Editing Asphaltite (section)

==History==
Asphaltite was discovered in the 1860s. By 1888 Samuel H. Gilson had started a company to mine the substance, but soon discovered the [[vein (geology)|vein]] was on the [[Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation]]. Under great political pressure [[United States Congress|Congress]] removed some {{convert|7000|acre|km2}} from the reservation on May 24, 1888 to allow mining to proceed legally.<ref name="uintah">{{cite book | last = Burton | first = Doris Karren | title = A History of Uintah County: Scratching the Surface | series = Utah Centennial County History Series |date=January 1996 | publisher = Utah State Historical Society | location = Salt Lake City | pages = 130&ndash;134 | isbn = 0-913738-06-9 }}</ref> Asphaltite mining became the first large commercial enterprise in the Uintah Basin, causing most of its early population growth.

Mining asphaltite during World War II was manual, using a six-pound pick, then shoveling the ore into 200 pound sacks, which were sewn by hand. 

Gilsonite-brand uintahite's earliest applications included paints for buggies and emulsions for beer-vat lining. It was used by [[Ford Motor Company]] as a principal component of the [[japan black]] lacquer used on most of the [[Ford Model T]] cars.<ref>Lamm, Michael; [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1997/4/1997_4_62.shtml ''How Cars Got Colors'']; Invention and Technology Magazine, Spring 1997, Volume 12, Issue 4.</ref>