AMERICAN POTASH FOR AMERICA 



By Guy Elliott Mitchell 

 Of the United States Geological Survey 



IN the great Stassfurt potash salt 

 deposits Germany holds a world's 

 monopoly of this precious fertiliz- 

 ing element. By a cleverly devised sys- 

 tem of fixing quotas for all active mines 

 and by imposing a heavy tax on all pro- 

 ductions in excess of arbitrarily fixed 

 quotas, the German Government has 

 forced the United States to the full 

 realization of this very embarrassing 

 fact. The importance to the United 

 vStates of developing an American potash 

 industry to offset such a condition may 

 be appreciated from the fact that last 

 year we sent to Germany $12,000,000 

 for this mineral, peculiarly vital to every 

 farmer in the land. Incidentally it may 

 be remarked that the German deposits 

 are practically inexhaustible, being esti- 

 mated to contain, at the present rate of 

 consumption, sufficient potash for the 

 entire world for half a million years. 



Tell the farmer that his supply of 

 potash is endangered and it is like noti- 

 fying the locomotive fireman that he 

 will get no more coal, for potash is a 

 necessary constituent of every bag of 

 fertilizer which the farmer purchases 

 when he drills in his wheat or rye or 

 oats, when he plants his corn, his to- 

 bacco, or potatoes ; in fact, every farm, 

 fruit, and garden crop. 



There are three elements necessary to 

 plant growth, and potash is one of them. 

 It is coequal with phosphorus and nitro- 

 gen, and every one of the 50 to 55 mil- 

 lion sacks of fertilizer sold each year 

 must carry a printed guarantee of the 

 percentage of potash therein contained. 



Germany is to some extent dependent 

 upon our broad American acres for her 

 food supply, but we are wholly depend- 

 ent upon her for the continued produc- 

 tion of a grain, fruit, and livestock sur- 

 plus for export. Such a surplus is made 

 possible only through soil stimulation by 

 fertilizing. 



The German attitude in this matter, 

 while working an apparent immediate in- 

 jury, cannot in reality prove other than 



a blessing in disguise to the United 

 States. Without this agitation of the 

 subject we would in all probability have 

 continued for many years buying enor- 

 mous quantities of potash salts, since the 

 German deposits are almost inexhaust- 

 ible. Now, however, our present help- 

 lessness has been demonstrated, and so 

 we shall be compelled to develop our 

 own latent potash resources until we are 

 independent of any foreign supply. 



EXPLORATIONS BY THE GEOLOGICAL 

 SURVEY 



It can be authoritatively stated that 

 there is abundance of potash in the 

 United States for present and future 

 needs for fertilizing, for the manufact- 

 ure of explosives, and for every other 

 possible use. 



Our potash possibilities will be devel- 

 oped along two distinct lines : explora- 

 tion for potash salts and utilization of 

 potash-rich rocks. It is believed that 

 systematic searches for potash deposits, 

 similar to those of Germany, will also 

 lead to the discovery of beds of soda 

 nitrate which may rival the great Chil- 

 ean deposits. In 1910 our purchases of 

 these two fertilizing materials — nitrate 

 from Chile and potash from Germany — 

 amounted to over $25,000,000. Within 

 the next decade, at the present rate of 

 increase in consumption, the figures will 

 reach over $50,000,000 a year. 



HOW THE POTASH MAY BE FOUND 



Of great interest, therefore, are the 

 preparations of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey for the exploration for 

 potash-salt deposits in the desert re- 

 gions of the West. For this work Con- 

 gress made a special appropriation of 

 $20,000. 



To understand how the geologists will 

 search for potash, it will be well to con- 

 sider the manner in which the German 

 potash deposits were formed, bearing in 

 mind the fact that ocean water contains 

 considerable potash. Ochsenius, the 



