Peer Reviewed Article
Potash Discovery at McSweeny-McNutt #1 Commemorated by Roadside Marker
Peter Smith, CPG-11539
The discovery of potash in Carlsbad NM will reach a 100-year anniversary in a few short years. Potash was discovered in Carlsbad in 1925 by V.H. McNutt, a geology graduate of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (now Missouri S&T). At the time, McNutt worked for the Snowden-McSweeny Oil Company, Fort Worth, Texas. He was looking for water in Artesia, north of Carlsbad, where he found oil. His search for oil then took him 23 miles east of Carlsbad, NM. Two oil drillers drilling on a permit held by McNutt drilled to a total depth of 4,416 feet. They found no oil or gas, but instead discovered a light pink to dark red salt. Analysis of the samples confirmed a high percentage of sylvite. This serendipitous discovery marked the beginning of a potash boom in the Permian Basin of southeast New Mexico.
bar (Barker and Austin, 1993). New Mexico produced 83% of domestic potash and 27% of domestic consumption in 1992. Fertilizer used 95% of U.S. production; 5% was used in chemicals. The potash industry of New Mexico produces
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sylvite (KCI), langbeinite (K2SO42Mg(SO4)2) and artificial K2S04. Sylvite grade in New Mexico decreased from 20-25% K20 in the 1950s to about 14% in 1992. The average grade of langbeinite (first produced in 1940) remained constant at
8-10% K20 (Barker and Austin, 1993). Potash in colonial America was made by leaching hardwood ashes in large iron pots. The first patent in the US was signed by George Washington in 1790 for the production of potash. Justin von Liebig’s mineral fertilizer theory, based on the principles of plant nutrition, reformed agriculture during the mid-1800’s, as he was the first to discover that potash salts in the soil were an essential plant food. Leading up to WWI, Germany held a virtual monopoly on potash salts and was the primary source of potash for the US. In 1915, Germany placed an embargo on potash. Potash was designated a strategic mineral in the US.
Based upon the samples collected from McSweeny-McNutt #1, McNutt immediately began acquiring land rights for explo-
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ommercial potash occurs in the middle or McNutt Member of the Salado Formation (Upper Permian Ochoan Stage). The pot- ash distribution in the Salado is asymmet- rical, suggesting a reflux model related to a bar-restricted marine embayment with dense brine underflow toward the
ration. His wife Amy was responsible for core storage. The Snowden-McSweeney Co. formed the American Potash Co. in 1926 but later changed its name to U.S. Potash. U.S. Potash began sinking the first shaft in 1929. However, after the stock market crash of October 1929, U.S. Potash was turned down for further financing by J.P. Morgan and was forced to sell half its stock to Pacific Coast Borax. The first shaft was then completed in 1931.
The 1930s saw many new potash mining companies in Carlsbad. U.S. Potash opened a second shaft in 1932. The Potash Company of America began production in 1934, the same year a moratorium was placed on new potash leases. The moratorium was lifted in 1944 at a time when US Potash doubled its production and supplied all potash for the Western Hemisphere and Great Britain. The boom in produc- tion continued well into the 1950s, which ultimately led to overproduction. In 1951, the Duval Sulphur and Potash Co. started production. In 1952, Southwest Potash Corp. began production and the Joy Continuous Mining (JCM) Machine was brought on-line. The National Potash Company started up in 1955 and U.S. Potash and Pacific Coast Borax merged in 1956. Overproduction, combined with higher grade ore and newer, more efficient mining equipment in Saskatoon, Canada ultimately led to the shutdown of US Borax operations in Carlsbad in 1967. The mine reopened in 1974 as Mississippi Potash and operates today as Intrepid Potash. Union Potash and Chemical Co., formed in 1936 and known through the years as International Minerals and Chemical Corp. (IMCC), is in operation today as Mosaic.
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