194112-DesertMagazin.. - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

We must have weather
-whether or no Mln&i and
Human nature is stranger than
almost anybody.
People look askance at other
people, and other people look it
right back at them.
One group is sure that the other
group's point of view is blurred by
a bad case of astigmatism.
•
One outstanding instance of contra-conduct
may be found on the
western shores of America.
Out here, warm currents skirt
the coast with the result that summer
comes in the winter when we
really need it.
•
Oo when the climate gets 3 to 4
feet deep back yonder, Easterners
flock west to welfare themselves in
sand and sun.
By the same talkin', those who
live in the mild west get all bound
round with a woolen thing and
set out for the mountain heights.
Whether it's ice or whether it's
snow, they must have weather
whether or no.
•
.Because of this cross purpose condition,
6,000 Touring Bureaus have
been established on the Pacific
Slope.
These Bureaus are manned by
Shell Service Station Dealers. The
Men in White can show the summer
seeker the way to get hot —
they can also tell the winter sportsman
just where the mountain stage
is set for skate and ski.
Which ever way migratory motorists
are bound they need only stop
at the Sign of the Shell. Shell
Sellers will guide them on their
respective ways with neatness and
dispatch.
— By BUD LANDIS
McDermitt, Nevada . . .
Nevada's newest quicksilver producer, the
Cordero mine, is treating an average of 75
tons of ore daily and expects to step its operation
up to 125 tons as soon as the new
$125,000 plant is in perfect running order.
D. Ford McCormick is superintendent at the
Cordero. which is a subsidiary of the Horse
Heaven company.
• • •
Tucson, Arizona . . .
Arizona bureau of mines at the state university
here has released a bulletin entitled,
"Tungsten Deposits in Arizona," by Eldred
D. Wilson. The text not only gives detailed
information as to the known tungsten deposits
in the state, but describes the many
tungsten ores. It is designed as an aid to
prospectors in the field.
• • •
Hawthorne, Nevada . • .
Contract has been let to the MacDonald
Engineering company for the construction of
a $3,000,000 calcining plant in Gabbs valley
30 miles north of Luning. The plant will
ship magnesium oxide in concentrated form
to the new Las Vegas plant for actual manufacture
of magnesium metal.
e • •
Bishop, California . . .
The 1.000-ton plant of the U. S. Vanadium
corporation near here has replaced the
Nevada-Massachusetts mill 34 miles west of
Winnemucca, Nevada, as the largest tungsten
producer in United States, it was announced
recently. The California mill is said
to have a reserve supply of scheelite to keep
the thousand ton plant in operation for 30
years.
a • •
Elko, Nevada . . .
California capital has been made available
for the development of beryl deposits found
in the Nevada mica property 60 miles from
this city, according to W. E. Culver, manager
and one of the owners. Culver said he had a
contract for all the beryl he can deliver. This
mineral occurs in pockets in the mica deposit,
and the tonnage available is still problematical.
• • •
Goldfield, Nevada . . .
Los Angeles men, including George Pepperdine,
are reported to have taken a lease
on 220 acres of alum and potash ground in
the Lone Mountain field. The property is
owned by Nevada Potash and Chemical company.
A 250-ton refining plant is planned at
the deposits.
• o •
Virginia City, Nevada . . .
Sierra Nevada, Ltd., operators of the
Cedar hill property on the old Comstock
• lode have increased the capacity of their
plant to 1000 tons daily. The enlarged plant,
when finally completed, will be the largest
operating on the Comstock. Overburden assays
from 75 cents to $2.00 a ton and instead
of being removed is to be mixed with
the mine ore and put through the mill.
• • •
Winnemucca, Nevada . . .
Milling operations at the 400-ton ore
plant of Consolidated Goldacres mining
company 30 miles south of Beowawe was
scheduled to be ready for operation by the
first of December. The company is said to
have 500,000 tons of $6.00 ore in sight.
Phoenix, Arizona . . .
Charles F. Willis, secretary of Arizona
small mine operators association, reports that
the Metal Reserve company, a subsidiary of
R. F. C. has about completed arrangements
for establishment of a manganese buying
station at Phoenix. Only ore of 40 percent
or more content will be accepted at the purchasing
stations, and in lots of 100 tons or
more. The 100 tons may be delivered in
smaller lots, payments made when total is
reached. This method saves brokerage
charges. There are manganese deposits in
Arizona where ore of 40 percent or better
can be mined with little or no cobbing.
• • •
Las Vegas, Nevada . . .
A large deposit of Pearlite, used as insulating
material, has been located by Thomas
Schofield north of this city. Pearlite is a form
of volcanic obsidian which gets its name
from its color. At approximately 1800 degrees
temperature it explodes and changes
color to white. Extensive tests are being
made of the local material.
• • •
Provo, Utah . . .
Defense Plant corporation, a federal
agency, has agreed to advance $35,000,000
for the construction of a two-furnace pig
iron plant here with capacity of 750,000
tons annually, according to officials of the
Columbia Steel company, subsidiary of U. S.
Steel.
• • •
Winnemucca, Nevada . . .
Getchel mine, Nevada's largest gold producer,
recently shipped five tons of arsenic
to an eastern destination. Arsenic formerly
was a waste product, but through the installation
of a Cotrell precipitating plant it is
now being recovered and may become an important
by-product of the mine. One of the
uses of arsenic is in the manufacture of
poison gas.
• • •
Douglas, Arizona . . .
Expansion of the Phelps Dodge Morenci
copper mining operations which would increase
the annual output from 75,000 to
135,000 tons, is under consideration here.
The federal Defense Plant corporation would
provide $28,000,000 of the $63,000,000
needed to boost the output.
• • •
Vernal, Utah . . .
Uncle Sam's ace-in-the-hole, if other
sources of fuel oil should be obstructed, is
an area of 26,000 square miles of oil shale in
Utah, Colorado and Wyoming capable of
producing a barrel of oil from the average
ton of shale, according to findings of the
Utah school of mines and engineering. Utah
has 8,000 square miles, Colorado 6.000 and
Wyoming 12,000. Federal and state funds
amounting to $400,000 were expended over
a period of 18 years in determining the extent
of these shale deposits.
• « •
Sacramento, California . . .
Setting the highest record in gold production
since 1856, California produced $50,-
234,000 of yellow metal in 1940 according
to the report of State Mineralogist Walter
Bradley. Quicksilver production jumped
from 11,201 flasks worth $1,102,563 in 1939
to 18,907 flasks worth $3,209,754 in 1940.
Increased production was reported for practically
all minerals in the state.
36 THE DESERT MAGAZINE