Junk
For twenty-five years Fred Schwartzwalder's hobby had been collecting rocks. Weekend after weekend he had roamed the Rockies, bringing home new samples for his collection. After his basement was filled to capacity he started building a rock cairn in his backyard, which grew larger and larger with each passing year.
Then came 1950 and the growing public interest in radioactive minerals. Amateur geologist Schwartzwalder bought a Geiger counter for $100, after months of hard saving from his earnings as a high school janitor.
"The day he brought his counter home," says "Time" magazine, "he poked it around his backyard rock pile. Immediately, the Geiger counter began to jitter excitedly, but when Fred located the radioactive rock and dug it out, he could not remember where he had found it. For three months he retraced his steps through the hills until at last, on a Sunday afternoon, he discovered the spot where he had broken off the sample from an outcropping on Indian Head Mountain."
That was a memorable afternoon. The Geiger counter went wild and the happy explorer felt sure he had found a major source of uranium. He had. After many difficulties he managed to transport several tons of the ore to the government processing plant in Salt Lake City. Three weeks later he learned from the AEC that he had hit upon "one of the most significant hydrothermal-type deposits" in the United States.
Schwartzwalder's uranium has already brought him $125,000
(this was in
1955) , with prospects of millions more. That long-forgotten
rock in his back yard has made him wealthy beyond his
wildest dreams.
It is amazing what riches are sometimes found close at hand. It is said that the first diamond of the famous Kimberly mines was picked up outside somebody's home and thought to be a pebble. And nobody needs a Geiger counter to lead him to the greatest treasure of all--the Holy Bible.
Through this Book men are led to the Rock of Ages, the Source of power immeasurable and wealth incalculable--yet free for all. Fortunate indeed are those who discover this guide to eternal riches in their home.
By Arthur S. Maxwell, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1955. With permission from Dale Galusha dalgal@pacificpress.com