Tenth Biennial Report of the State Depart
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STATE OF OREGON DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL INDUSTRIES I 069 State Office Building Portland I, Oregon BULLETIN No. 47 TENTH BIENNIAL REPORT of the State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries of the STATE OF OREGON July I, 1954, to July I, 1956 To His Excellency the Governor and the Forty-ninth Legislative Assembly ' . •. 1956 STATE GOVERNING BOARD MASON L. BINGHAM, CHAIRMAN • • • PORTLAND NIEL R. ALLEN • • • • • • • GRANTS PASS AUSTIN DUNN • • • • • • BAKER HOLLIS M. DOLE DIRECTOR TENTH BIENNIAL REPORT STATE of OREGON DEPARTMENT of GEOLOGY and MINERAl INDUSTRIES 1954-1956 CONTENTS Letter of Transmittal The Governing Board 2 The Department 3 Department Activities . 4 Services • 4 Office 4 Field . 5 Laboratory 5 Miscellaneous 7 Research • . • • 8 Oil and Gas Administration 10 Cooperative Work • • •• 12 Pub I ications and PubI ications in Progress 14 Personnel • . • • • 20 Financial Statement 21 Appropriations 21 Comparative Statements of Expenditures according to Bienniums . • • • • . • • • 22 Geology and Mineral Industries Account 24 Oregon's Mineral I ndustry . 25 Industrial Minerals • 25 Processing Plants 30 Metals •••..• 30 Electro-Process PI ants 34 Oil and Gas Exploration 34 Status of Topographic and Geologic Maps in Oregon 38 Maps Field Examinations • • . • . 6 Field Studies . • . • . 9 New and Proposed Mineral Industry Developments . • Opposite page 26 Sedimentary Basins in Oregon II II 34 Topographic Maps of Oregon . II II 38 Published Geological Maps 41 Published Geological Maps 43 MASON 1.. BINGHAM. CHAIRMAN, �OIITLAND 1038 PUI:aT STR&IIT NIEL R. ALLEN, GII:AttTS �As• AUSTIN DUNN. BAK•II GRANTS II'ASS STATE OF OREGON DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND MINERA L INDUSTRIES 10811 STATE OFFICE BUILDING POR TLA ND 1 To His Excellency The Governor of the State of Oregon and ta The Forty-ninth Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon Sirs: We submit herewith the Tenth Biennial Report of the Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, covering activities of the Department for the period from July 1, 1954, to and including June 30, 1956. Respectfully 1 �.-d��Mason L. Binghcm, Cha"firm;:::.._an- Portland, Oregon December 3, 1956 THE GOVERNING BOARD ' The Department of Geology and Miner al Industr ie s is administere d by a Governing Board of three member s. The st atute creat ing the De partment and estab lishing the Board st ate s that the me mber s shall be Oregon cit ize ns, sha.ll be appointe d for terms of four ye ars by the Gover nor su bject to approval by the State Se nate or the Se nate Mining Board Inter im Committee, and shall ser ve without compensat ion but be re imbursed for actual expe nses incurre d in the per formance of offic ial duties . Board meet ings must be he ld at least four times a ye ar. Meet ings during the biennium were he ld as foll ows: 1. Port land, August 21, 1954 2. Gr ants Pass, Se pte mber 18, 1954 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD 3. Portl and, December 11, 1954 ( C h apt e r 516 ORS) Have general charge and control of the Department. 4. Grants Pass, Mar ch 7, 1955 Have possess i on , charge, and control of all publica 5. Salem, April 11, 1955 . lions, equipment 1 and property of the Deportment. Select Director of the Department. 6. Portland, June 6, 1955 Couse to be published reports of Investigations and surveys. 7. Portland, July 9, 1955 Cause to be published a biennial report of Deportment 8. Baker, Se ptember 25, 1955 activities. Administer and enforce Oil and Natural Gas Con 9. Port land, De ce mber 12, 13, 14, 1955 servation law (Chapter 520 ORS). 10. Port l and, March 16, 19, 1956 May make contracts wHh Federal and Stale agencies. May receive gifts and legacies and make use oHhem. 11. Port land, June 30, 1956 Chairman of the Board is chosen by the members, and the Dire ct or of the De partme nt, who is se lecte d by the Board, serves as Se cret ary . Members of the Board and Gover nors appointing them since the be ginning of the De partme nt in 1937 are as follows: Member Ter m Governors appointing W. H. Strayer 1937-1946 Martin, Sprague , Snell Albert Burch 1937-1943 Martin, Sprague E. B. MacNaughton 1937-1 943 Mart in, Sprag ue 1946-1949 Snell S. H. Williston 1943-1947 Snel l Niel R. Allen* 1943-1960 Snell, Hall, McKay, Smith H. E. Hendry x 1947-1953 Snell, Mc Kay Mc Kay, Patter son Mason L. Bingham* 1949-1957 Austin Duim * 1953-1959 Patterson * Present members of Board. -2- THE DEPARTMENT The Department of Geology and Mineral Industries was established by the thirty ninth Legislativ'e Assembly with the Honorable Charles H. Martin as Governor. By July 1, 1937, a staff had been organized and operations were begun. Previous to this the State was without a separate mining or geology department except for the period 1911 to 1923 when