AMERICAN POTASH FOR AMERICA 



401 



German geologist, pictures, in the early 

 ages of the world, an extensive and 

 deep gulf or arm of the ocean, which 

 later became land-locked, and the water 

 of which gradually evaporated. The 

 various substances in this concentrated 

 sea water were deposited at the bottom 

 of this lake, but the potash, being the 

 most soluble, remained till the last, and 

 was then laid down in a thick bed and 

 deeply covered by strata of protective 

 clay and other sediments. 



Government geologists point to many 

 sections in the West where the strati- 

 graphic conditions are similar to those 

 in Germany and most favorable for the 

 existence of such potash beds. Potash 

 is a constituent of all sea water, and the 

 entire West was once covered by the 

 ocean. As the land rose, it left immense 

 salt-water lakes, containing billions of 

 tons of potash, and these, during long 

 geological periods, gradually evaporated. 

 As a consequence the potash beds are 

 there, beyond a doubt. The problem is 

 to locate them. 



The German potash mines are very 

 deep, and it is expected that the Ameri- 

 can deposits also will be found far be- 

 neath the surface. To locate them will 

 require deep drilling by means of rigs, 

 such as are used in the oil fields. The 

 search, however, will not be a hit-or- 

 miss proposition. The Geological Sur- 

 vey will bring to bear its full knowledge 

 of the geological structure of the arid 

 region, and will carefully select the most 

 promising of the areas known to have 

 been covered by great prehistoric lakes. 



For instance, in Utah there is an 

 enormous ancient lake basin, of which 

 the Great Salt Lake is the feeble rem- 

 nant. This lake covered a large portion 

 of the State of Utah, and its waters 

 stood a thousand feet above the present 

 shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. Its 

 ancient beaches can be seen from the 

 railroad train far up the mountain sides, 

 above Salt Lake City. Another enor- 

 mous lake, known geologically as Lake 

 La Hontan, existed in Nevada. The 

 potash contained in the waters of these 

 great inland seas can only be estimated 

 in countless millions of tons. Mono 

 Lake, in California, a mere mill-pond 



by comparison, contains an estimated 

 10,000,000 tons of muriate of potash. 



In some such prehistoric lake beds as 

 those of Utah or Nevada, on the public 

 lands, the Government geologists will 

 decide upon sites for drilling, and if 

 they do not strike potash soon it will be 

 because the scope of their operations is 

 necessarily restricted by the lack of 

 money appropriated. It is hoped that 

 success will crown the initial efforts. 

 How the great find will be managed by 

 the Government is an interesting ques- 

 tion. The Government operates no 

 mines ; but having found the potash de- 

 posit it cannot well give it over to private 

 interests to develop and probably mo- 

 nopolize. A great potash deposit, such 

 as that of Germany, would have a po- 

 tential value of billions of dollars. 

 Probably the Government would have to 

 retain title and lease the mines in the 

 interest of the people. 



MUCH POTASH IN GRANITE ROCK 



Of scarcely less interest is the prob- 

 lem of the extraction of potash from 

 rocks. Of the feldspathic rocks, includ- 

 ing the granites, potash constitutes from 



5 to 10 per cent and even higher per- 

 centages. 



Among the igneous or volcanic rocks 

 containing large amounts of potash, as 

 described by W. C. Phalen,* are the 

 glasses, of which the chief are obsidian, 

 pumice, perlite, and pitchstone. In these 

 rocks the potash may run as high as 5 or 



6 per cent, or even considerably higher. 

 The rhyolites are also rich in potash, com- 

 monly containing more than 5 per cent 

 of potash, while a certain rhyolite from 

 Silver Cliff, Colorado, has been shown 

 to contain 8.38 per cent. The trachytes 

 and phonolites are also well supplied 

 with potash, some of these rocks con- 

 taining nearly 8 per cent. The rocks of 

 the Leucite Hills, Wyoming, described 

 by Whitman Cross, of the United States 

 Geological Survey, contain large per- 

 centages, certain of them carrying from 

 9.81 to 1 1. 91 per cent of potash (K 2 0). 

 The greensand marls of New Jersey, 



* Potash Salts ; Their Uses and Occurrence, 

 in the United States, 1910. U. S. Geological 

 Survey. 



