Gilsonite

The term "Gilsonite"is popularly associated with a shiny, black, solid hydrocarbon which is found in commercial quantities only in the Uinta Basin. Other "rock asphalts," somewhat resembling Gilsonite, are also found in this region. These are called Grahamite, Elaterite, Ozocerite, and Wurtzilite, but Gilsonite because of its purity and the many ways in which it can be utilized has proved to be the most valuable of all these related hydrocarbons. Gilsonite was first discovered about thirty years after the founding of Salt Lake City, by a party of pioneers who had settled in the valley country lying south of the Uinta Mountains. This region is now spoken of as the Uinta Basin and is a part of Uinta county. These early settlers were seeking only favorable conditions for farming and stock raising; they were not interested in the possible mineral resources of the region and made no effort to exploit them. However, soon after their arrival, their attention was called by the Indians to a peculiar black substance that out-cropped from the rocks in numerous places in the basin. Thinking that it was coal, they attempted to burn it in their stoves. The result was disastrous; the stuff, instead of burning to an ash, as they had expected, melted and clogged up their grates with a thick, tar-like substance. The thought probably never occurred to them that at some future date this black, tarry-like bitumen might be used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, electrical insulation, inks for rotogravure, and molded articles such as switch handles, mouthpieces for telephones, etc.