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Show 604 HISTORY OF EMERY COUNTY. these tall steeples are fifty miles distant and present most striking' figures and characters. The stone is of a sandy formation containing many alkaline mineral substances and gradually wastes away with the years of exposure to weather changes, and many picturesque figures are formed by the remaining piles or pyramids of cemented stone. No section of the Great Rockies contains such vast and inexhaustible deposits of coal as are found near the base of the Wasatch mountains. Some of the outcropping veins are thirty feet in width, and many prospects measure four feet or more on the surface. The supply is beyond even an estimate, as the veins extend for miles through the canyons and along the base of the mounIf a railroad was constructed through the valley within marketable distance of the now undeveloped coal fields, thousands of trainloads of the very best fuel could be placed upon the market at prices that would astonish the most conservative promoter. This valley then offers a virgin field of development for every manufacturing enterprise that can be successfully planted in the Great West. Marble of the finest quality lies uncovered yet in its native condition, in great quantities in the Cedar mountains. Gold, silver and copper have been discovered in the bluffs of the San Rafael, and one company, under the management of J. E. Browning, has sunk a 600-foot shaft in prospecting for precious metals. The work, it is reported, has not been in vain, as excellent returns have been received, and the company continues its operations in fond expectation of finding something of great value. Among the other metals and minerals abounding in the different sections of the county are: Alum, sulphur, gypsum, asphaltum, magnesia, salt, kerosene, lithographic tains. |