AMERICANS ADVANCE IN POTASH PRODUCTION 
35 
Borings were begun in 1837, salt was encountered in 1843, and 
shafts were sunk between 1851 and 1856. Disappointment 
ensued, because ''bitter salts’’ and not rock salt, were found. 
But the value of these "bitter salts” as a source of potash was 
soon recognized. Frank, a sugar chemist, worked out a method 
6f10RT TOm 
300000 
200000 
too 000 
Fig. 1. Imports (open rectangles) and domestic production (shaded rec- 
tangles) of potash (K 2 O) in United States 1904-1918. 
for extracting potassium chloride from the mixed sodium-potas- 
sium-magnesium salts, and the first factory was erected in 1861. 
From that time until 1914 Germany monopolized the world 
trade in potash. 
The extent of Germany’s exports of potash to the United 
States is shown in the accompanying diagram (fig. 1). Although 
