The daily gazette., 1881-12-20
LETTER FROM TIE SOUTH.
THE MYSTERY or THE PHOSPHATE
BEDS OF. SOUTH CAROLINA.
& pecial TO the Baltimore Sup.


peciai TO the Baltimore Sun.
SUMMRR WILLIE, 8. g., Dec. IA.
There is an industry Of this State
that, aside from It's great pecuniarJ
eturnf, possesses an interest equal &c
that only of the coal mine, and which
1t resembles in the respect that while
the coal mine is the storage of past
vegetation, more luxuriant and rank
Jhan we can conceive of, this is a
ca acomb whore untold billions of the
bones of an animal life that existe
here millions of year 8 before man was
lie buried in beds and strata 10 &c
feet below the present surface of the
ground. When one looks back and
sees how economic disco veries are
made almost as soon as the want ID
felt, it does seem like something more
than chance. Scarcity of wood as a
fuel discovered coal scarcity of bones
for fertilizers brought to light the vast
deposits of the bones of forms and
spesies now extinct, that ale found
between this place and Charleston,
twenty-five miles distant, and which
60 by the name of phosphate beds. y
A visit to one OF the most prominent
of the phosphate works, eight miles
belo. Sumneryille on the Ashley river,
was made to-day by a party OF Balti
more exhibitors of the Atlanta exposi-
tion, an account of which may not be
without interest. -l
Arriving by wagon at the shipping
point, where was the ''washer" and
Offices, we were cordially invited to
step on the engine Of the parrow gauge
road, and ride to the works, three
miles into the forest. The "works"
are in perfectly level, swampy pine
forest, the trees all bearded with the
long trailing moss so peculiar to
Southern scenery. With the under
brush IA scrub oak) cleared off it was
suggestive of picnic ground, while
the singing of the darkies at work
seemed to be in unison with the mur-
muring pines overhead.
In commencing Tor phosphate mining
the first thing to be done is to "sound"
the ground. This is simply driving an
iron Iod into the soft yielding ground
till 1t strikes something, aud that some.
thing is bones, always bones, for there
Is not piece OF stone as large as a hlck-
ory nut to be found anywhere. These
bones, although called "fossIl," are not
strictly so, for "fossil" would indicate
something TUNED TO stones. They are
preserved bones, with all the valuable
elements of other bones intact, henc9
their great commercial value. The
large bulk of the product are masses OF
undistinguishable forms, and 1t is only
the harder bones, such as teeth, that re-
tain their shape and color perfectly,
varying In size from one-sizteenth OF
an zach to the marvellous. What they
call sharks teeth, four inches wide ana
as many long, are quite common, while
We were shown the ivory, grinding
tooth of some herbivorous giant of the
past that was ten inches across the top,
and kneepans four and Eve inches in di-
ameter are not unusual.
1t was In 1865 that the value of these
deposits was discovered and mining
commenced. AT first their use was
gradual and their commercial value So
per ton; now their great virtues as fer
tilizer are known TO ,-lhe world, and,
Notwithstanding the improvements and
economies developed In The mining, the
demand has so increased that the price
is $40 per ton. Russia grows her wheat
fields with these bones and Egypt her
cotton, while the great fertilizlng Indus
try of our own city is dependent on .
constant supply Of these "fossil' phos-
pilates.
Where did they come from and
how does it happen that they are piled
in a,,nh InY lar nj IN fphs.
is question that the answer can only
bd guessed at, but that this place,
now twenty miles from the ocean, was
once an inland sea is unquestioned.
We took from the black mud that
overlies the phosphate deposits, oyster
shells as perfect as though shuoked
yesterday, masses of little smooth
round pebbles, sparkling with "Cape
May diamonds" and which were
rubbed SO regularly by the action of
the sea. Hence it follows the ground
must have been at one time raised up
OF elevated, and if it was done once it
may have been done many times.
Nine-tenths of all the bones toe are
those Of amphibious creatures. An
immense basin, as it were, may have
been gradually raised up and as the
water drained off, the creatures strug-
CLING for life would seek the deepest
parts till they become so thick that
they foundcred and perished. Now
you have mass of putreiaction, with
the bones sinking in the mud to form
the deposits, then form reverse
course or reaction, and before the
bones had time to decay sinking of
the ground took place; 1T was again
covered with water, from which the
heavy black mud which overlies the
deposits now dep sited, and which
acted as preservative. This mud is
SO clearly deposited from water that
one has only to look at it as it lies
there to be convinced. Unlike oldi-
nary earth, it is as fine as flour !;
pressed between the fingers 1t has no
grit at all, but is like we'll ground
paint,
Land that wae thought to be values
less except foI the pine timber, and
which could have been bought for FIVE
dollars per acre, now readily CONS
mands one Thousand dollars, and the
full extent of the deposits are only to
be guessed at. In Summeryille,
eight miles from any known deposits,
bones were found thirty feet below
the surface--a depth that ten dollars
per ton will not pay to mine. But the
demand is so great, and increasing,
that mnch higher price than ten
dollars is confidently predicted.