Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 2, 1930 Page: 3 of 4
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Wife—John, I'm ro disappointed.
John—What's the matter now,
dear ?
"Here it is your birthday and you
forget to bring me home a present to
give to you."—Stray Stories.
HOPEFUL
"Do you think your son will forget
all he learned at school?"
"I do hope so," replied the father.
"I don't see how he can earn a living
as cheer leader."
WORLD'S GREATEST SULPHUR
PLANT RECENTLY PLACED IN
OPERATION ON TEXAS COAST
<§
ft
Bf{Ahlu
CLOTIHI
FIT amo WEAR
Sold Bys-T. HI. BRANDON
\
j ■
FALL
Bargain Offer
A BEAUTIFUL WHITE HOUSE
ALARM CLOCK
—IN FOUR COLORS—BLUE, JADE, ROSE, MAIZE—
—AND—
ONE YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION
—TO THE—
Galveston News
-FOR-
$5.50
OR A YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION
WITHOUT CLOCK
—FOR—
$4.75
—REGULAR PRICE, $7.50—YOU SAVE $2.75—
-THIS OFFER EXPIRES DECEMBER 15th, 1930—
—PLEASE CHECK COLOR CLOCK YOU WISH—
By STUART McGREGOH
In The Dallas News.
Fourteen million dollars was a pret-
ty fair price to pay for a ton of sul-
phur, but that is what the Texas Gulf
Sulphur Company paid to place its
first ton of sulphur aboard a car re-
cently at the newly developed mine
on the salt dome near Boling, Whar-
ton County, Texas. Though develop-
ment of this property began in July
1927, and has been carried forward
as rapidly as possible Bince that date,
it was not until last month that the
first shipment went to market. And
the first ton was the product of an
investment of something like $14,-
000,000.
Here on the banks of the San Ber-
nard River in a thickly wooded re-
gion of the not-too-thickly settled
lower coastal plain space has been
cleared for one of the most notable
industrial developments of Texas in
the last few years. Newgulf is the
name of the little city of some 400
houses and 1,700 population, which
derives its existence entirely from the
greatest sulphur mine in the world.
Newgllf a New Town.
It is an amazing picture to the trav-
eler who drives along the newly paved
road through the setting of old Whar-
ton County and is suddenly swept in-
to the opening in the midst of the
thicket. Two smokestacks rear them-
selves more than 300 feet above the
coastal flats to furnish draft for the
fires which warm the 15,000-horse-
power boilers. Near by are fireproof
structures housing the executive offi-
ces and the laboratories. Beyond is
the village of neat cottages, above the
roofs of which rise churches, school
building, hospital and community
lodge. All of the streets are surfaced
with concrete or gravel, each home is
equipped with water, electric current,
gas and sanitary sewer. A golf course
is being laid out and clubhouse erect-
ed. Everything is bright and elcan.
There is no "industrial" smoke to
blacken roofs and walls and if one
wants an "industrial" smell he will
have to look for it. As one views the
scene from the upper story windows
of the lodge, the only reminder of
the old order in the community is a
weather-beaten church which stands
at the edge of the clearing.
This little village sits atop, or near-
ly atop, one of the most remarkable
sulphur deposits ever discovered. The
salt dome near Boling, which first
came into notice as an oil field, is
about three miles wide and five miles
long. On the south and east slopes of
the salt dome and sloping downward
from a depth of about 400 feet to about
2,000 feet is a sulphur deposit which
varies in thickness averaging some-
§
A
H
f?'
THE
Sulphur Industry
—Is One of Texas' Many Outstanding Assets. Three
Mines Produce Practically Ail of the Nation's Supply.
SULPHUR
IS INDUSTRY'S MOST ESSENTIAL COMMODITY
-Its Presence in Texas, therefore, Constitutes one of
the State's Most Attractive Inducments to the
Development of Industry Within its Borders.
Texas Gulf Sulphur Co.
"The World's Largest Producer of Crude Sulphur"
MINES
GULF, (Matagorda County,) TEXAS
NEWGULF, (Wharton County,) flK*
HEADQUARTERS *
Second National Bank Building
HOUSTON, TEXAS
winimriw
thing less than 200 feet.
