Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-03
DIGGING UP MAsTODoNs.
Big Chunks GrappIed Oh theBottoins OF
Southern Rivers and Ground INT"
Bits.

Big Chunks GrappIod on theJ0ttoms OF
! Southern Rivers and Ground INT"
Bits.
From tie Nelo York Sun.
"Gosh that's goodw a cheerful gentle
man in a downtown Office remarked
whenever q breeze strayed in at the door
and went out at "a window that bad been
/ left open for the purpose. lie threw his
feet upon his desk, explaining that they
were his feet aud he could throw them
/ Just where he liked, and, rufIlng his wins
kers with his fingers so that the breeze
might work its way through them, said ;
| It's hot, but it isn't as bad as ii was IN
( South Carolina last Sunday. was down
there three days last week for mastOdons
in the bottom Of the Ashley river. What
do you think Of tnatY picking up g.
gantlc mOlar that weighed about eight
pounds, and was grayish black in color
and halt petriNed.
"H0w would you like 10 own a tooth
like that and nave IL acheg II they did
ache when they belonged to the masto-
/ dOns, there must have been fine hOWllng
down there ia the swamps, for I've seen
whole bushels OF just such teeth taken out
OF the rivers, aud there are tons Of them
there still And IL lent mastOdons alone
that you find, but chunks OF tltanOtheTi-
ums, dinoccrasee, telioste, zeuglOdOns,
hipparions, InegalOmeryXes- whenever
you get enough say when-ch~r0pota-
muses., pWbrotheliums-"
Nv hemp
"Why, in the tertiary period. And If
you dig little deeper think you would
find pterodactyi, megalosaurs, glypto-
dOns-"
when! When"
"What do you keep saying when for ?"
"Because l'ye heard enough"
"Ob!"
Are many persons engaged in these
mnesY"
81 should say 80. There are four or five
big companies, and ever SO many little
ones"
"All digging up mastodonsW
"H es, sir; not for the sake OF the mastO-
dOns, but for the phosphate that the mas
tOdons are mixed up in. Bless you, they
dom stop to pick out mast0dOns and
piece them together. They throw the
whole product into crushers and smash
it up, and when it is ground it sells from
So to $40 II ton for iertlization.
Many q farmer is spreading dosiccated
mAst0dons and arcbHopteryXes around
his cOrnheld and potato patch mastOdons
and arch2opteryxes that were-ah!-
sleeping the stony sleep Of centuries"
"Whenv
"Unul quite recently. This phosphate
business Is a new thing, but it's big one.
Why, sir, there are-let me see" and he
pointed his nose at the middle Of the cell
ing and shut his eyes until he remember
ed that there are 100000 tons Of those
South Carolina phOsphates dug up every
! year The supply seems t0be ineXhaustible.
! "a nj fs-saf IN
/ for twenty-five years more. Do you see
that Photographic That's the gun that is
used in catching mastodons.7
The photograph showed something that
looked like "A Wilted iron tulip dangling
from the end Of 81 stem of rods and chains.
A man stood beside tho tulip 10 show That
/ is six iron petals were as long as he, and
that before IL Was full blown he could easl-
ly have sat inside the bud had there
/ been any way of getting in.
/ "Fhars drop grapple. These phOs-
/ phate beds stretch along the coast OF
/ North oad south Carolina. aud some OF
/ them are found in Alabama aud Florida.
/ rhUy cover miles OF low country, and are
i technically divided into land and river
/ rock The land rock is found on shora,
/ and is mined by cOlOred men with picks
/ and WheelbarFOws, assisted by dipper
dredges. The river rock is crust of
/ phosphate, six 10 twelve inches thick,
/ that forms the bottom Of a number OF
/ streams. tits especially rich in the Beau
fort, Stone aud Ashley rivers Sometimes
there are two strata Of phosphate, with a
thick layer of mad or clay between. This
+ phosphate, you understand is almost
/ wholly composed Of organic remams-the
/ bones, flesh and waste of nobody knows
I how many animals. Whether this was a
\ big feeding ground Of theirs, whether they
! were mired ia sWamps there, whether
1 wei, the fact is, nobody knows how they
/ came thore. The phosphate, when il
! Gomez out Of the river, is gray, porous,
/ Water-worn rock. and looks like rotten
! sandstone. The smell OF IL is vile, but the
/ worse it smells the richer it Is.
That drop grapple has pointed blades.
1t weighs fourteen tons, and when il is
! dropped on the river bottom it knocks a
! hole IN the layer of phosphate. Then a
/ l5O-horse power engine Fuckers IL up, 50
! that il takes a globuiar shape, the blades
/ folding up together and holding the phOs-
| phate that IL has ioosened. II is raised
swung over boat, and empted into the
! boat. There the phosphate Is washed, %
I take out the sand, and il is sometimes
/ loaded aboard ship, chiefly for export to
/ England, but it IS more commonly turned
/ into "a crusher that takes a rock as large
as your body and bites II up into pieces
not much bigger than your fist. Il ia wash.
ed again and dried, and then IL is ready
for shipping. Ii ID sold chiefly US IA ferti-
/ iizer, but il is also sold to chemists, who
/ extract ph0sphoric acid from il for dye
I stuis and thiug8 Ike that. The phOs.
1 phate miners pay to the state Of South
/ Carolina a royalty OF 81 a tou--not foI
every ton dug, but for every one shipped
but they are not getting poor for all that
I and as % south Carolina, there's a nice
! little pium-balf a million year-falline
into her mouth without raising dnger x
| pick II. The only machinery that viii pull
that stuff out OF the water il made in this
! country. one company spent 500, 900 tUl
| down there a crew of Scotch sailors wer,
! packing It into the hold Of an Engllsl
] alnnmer 20 tnke hnck. Amnricnn mnchin