a Bureau of Mines was operated in conjunction with the mining school at the State College. DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT A head office of the Deport (Chapte r 516, ORS) ment is maintained at Portland and Conduct geological and mineral resource studies. field offices are at Baker and Grants Pass. The assaying, chemical, and Carry aut ecanamic studies pertaining ta utilization spectrographic laboratories and the af mineral raw materials. accounting functions ore centralized Cooperate with Federal and other agencies in in the Portland office. Total staff, studies of value ta the State. in addition to the Director 1 consists of eleven technical employees, four Serve as a bureau of mineral and geological informa tion, compile and keep up-ta-date a mines catalog, full-time and two part-time clerical prepare ond publish reports of investigations, mineral employees, and three port-time student statistics, etc. workers. This compares with a full Conduct a State geological survey. time staff of six technical employees and three clerical employees in Collect specimens and develop a museum of mineral 1937; and ten technical employees, three and geological specimens, maps, and other objects representative af mineral industry' activities. full-time and three part-time clerical employees, and two part-time student Collect a mining ond geological library. workers in 1946. Make qualitative mineral determinations. The past biennium has shown a Study minerals ond ores as well as processes for marked increase in demands for Depart improved ore treatment. ment servic�s. This is due to several Make quantitative determinations of ores ond minerals. causes, the most important of which are: the intense search for uranium and other Make spectrographic analyses. metals I ittle known or understood a few Administer act regulating drilling, prospecting for, years ago but now vital to defense and ptaductian, and conservation of natural gas and industry; the accelerate search for oil oil (Chapter 520 ORS). d and gas within the State; the migration of industrial mineral suppliers to areas closer to their expanding markets as the result of population increases; and the newly awak ened interest of the layman in his surroundings. It is expected that these factors will continue t,o exert ever-increasing pressures on the Department in the coming years. If oil or gas is found the State in commercial quantities, it is quite likely a sizable increase in the Depart in ment will become necessary in order to adequately administer Oregon's oil and gas conservation law. -3- DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES . Department activities are described on the following pages under Services, Research, · Oil and Gas Administration, Cooperative Work, and Publications.' Although these headings outline the work of the Department, it shoul d be noted that separate divisions charged with these activities do not exist. Personnel of the Department must be expert in several or all of these technical activities. SERVICES A major responsibi l ity af the Department is to provide information on the mineral potential and mineral industry of the State as well as to answer inquiries concern ing a wide range of subjects relating to mineral occurrences and the geology of Oregon and other states. Although the largest number of inquiries comes from residents of the State, many are received from peopl e living outside the Stat�. Requests for information range from the school child carrying out a class project to an in dustrial organization pl.anning to establish in the Northwest. More identifications and more are other State agencies, Letters sent Mineral - Visitors - as well as County and City, relying on the Department for basic information concerning building sites, land evalu 25 PORTLAND ation, l andslide problems, and economic 14 OFFICE SERVICES planning. Research organizations re;,., tained for special studies find the Department an excellent source of 23 12 information. Federal Government departments and bureaus frequently make use of the Department's services. 2 1 !!! 1.0 ·!' OFFICE SERVICES -lS � !i ·S !!! f 1 The offices af the Department _g... ;; are a clearing house for information on C) � 1 9 ..'f 8 mining, mineralogy, the mineral in dustry, and geology of the State. During i' the past two years the most frequent in quiries have dealt with uranium, mercury, 17 6 and chromite prospecting, oil and gas investigations, and industrial mineral sources. The usual requests for informa tion on mining regulations relating to 15 4 · location and assessment work were aug BIENNIUMS mented by inquiries on changes in the basic federal mining laws and areas withdrawn from mineral entry . Many 1948- 1950- 1952- 1954- questions were asked concerning 1950 1952 1954 1956 specific mines, minera l localities in the State, and publications. -4- Requests are received through all usual fonns of office communication.