350. Artificial Camphor.—Here is another trade secret. The genuine camphor is scarce. The artificial is made in England, shipped to Hamburg, and then re-shipped to England as the real article. Here is the way it is made: Pass a current of dry hydrochloric acid gas through spirits of turpentine cooled by a freezing mixture. The liquid deposits crystals, which are dissolved in alcohol and precipitated by water. The separated crystals are drained and dried. They are perfectly colorless, with an odor like camphor. At the ordinary temperature, its vapor tension is sufficient to cause it to sublime like ordinary camphor in small brilliant crystals in the bottles in which it is preserved. It is insoluble in water, and gyrates when on the surface of that liquid like true camphor.
351. Car Building.—Some day another Pullman will arise, but with developments in car building in a totally different direction. We quote from a recent magazine article: “The time is sure to come when a new railroad genius will arise and make an end of the game of brag between American general passenger agents. This reformer will probably substitute light and easily cleaned bamboo seats for those now in use; he will save a good deal of the money now spent in useless ornamentation, and spend it in better ventilation and lighting; and he is likely to design frames and trucks much lighter, and at least as strong and durable, as those which carry the average day car of the present time. It is possible, too, that he may accomplish a good result by lowering the center of gravity of the prevailing type of passenger car, thus preventing it from rolling at high rates of speed, and obviating the supposed necessity of placing two or three tons of old rails in the floor to keep it steady.” It is perhaps needless to say that such a man as Mr. Pullman or Mr. Wagner will become a multi-millionaire through this much-needed reform.
352. The Transverse Wooden Pavement.—One day the celebrated wit, Sidney Smith, was talking with some vestrymen of the church of which he was a member about laying a wooden pavement around the sacred edifice. “Well,” said the famous jester, “we have but to lay our heads together and the thing is done.” But here is a pavement which some capitalists will one day lay their heads (funds) together to produce, and it will be no joke. It has been ascertained that the most durable pavement is made from blocks of wood sawed transversely about twelve inches in thickness. The larger and smaller blocks are fitted together, the smaller interstices being filled with wooden wedges. Here is a chance for some enterprising firm.
CHAPTER XIV.
MONEY IN MINING.
The Earth a Vast Treasure-box—$300,000,000 from the Comstock Lode—A Short Story of Three Millionaires—Opportunities in Mica Mining—Fortunes in Salt Wells—$10,000 for Locating a Mine—Not a Cent of Capital Needed—The Gold Belt of the United States—Two Men’s Earnings with the Pan—What Michigan Boys are Doing—Big Dividends in Tin—A Man with an Income of $2 a Minute.
The immense importance which minerals play in our industries and the glittering fortunes made by delving into the earth, are faintly indicated by the fact that the output of last year aggregated the almost unthinkable sum of nearly $1,000,000,000. Profits in mining come mainly from four sources. The buying of mining lands with a view to sale, prospecting for the purpose of selling claims, placer-mining, and mining by machinery. Here are a few of the most promising roads to the earth’s hidden wealth.
353. Nevada Silver.—The Comstock lode produced in three years $100,000,000, of which $30,000,000 went for cost and working expenses, and $70,000,000 for profits. Altogether $300,000,000 have been taken from that celebrated mine. In the African mines there are sixty-nine companies. In 1896 the lowest dividend of any of these companies was 10 per cent., and the highest 350. In 1897 the lowest was 10 and the highest 500 per cent. The accounts of the way that such men as James Flood, James G. Fair, and William Sharon obtained their wealth from silver mines reads like the fascinating story of a popular novel.
354. Aluminum, the New Mineral.—“The product of aluminum in the United States,” says a mining expert, “should be three million pounds in 1900.” The present price is from thirty-five to fifty cents per pound. It is found chiefly in Georgia and Alabama at the foot of the Appalachian system, but there is no known reason why it should not be discovered in other parts—the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
355. North Carolina Mica.—In the mountains of North Carolina are found the best mica dikes in the United States, but the methods of mining are crude and bring small profit. Here is an opportunity to make a vast fortune by the producing of mica with machinery such as is used in extracting other minerals.
356. Kansas Zinc.—Zinc is a mineral which has a great future. It is being used largely in place of tin. There are many zinc mines, and especially in the Western States, as yet undeveloped. One acre in Galena, Kansas, produced $250,000.