OCR Text |
Show WATER FOR UTAH Although Utah has enormous salt reserves, production tonnages have not been great as compared to other salt- producing areas in the United States. Its 200,000 tons of salt per year represent about I % of the national total. However, the growth of the West has resulted in rapidly rising demands for salt for its food and animal industries and particularly for its expanding industrial structure, in a competitive sense, the solar evaporation- producing areas of California have an advantage over Utah, the salt from which must be transported to western markets by expensive rail hauls as compared with cheap water shipping methods along the coast. In long- range terms, however, the pressures for the use of existing solar evaporation basins along the West Coast for industrial plant sites may hasten the day when Utah's salt resources will become more indispensable to western industry than they now are. ... Limestone ... Limestone and its principal product lime has been known throughout history as a building material. Its use as a soil conditioner, to counterbalance excessive acidity, has made it most important to agriculture, although it must be noted that Utah's naturally alkaline soils do not require this type of conditioning. In chemical industries, it is the base for cement calcium carbide; a multitude of substances used in paper- making, the treating of animal hides; for high- grade steel; for the manufacture of soap, varnishes, rubber, refractories and many other products. The occurrence of limestone in Utah is widespread. Its principal use to the present has been in the cement industry, the purity requirements of which are not as selective as those of the chemical industry. However, limestone of chemical grade is available in Utah, in adequate quantities and in accessible locations. Its reserves are huge. ... The Industrial Plant... Aside from its metallurgical industries, which rank in the forefront of the nation's capacity, Utah's chemical industry has been barely developed particularly in terms of the State's incomparable resource base. At present, greatest activity is directed toward fertilizer manufacture, based on western phosphate rock, of which Utah's sulphuric acid and ammonium sulphate, byproducts of its metallurgical structure, will play an important part. But actually, relatively little is being done yet in the chemical utilization of the State's coal, sulphur, salt and limestone. The rapidity with which basic chemical industries will be developed in Utah depends on many complex factors. The chemical industry is a closely knit one, both in terms of the interdependence of technical operations and in terms of company organization. Its full development in almost any area, given availability of proper raw materials, usually follows the establishment of a few key units of the industry set up in relatively short sequence of time. Once a nucleus is established, the structure grows and diversifies rapidly. As previously noted, water and electric power are essential requirements in the building of chemical industries. It is quite probable that their sparse and relatively high priced supply in Utah has contributed to the undeveloped state of the State's chemical industries. The development of additional and abundant supplies, at reasonable cost, will be an immeasurable stimulus to the establishment of chemical plants. ... Production and Markets ... The last United States Census of Manufactures in 1939 indicated the relatively undeveloped status of Utah's chemical industries. There were 15 establishments classified as " chemicals and allied products, including liquified gases." These employed 359 persons receiving annually a total of slightly under $ 600,000 in salaries and wages. The value of the product was not quite $ 3,- 500,000. At the same time, it is quite probable that these data have been substantially surpassed during and since the war, but their level is far below what might be considered desirable. As for all of Utah's existing and potential industries, the expansion of the western economy has pressed and will continue to press for greater utilization of industrial resources wherever they are available in economic quantities and location. With its exceptionally rich resource base, given [ 66] |