As at other Gulf Coast sulphur de-
posits, the Frasch method of mining
is employed. This method of sulphur
extraction, so called from Hermann
Frasch, engineer who patented it in
1891, has been responsible for Up-
bringing of the world's sulphur in-
dustry to the Texas Gulf Coast. It
was first employed in the sulphur de-
posits in Calcasieu Parish in Louisi-
ana at the beginning of the current
century, but since the exhaustion of
the sulphur there it is employed ex-
clusively in Texas, which has a vir-
tual monopoly of the world sulphur
supply.
The Frasch Method
A well is drilled into and through
the sulphur deposit which is not solid
sulphur mixed into a honeycomb lime-
stone formation. Into this well three
| concentric pipes are sunk. Through
I the outside pipe superheated water is
forced down and out through per-
forations at the lower end of the pipe
into the sulphur-limestone formation.
As the hot water rises through the
porus formation, it melts the sulphur,
which, being heavier than water, sinks
to the pit at the mouth of the pipe.
Here it rises in a pipe contained with-
in the" hot water pipe. In the center
of the sulphur -pipe is still a smaller
pipe thru which air is forced into the
sulphur. This injection of air lightens
the column of sulphur and it is driven
to the surface of the ground by the
hydrostatic pressure exerted by the
water which is being forced into the
sulphur deposit.
Mountains of Pure Sulphur.
Above ground the molten sulphur
is conductcd to gathering "sumps"
which are saattered over the field
and from these sumps is pumped
through steam-heated mains to the
big vat at the shipping yards. These
big vats are huge "wooden enclosures
into which the sulphur runs, solidify-
ing as it spreads over the surface.
When the vat has been built to the
desired height, the framework is ta-
ken down, leaving a huge solid block
sulphur to glitter in the South Texas
sunshine. Two vats have been com-
pleted, each of which is 600 feet long,
200 feet wide and forty feet high. The
new vat is to be 1,200 feet Tong, 125
feet wide and forty feet high. At pre-
sent it has been built to a height of
25 feet. The sulphur is blasted by dy-
namite from the sides of the vats and
loaded into railroad cars with an elec-
tric shovel. This sulphur is above 99
per cent pure.
So much for the sulphur. There is
a valueless by-product, namely, the
water which has been used to melt
to the surface by a system of "bleed"
wells which are sunk into the cap rock
which lies immemdiately above the
sulphur deposit. The water rises to
the surface from the pressure exert-
ed from the boilers, and flows in a sys-
tem of canals to a central treating
station, where minerals are added to
divest the water of certain smelly
gasses.
At present the process consists of
agitating the water with air forced
into the bottom of a long vat while
the minerals are injected through
feed pipes, but a new process is to be
adopted by which gasses from the
furnaces at the power house are tc
be utilized to neutralize the gasses
in the "bleed" water. After treat-
ment the water, however, remains salt,
and it is conducted twenty miles to
tidewater in the San Bernard River
through a chanel excavated for this
especial purpose.
Forty Million Tons.
A number of core tests have been
put down here, and it is estimated
that there are 40,000,000 tons of sul-
phur underground, although just how
much is recoverable is not definitely
known. The probable rate of mining
for the present at least will be about
1,000,000 tons annually The boilers
which produce superheated water for
the mining process are fired with nat-
ural gas, but they are so equipped
that oil can be substituted in a few
seconds in event there should be a
failure of gas. The furnaces are set
up also for use of powdered lignite,
similar to the big power plant of the
Texas Power and Light Company at
Trinidad. It is said that engineers of
the power company assisted in instal-
lation of this feature of the furnaces
at Newgulf. The water supply is from
the San Barnard River. A 1,000,000,-
000-gallon reservoir with a surface
area of 280 acres has been construct-
ed and is kept filled by electrically
driven pumps.
Tax Problem Arises.
