THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF NEVADA 529 
 
 Stone.—Stone output was more than 600,000 tons below the 1966 figure,
due chiefly to a much lower demand for use in highway and flood control projects.
Public works contractors and maintenance crews quarried basalt in Lyon County
for riprap and roadstone, granite in Churchill and Clark Counties for riprap,
and decomposed granite and miscellaneous stone for base material in Clark,
Douglas, Elko, Lyon, and Washoe Counties. Limestone comprised the largest
percentage of all stone produced. In Clark County, The Flintkote Co. quarried
limestone for use as metallurgical flux, and in refining sugar and making
glass and lime. Nevada Cement Co. quarried limestone in Lyon County for its
cement plant, and Nutritional Additive Corp. in Pershing County for agricultural
use. Morrison & Weatherly Chemical Corp. in White Pine County quarried
limestone for its lime plant. Marble was quarried in Mineral County by Sonora
Aggregates Co. for terrazzo and in White Pine County by Western Marble, Inc.,
for floor tile. Dimension quartz and quartzite were quarried in Clark and
White Pine Counties for building stone. The Castle Rock quarry, Elko County,
was the source of high purity quartzite shipped to an Oregon ferrosilicon
plant. Basic, Inc., Nye County, obtained quartz from a company quarry for
use in making refractories. Southern Pacific Co. used stone from its 
 
 
Table 12.—Stone l production in 1967, 
by counties 
 
County 
Short tons 
Value 
Churchill          
Clark             
45,000 
W 
$27,900 
W 
Douglas           
Elko              
Eureka            
40,143 
28,608 
36,115 
54,776 
70,216 
65,007 
Lander            
1,300 
50 
Lyon             
Mineral           
W 
350 
W W 
Nye              
Ormsby           
Pershing           
Washoe           
W 
42,940 
W 
32,483 
W 
34,352 
W 
27,541 
White Pine         
W 
55,380 
Other counties     Total        
1,147,623 
1,809,724 
 
1,374,562 
2,144,946 
 W Withheld to avoid disclosing individual company confidential data; included
with "Other counties. 
 1 Includes stone used in cement and lime. 
Palisade quarry, Eureka County, for railroad ballast. 
 
 Talc and Soapstone.—All talc and soapstone production came from three
deposits~ two talc and one soapstone, in Esmeralda County. In the Goldfield
area, two producers worked the Wellington talc property and Chas. Pfizer
& Co., Inc. mined soapstone at the White Top deposit. Cyprus Mines Corp.
produced and shipped talc from its Oasis mine near the California State line.
In the same area, exploration and development was in progress on the Hideout
claims, but the White Mule deposit was idle throughout the year. Production
and sales dropped more than 50 percent from 1966 figures. All shipments were
made to out-of-State grinding plants. 
 
MINERAL FUELS 
 
 Peat.—Production of reed-sedge peat from a bog in the Amargosa Desert,
Nye County, was down 50 percent from that of 1966. Before yearend the producer
had shut down the operation and abandoned the property. The entire output
was prepared for use as a soil improvement agent. 
 
 Petroleum.—The Nevada Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued 11
drilling permits in 1967, three more than in 1966. Two wells were drilled
at the Eagle Springs oilfield, Nye County. Texota Oil Co. drilled a well
that was completed to production on the southwest flank of the field. The
pay zone was at a depth of 7,146 feet, several hundred feet below the pay
zone of the wells to the easi. A completion report was not available at yearend
on a test by Western Oil Lands, Inc., about 1,200 feet west of the Texota
well. Western deepened a well on the eastern edge of the field and drilled
an exploratory well over a mile northeast of the nearest oil production.
Both wells were abandoned as dry holes. Four other exploratory wells were
drilled in Nyc County, all by Gulf Oil Corp., southwest of the field. All
were dry holes. Three exploratory tests in White Pine County also were abandoned
as dry. Harry Riggs and Tenneco Oil Co. each drilled in the westcentral part
of the county and Dwight M. Ross, Jr., in the south-central.