economic resources. 9>s'6 



Economic Resources. 

 The economic resources of the Salt Range are numerous and varied ; 

 several of them are of minor importance, but one, the rock-salt, for which 

 it is famous, occurs in a quantity and possesses a value which may be 

 called incalculable. These salt-deposits, together with those of other 

 parts of the Punjab, are some of the largest and purest in the world, 

 yet their origin is equally with others involved in obscurity. 



In Mr. Baden, PowelFs " Economic Products of the Punjab," all the 

 mineral economic resources of the Salt Range and its neighbourhood are 

 alluded to, though the references are to be found amongst matter relat- 

 ing to building materials,, salt, &c., from other places as well. A 

 passage given as an extract from this work,* in the preliminary copies 

 of the Punjab Gazetteer, mentions the following minerals as occurring 

 in the range : " salt, coal, sulphur, petroleum, .... copper, gold, 

 lead, and iron, the latter as rich hsematite very abundant in some parts, 

 to such an extent that the rocks containing it prevent by their attraction 

 the indications of the magnetic compass.''^ This passage gives a very 

 exaggerated idea of the products of the range. The coal of the Salt 

 Range is not great in quantity; it is poor in places and pyritous 

 and shaly, besides being difficult to work. The sulphur occurs in the 

 smallest quantities, native and otherwise. The petroleum is likewise 

 very limited indeed, as may be gathered from the several reports on 

 the subject by Mr. Lyman (see List of Authors). The copper men- 

 tioned at page 9 of Mr. PowelFs work is quite inconsiderable. The 

 stream-gold yields but a scanty return for much labour. The lead 

 (pages 11 and 12) occurs only as small disseminated crystals of galena 

 in the peculiar dolomitic rock of Karangli Hill. The iron, so far as I 

 am aware, occurs generally as common haematite, forming inconstant 



* Gazetteer of Jhelum District ; Geographical and Physical Section, Geology of the 

 Salt Range. Extract from Mr. Baden-Powell's " Economic Products of the Punjab,"' 

 pp. 131-135 ; end of extract, p. 15. 



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