Asbestos deposits were mostly in Western United States. Canadians mined far more asbestos than we did 100+ years ago. It is interesting to note that some of the asbestos deposits were found within Native American reservations.
Arizona Has The Most Promising Deposits Of Asbestos
Arizona is the most extensive producer of asbestos in the U.S. although its output of spinning fiber is not large as compared with that of Canada. The growing interest taken in Arizona fiber by asbestos manufacturers in the United States is encouraging. The total quantity of asbestos sold in the United States in 1919 was 1,002 tons, of which 420 tons came from Arizona where there are two promising areas, one in the Grand Canyon and the other about 40 miles northwest of Globe. The route to the deposits in the Grand Canyon has recently been changed, and a small output was made in 1919. Part of the output was sold to customers in America, and the remainder was sent to Japan. Nearly all the asbestos mined in Arizona however comes from the region northwest of Globe, where the Arizona Asbestos Association, on Ash Creek, and the American Ores & Asbestos Co., in the Sierra Ancha at the head of Pocket Creek, are the principal operators. A number of smaller producers and shippers considerably increased the total output in 1919.
Thus far asbestos has been mined only in the western part of Arizona asbestos field, on Ash and Cherry creeks, and in the Sierra Ancha. The formations that contain asbestos lie nearly flat and extended eastward into the Fort Apache and San Carlos Indian reservations where asbestos mining is not yet permitted, although steps have been taken by the Government to make these deposits available to meet the needs of the country. A party sent out by the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior is now examining these deposits to determine their availability as a national resource. Two valuable deposits of asbestos on Indian lands are already known, one on Cibecue Creek, in the Fort Apache Reservation, and the other in Bear Canyon, in the San Carlos Reservation.
Georgia ranks next to Arizona in quantity of asbestos produced, but the fiber is of very low grade. The grade of the fibre from California is better, and the mineral is more abundant there, so that the general outlook for production in the United States appears to be good.
Source: The Copper Era and Moronic Leader. Newspaper. August 06, 1920.
