The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-09-09


rcited from our friends throughout she country.
The Phosphate Beds around Charleston
A Sepulchre Of the Ages.
We copy the following very interesting
letter in regard to the Phosphate beds
around Charleston from the Augusta Con-
stitutionalist
Mr.. EDITOR DOUBTLESS most OF your
readers have heard of the Charleston
Phospbates, but few, probably, have any
distinct idea of the nature and extent OF
the deposits thus designated, and brief
account of recent visit to. one of tho
mines may perhaps prove not only inter-
esting butinstructive.
A pleasant drive up Charleston Neck
a portion of the way over fine sheh
road, bordered by the fertile and cultiva-
ted truck farms, or market gardens, for
which that locality is noted, brought US
into the neighborhood of the Wando
Mines, situated ON the Ashley river, nine
miles from the city.
We first caught sight of the pictures
que works of the Wando Company from
an elevation of some twenty feet above
high water, whence the land slopes grad
ually to the river brink. Making our
way over ground already worked, we
come to tho open trench where some fifty
or sixty hands we're engaged with picks
and spades, laying bare the precious mug
gets not yellow metal, to be sure, or
even of gold bearing quartz, but of a
mineral destined to prove of more real
vaIuo to the State than all the precious
metals within her borders.
The stratum, which varies in thickness
from six to sixteen inches, crops out at
she margin of the river, but the opposite
end ofthe treuch which extends back to
the base of the hill. 1t lies perhaps eight
inches below the surface. The nodules
which the men were throwing out (popu-
hrly called phosphate rocks" and known
IN more scientific parlance as 'sconglome-
rates." "corproites" and "silicious boul-
ders'') were of all sizes, from that of a
nut to foot or more in diameter; irreg-
ular in shape, but bearing strong gener-
al resemblance to each other. water worn
and perforated in all directions with holes,
large and small A fresh fracture of one
these nodules discloses the forms of fossil
shells and bones similar to those found in
the mari bed below, and when broken or
rubbed together they emit feted odor.
They are embedded in sand and clay, in
some places packed very closely together,
and in others more sparsely spersed.
The bones and teeth of extinct animals
are occasionally thrown up with them.
The nodules are thrown into large heaps
as they are taken from the mines, whence,
after drying awhile, they are conveyed in
small cars, running on train-way, to the
washer; here by means of an ingenious
apparatus, driven by steam, the rocks are
thoroughly washed and thrown ont upon
platform, ready to be conveyed to the
wharf and shipped to the mandatory in
the city.
Such is rough outline (the principal
points only touched) 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 the
interesting character of this new source
Of wealth now opened to the State and to
tho whole South, it will be necessary to
The phosphate rocks, now proved sus
ceptible of being transmitted literal
" and directly into gold-but into cotton
and corn, and thus into greenbacks, have
been familiar not only to the planters
who turned them up in their cotton fields
the cultivation of which they obstructcd
but also to men Of science, for halt cen
tury at least; but no one till lately seem.
to have suspected their value. The marl'
in the vicinity of Charleston, however
wero known to be exceedingly valuable
on account Of the large per centage o
phosphate of lime which they contain
Fhe digging of these led to the discovery
of thas great bed of fossils known tt
geologists as the Charleston fish basin
and indirectly to an appreciation OF th'
phosphate nodules.
The phosphate bed underlcs large OK
tent of country. The stratum crops ou
on the banks of the Ashley, Ashepoc
and Combahee rivers, but is most heavi
ly developed on the frst-named. The
rock has been found forty miles inland
and it is estimated that in some instance.
an acre of land will produce 500 tons O
the rocks
In this region-the great Charleston
hasin-are found the most wonderful re
mains of extinct animals. There are
quantities of bones, mostly Of fishes ant
reptiles, many OF which were Of gigantic
size, such as the Mogalonyx and the Sau
rian. The bones and teeth of the shark
ora also nrmerous Soma of tho loator