandstone across the valley 

 are in an overlying formation which geologists have named the Green 

 River formation, from its wide distribution in the Green River Basin, 

 Wyo. This formation is especially prominent at the town of Green- 



'* Ozokerite, or mineral wax, is a 

 mixture of various hydrocarbons, gen- 

 erally supposed to belong to the paraf- 

 fin series. It varies in color from 

 black or dark brown to light yellow, 

 but some specimens are greenish. It 

 may be as soft as tallow or as hard as 

 gj-psum. The lighter-colored varieties 

 yield the largest amounts of cerasin. 

 which is the refineil product. The 

 melting point of ozokerite is consider- 

 ably altove that of commercial paraf- 

 fin. It occurs in fissures in the rocks 

 and is thought to have been deposited 



posits are of different thickness, rang- 

 ing from mere films to masses nearly 

 3 feet tliick. 



Ozokerite is used extensively for in- 

 sulating electric conductors, for mak- 

 ing candles, for adulterating beeswax, 

 as a foundation for dther waxes and 

 polishes, to protect metal surfaces, and 

 for making wax figui-es and wax dolls. 



It is reported that the Utah field has 

 produced 750,000 pounds since 18S6, 

 but this amount is insignificant when 

 compared with the annual imports, 

 which from 1910 to 1920 have ranged 



from petroleum that formerly circu- i from 900,000 to more than 8.000,000 

 lated through these fissures. The de- | pounds. 



