The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1869-12-08

Fro,p tde Auyasta Constitutiondiist ]
A Sepulchre Of the Ages.

distinct 1Qch or th0 nature and extent
Of the deposits thus designated, and o
hrief account uf q recent visit to one
Of the mines may perhaps prove not
only in,oros,ing'but instructive.
A pleasant drive up Charleston
Neck "a portion Of tho way over fine
shell-road bordorod by the fertile and
highly cultivated truck farms or mar.
ket gardens for which that locality is
notod---brought us into the neighbor-
hood of the Wando mines, situated on
the Ashley River, nine miles from the
city.
Wo first caught sight of the pic
turesquo works of the Wando Compa-
ny, from an elevation of some twenty
feet above high water, whence tho
land slopes gradually to the river
bank. Making our way over ground
already worked we came to the opon
trench where some forty or fifty hands
were engaged with spades, picks and
forks, laying bare tho deposit and
throwing out the precious nuggets
not of yellow metal to be sure or even
Of gold-bearing quartz, but Of mine
raj destined to prove of moro real
value to the State than all the pre-
cious metals within her borders The
stratum, which varies in thickness
from six to sixteen inches, crops out
ut the margin of the river, but at the
opposite end Of the trench, which cx-
tends back to to the basc Of the hill,
it lies perhaps ten feet below the sur
face. The nodules which the men
were throwing out, popularity called
"phosphate rocks" and known in moro
scientific parlance MS "conglomerates,"
"coprolitcs" and ssilicious bouldcrs,"
were Of all sizes from that of hicko.
ry nut to foot or more in diameter !;
irregular in shape, but bearing q
strong general resemblance to each
othcr; water-worn and perforated in
all directions with holes, large and
small. A fresh fracture of one of
those nodulcs discloscs the forms Of
fossil shells and bones similar to those
found in tho mari bed below, and
when broken or rubbed together thoy
emit fotid odor. They arc embed
ded in sand and olay, in some places
packed very closely together and in
others moro sparsely intersperscd.
The bones md teeth Of extinct ami
mails are occasionally thrown up with
them.
The nodules are thrown into largo
heaps, as thoy are taken from the
mines, whence after drying awhile
they are conveyed in small oars, run
ming on tram-way, to tho mill
Hero, by means of an Ingenious ap-
paratus (invonted believe by Mr..
Dotterer, the Company's efficient Su-
pcrintendent) driven by steam, the
rocks are thoroughly washed and
thrown out upon platform ready 10
be conveyed to tho wharf and shipped
10 the manufaotory in tho city.
Suoh is a rough outline (the prinoi"
pal points only being touohed) Of
what saw on the occasion referred
to at that particular spot. TO give
the reader an idea of the magnitude
and Importance as we'll as tho interest
ing character Of this new source Of
wealth, now opened to tho State and
to The whole South, it will be nccessa-
ry to take more general Wow of the
subject.
The phosphate rocks, now proved
susceptible of being transmitted
literally and directly into gold but
into cotton and corn and thus into
grconbacks, hayo been familiar not
only to tho planters who turned them
UP in their cotton folds, the cultiva.
tion of which they obstruoted, but
also to men of science, for half cen-
tury ut least; but no one till lately
seems to have suspected their real
value. The marls in the vicinity of
Charleston, however, we're known to
DO exceedingly valuable on account
of the largo percentage Of phosphate
Of lime which they contain. The
digging of these marls lcd to the dis
oovery of that great bed Of fossils
known to geologists as tho Charleston
Fish Basin and indirectly to an appro-
citation of the value of the phosphate
nodules.
The phosphate bed undeslies large
extent Of country. The stratum
crops out on the banks Of the Ashley,
Ashepoo and Coinbahee Rivers, but
is most heavily developed on the first
named. tits estimated that in rare
instances anacre Of land will produce
500 tons.
In this region the grsa. Charleston
Basin- are found the most wonderful
remains of extinct animals. There
are acres of bones, mostly of fishes
and reptiles, many of5whioh. were Of
gigantic size, such as the Mammoth,
tho Megetherium, tho ,Megalonyx and
the Saurian. Tho bones aud teeth Of
the shark arc also numerous. Some
tof the latter, perfectly preserved, are
OF enormous size, weighing from two
TO two and half pounds, and as large
asa mans hand. Side by side with
these are teeth and bones Of the horse.