Incidentally, it may be said that
not all of the brimstone produced in
connection with the new mine has
been strictly q piineral product. Some
of it has been political. Shortly after
the company started erection of its
plfint » movement was started in
Whafton County to have the county
board of equalization levy an ad val-
orem tax upon the entire property,
including substantially the estimated
sulphur deposit under ground. It was
advocated that, the tax valuation be
placed at $100,000,000 to $t50,000.-
000. The total tax valuation of Whar-
ton County at the time was about
$17,000,000,
After considerable controversy the
valuation wias fixed at $9,000,000 on
the uncompleted plant. This year,
production having started, another
movement was started to levy a tax
upon a valuation very much in exces;-.
of the value of the physical properties
above the ground. The company con
tended that, since it pays ad valorem
tax upon its land and capital equip-
ment and is assessed a gross receipt ta.<
on its sulphur production, no other
burden should be imposed.
Finally the valuation was fixed a*
something above $13,000,000. The
matter became a local polical issue.
A warm race resulted in a victory
for the county judge and commission-
ers responsible for the valuation of
$1:1,000,000.
A New Tax Problem.
The action of the Wharton County
tax valuation raises a new compli-
cated question in a state where tax
matters are already complicated from
having been allowed to drift for half
It was not many years ago that Sicily1
had a monopoly of the world's sul-
phur supply but the Frasch method
of sulphur mining has centered the
industry at the salt-sulphur domes ofi
the Texas Gulf Coast. The first sul-'
phur mining in Texas was by the
Freeport Sulphur Company at Bryan
Mound in Brazoria County in 1913.
The company now mines sulphur at I
Bryan and Hoskins Mounds in Bra-'
zoria County. The Texas Gulf Sul-
phur Company began operations at
the salt dome known as Big Hill in i
Matagorda County in 1919. It was
organized by local capital but later
was taken over by Bernard Baruch1
and others who looked upon the en-1
terprise as a war measure. By the ■
time that production had been start-
ed, however, the war had ended and j
the company faced several panicky]
years, during which there was more |
sulphur on the market than was need- i
a century without any steps toward; ed. More recently market conditions
TAKE O.VE HOME
TONIGHT!
Complete with built-in
dynamic speaker
ONLY
a unified policy. Tax authorities agree
that those who exploit the natural
resources of the state should be made
to pay an adequate tax, but there
are some who think that policy which
is the equivalent of putting a levy on
resources that have not been utilized
and which may not be brought to the
surface for half a century—or possi-
bly never—would be ruinous to the
SO
let* tube*
have readjusted and the company
has prospered. The latest development
in Texas sulphur enterprise has been I
in Duval County near San Diego,'
where the Texas Duval Sulphur Com- j
pany has begun operations, shipping I
through the port of Corpus Christi.
It is significant that Texas holds
a virtual monopoly on one of the
development of other mineral resorces j most imP°> tant minerals in the rap-1
of Texas, such as iron and potash. idly exPan(linf? chemical industry of;
It would be hard to finance a com-!the worl(L The list of trials and j
articles into which sulphur enters, i
pany for such development if it were
known that the beginning of a mining
either in raw state or as sulphuric j
plant would immediately boost the ®cid' is to° long to rePeat- Somfi ofj
them are rayon, bleaching materials,
paper, the entire acid line, dyes, ex-1
value of the land holdings from, say
$50 to $2,000 an acre. The controversy
in Wharton County is only another
exartlple of the need of a unified tax
plosives, fertilizers, lubricating oils,
matches, paints, preservative of food,
policy in Texas which will let indus- ru^er products, steel, textiles and in-
try know just what tax burden it may | st'ct'c'c'es and poisons. Nearly all
expect before it begins development. Pre®en' sulphur production oi
An ad valorem tax upon actual in-1 T'exas 's either exported or shipped
vestment and an adequate severance
to Northern States. However, there
tax upon production is a policy fol-1is 8 mowing demand for sulphur by
lowed in many states and countries.
the industries of Texas. With its emor-
mous supply of raw materials, Texas
Texas First in Sulphur. j offers exceptional advantages for the
Texas is now producing more than chemical industries. In the future sul-
99 per cent of the sulphur of the phur should contribute materially to
United States and between 85 and 90! the upbuilding of a large chemical
per cent of the sulphur of the world, manufacturing industry in this state.
49;
PittLCO
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I
© D*. Pippw Ca
Dallas. Tcut. IW
AT IO-2 64 O'CLOCK
■M—11 win
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Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 2, 1930, newspaper, October 2, 1930; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth412090/m1/3/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.