Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1881-08-11

from CQ6 clGJ. w iedouou GuSiu A.y
taking the morning train on the S.
C. P. R., to station just opposite the
works, and four miles distant. These
four miles were quickly driven in q
splendid double buggy, behind pair
of spanking trotters. Our friend
John "centrolled the ribbons" and
as we sped like lightning through the
beautiful forest, the tall trees, draped
in dark moss, saluted US gracefully.
John prides himself on his driving;
he does drive fast and as he looked
sour that morning, and is larger than
either tie Major or myself,through fear
alone we loudly praised him, but at a
distance we do not hesitate to say
that as driver Blind Tom would
ou,rank him, as every stone and
stump in three feet of the road will
testify.
1.-The works" with its vast machin-
cry, four miles Of iron railroad, store
houses. stockade, and other necessary
outbuildings, presents the appearance
of busy and prosperous village.
The "pits" extend out for several
miles, and as it is here the work COM
mences, We will go there at once, and
follow it up. The rhosphates, con-
sisting of phosphate rock and phos-
phate bones, are foundin strata which
extend outward from the river tor
some distance and are situated from
two to five feet, and often at a greater
distance from the surface of the
ground, while occasionally they are
found Immediately on the surface.
They are from a few inches to several
feet in thickness. To ascertain wheth-
er the rock exists in convenient
depths from the surface, and in sutil'
cient quantities to juatity mining, the
soil is probed by sounding rod.
The locality for operations being de-
termined upon, the work commences
bv assigning each miner a pit five by
twelve feet in extent. Where free
laborers are employed, they receive
for mining each pit from 90 to %
cents perpendicular loot, earning cas-
lily from 81 tc 81 25 per day. Upon
one side of the pit the earth is thrown
ont until the rock is reached, which
is thrown upon the opposite side. So
much soil adheres to the rock that at
a casual glance it seems to be clods OF
dirt, without any apparent value.
This rock is now thrown into the
dumps, and conveyed by horse power
along the railroad until it reaches the
washer, when it is dumped into box
some twenty feet in length ,through
wmc6r D 1sFge cylindlcally shaped
shaft revolves horizontally. This
shaft is set with great number O.
immense fat iron teeth, which are 80
arranged-atter the manner Of threads
on a scrrw-as to lie constantly NOV
ing the Inass Of rock slowly towards
their place of it. In the meantime
The same steam engine which serves
to keep this part Of the machinery in
,notiol-, also operates powerful force
pump which distributes the water
through various apertures in the pip
ing, and at points equally distant
along the shaft, at the rate Fifteen
hundred gallons rer minute, so that
the rock receiving this tremendous
force and volume Of water is, by the
time it leaves the washer, as clean as
if each piece had been boiled and
sand rapered. 1t is now thrown into
the common pile, and awaits the ar
rival Of some boat, which landing at
the company's private wharf, not
more than one hundred yards dis
tant, is quickly loaded by dumps run
nng npon an inclined tram road re-
Gently built by Captain Bellinger, Of
your town. The boat delivers the
rock TO the grinding mills: which like
the mills Of the gods "grind slowly,
but exceedingly small Here we
lose sight of it until spring, when it
comes to our farmers in the shape Of
guano, creating the biggest rual and
the greatest stencil on earth.
Besides the free laborers employed,
Messrs. Cahill 4 Wise have nearly
hundred State convicts, who, it must
be said in justice to these gentlemen,
are well treated, we'll fed and clothed,
we'll physiced, and moderately work
ed. They look lat and hearty. There
is no sickness amongst them, and ac-
commodations for their wants and Sc
curity are most ample. A stockade
constructed by plank and pickets
eighteen feet high, encloses a build
ing of sufficient capacity t. -omiorta.
bly, accommodate more than TWO hun
dred persons. 1t is well ventilated
with twentyfour large windows filed
with sash, and, in winter, is heated
by a large heating stove. A cooking
stove, Of dimensions sufficient Tor $50
people, cooks their rations, ard a
stream Of water, issuing from we'll
through the force pump, runs contin-
ually il trough through the nclo-
snre a five acre garden. under the