200 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from U. S. Geological Survey 

 OLD SHALE DISTILLERY NEAR JUAB, UTAH, USED BY MORMONS A GENERATION AGO 



When the oil is distilled from the impregnated shales there comes with it a great supply 

 of those yellowish crystals we call sulphate of ammonia — a fertilizer so rich that it would 

 make a garden out of an old abandoned field. Three hundred million tons of this great soil 

 vitalizer lie locked in the shales of Colorado alone, waiting to be released by the key of 

 industry. 



reserve for the American Navy 132,000 

 acres of the richest oil-shale land in the 

 West. 



BEWARE OE EAKE PROMOTERS 



It is not to be understood, of course, 

 that any farmer or rancher who may 

 happen to have oil shale on his home- 

 stead can produce oil at a profit. Suc- 



cessful oil distillation will require large 

 and expensive plants, well financed and 

 scientifically managed, as in any other 

 large industry. 



It is by no means a poor man's propo- 

 sition ; but neither, on the other hand, is 

 it a highly complex and involved in- 

 dustry, such, for instance, as beet-sugar 

 manufacture, while the fact that oil dis- 



