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A Natural Soap Mine

A Natural Soap Mine image
Parent Issue
Day
29
Month
August
Year
1879
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

On Smith's Creek, Elko county, Nevada, there is a most remarkable stratum of steatite resting horizontally in a steep bluff of volcanic matter which flanks the eastern sideof Smith's Creek valley. The stratum of steatite is f rom three to ten feet in diameter. It is easily worked and is a veritable soap mine. In fact the farmers, cattle men, and sheep herders in that regiĆ³n all use the natural article for washing purposes. Chemically considered tlus peculiar clay is a hydrated silicate of alumina, magnesia, potash, and lime. When the steatite is flrst dug from the stratum it looks precisely like immense masses of mottled Castile soap, the mottling element being a small percentage of iron oxide. The Virginia (Nev.) Chronicle says that a firm in Elko have undertaken to introduce this natural soap into the market. It is similar in appearance to the Castile soap sold in large bars. Nothing is added to the mineral but a trifle more alkali and some scentmg extracts. lts detersive qualities are as powerful as those of any manufactured soap.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus