OCR Text |
Show the United States was $ 4,764,950,000. The value of the coal, oil and gas produced represented more than one- half of this amount, the remainder being divided between the metals and the non- metals, and the value of the non- metals exceeded that of the metals by nearly 30fo. This is due to the importance of the clay, cement, stone and sand and gravel industries, each of which, in 1930, exceeded 100 million dollars in annual production value. Although each of these industries is well established in Utah, the principal expansion of the non- metallic industry will doubtless be in connection with the production of chemicals, fertilizers, and other minerals produced which can be exported to and sold at a profit in the middle west and on the Pacific Coast. In the manufacture of such products, large amounts of electrical energy are used. Therefore, the prerequisite for the establishing p> f such industries is the availability of electrical energy at a cost comparable to that at which it may be obtained at Niagara Falls, Tacoma, Washington, or Hoover Dam. In addition to electrical energy will be needed sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. The raw materials required in the production of these two acids, sulphur and salt, are new available in any quantity needed. Maintenance of productivity of our farm lands requires fertilizers. As raw materials for their production, are the phosphate deposits in northern Utah and southern Idaho which outcrop over extensive areas. Moreover, the alunite deposits in the vicinity of Marysvale, which are large potential sources of alumina, also carry large quantities of potash bearing material. In drilling for oil near Thompson, Utah, a great quantity of material was drilled through containing magnesium chloride in sufficient quantities to warrant it being considered as a commercial source of potash. Finally we have, in the Great Salt Lake Desert, just west of the lake, one of the largest areas of potash- bearing salt in the nation. Nitrogen production is now largely coming from the air. Consequently the factors governing its production are demand and low cost electric energy. One of the rarer metals now very necessary in the production of alloys and especially for aircraft purposes is magnesium. Associated with the potassium chloride which occurs near Marysvale and with the brine solutions of the Great Salt Lake, is magnesium chloride. During the late world war, chemists learned that this brine solution contains nearly twice as much magnesium chloride as potash. Recovery of this valuable material is dependent on low cost power. In short, there is available in Utah, from the standpoint cf'the manufacturer, all the essentials except low cost electric power, for the establishing of a chemical or any other industry, namely: 1. A satisfactory and efficient supply of labor. 2. An abundance of raw material* 3. An abundance of low cost fuel. With the coal and with the amount of water available, that is necessary when electro energy is produced from steam pewer, a mathematical calculation will show that one of the low cost power producing centers of ~ 9 - |