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Natural Soap.e) uho* f iKnU'rpriso, Virginia City.iIn Nevada an' several deposits ofmineral soap. -One of these has!]been worked for three or four years.The soap is sometimes jnade. upinto cakes as it. comes from themine, but usualiv it is toned down♦by a mixture with other soaps. In Dakota and Wyoming an* also de-% ’Pposits of natura 1 soap. In regions where soda, borax and mineral oils I j’ abound it is onlv necessary to i i bring these ingredients toyet her ! ^and a so.sp mim* is the result. : Hot springs assist/ very materially inuniting and concentrating the ma*tl1o4V*]a1I\terials provided by nature.. Thesoap found about hot springs is therefore generally harder and more perfect than that produced in N the dry Jakes. The waters of Owens and Mono lakes arc so thoroughly saturated with borax !and soda in solution' that the ad-i dilion of anv oleaginous matter■ i j| produces soap. The waters of Mote.) lake produce myriads of grubs (which after a time become llies) ] v which are washed ashore, and in ■some places cover beaches a foot or ! two iii depth. Tiie oily matter contained in the grubs or llies united with the alkali in the water of tlu*blake forms a deposit of soap an inch or two in thickness each year. Thus in the course of ages a deposit of natural soap of great depth has built up on the east side of the alkali lakes where the worms, arc stranded—the prevailing winds holing from the west. These peculiar grubs being the only living thing found in the waters of Mono andOwens-lakes. At certain seasons ! an insectivorous duck, called the spoon bill, frequent these lakes,andI feeding upon the aequatie llies and l grubs become so fat, that they can • hardly fly. Hunters kill these i spoon bill ducks for their oil, as tin !grub oil which they feed imparts lojj ‘them a fishy taste so strong that they cannot be eaten—except by ; Indians, who eat both worms and •’ducks. Ducks killed by hunters and lost are sometimes found in the waters of the lake. Ail the leathers are eaten oil the. fowls by the alkaline solution, and-the layer of fat beneath the skin (an inch in thickness) is found to be changed 1 to soap, hard as the best Castile, and beautifully white.It(
Newspaper Details
South Riverside Bee
South Riverside, California, US
Thu, Jan 24, 1889
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Dean T.
USA 10 Dec 2022
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