Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-22
MASTODONS CAUGHT
WITH A eRAPPLe, ON THE BOTTOMS
OF SOUTHERN RIVERS
For Fertilization, Not Science Big
Chunks Fished Up and Ground into
Bits -An Insight into the
Phosphate Business.
New YORK SUM-


New YORK SUM-
SITS hot, said cheerful gentleman in Z
downtown office "but it isn't as bad as il
was in S5uth Carolina last Sunday. Iva
down there three days last week for masto
dons in the bottom OF the Ashley river.
What do you think of thatl' picking up I
gigantic molar that weighed about eigh
pounds, and was grayish black in color ant
half retrified
How would you like to own a tooth Liz,
that and have it aches II they did ach,
when they belonged to the mastodons, thers
must have been a fine bowling dow
there in the swamps, for I've seer
whole bushels Of Just such teetl
taken out Of the rivers, and there are ton
Of them there still And it isn't mastodons
alone that you lind, but chunks Of titanoth
eriums. dinocerases, teliosts, z,uzlodons
hipparions, whenever you
get enough. say neutrality-suspicious.
Cebrotheriums-'
"When.'
aWhy. in the tertiary period And il yor
dig Little deeper, mink you would finc
ptero lactyl, msgalo'aurs, glyptodons-'
"Wheni When!
Oar
Are many persons engaged in these
minesf
Il shoull say So There are four or five
big companies, AMI ever so many little
ones
All digging up mastcionsP
YES, sir; not for the -aks o. the masto
dons. but for the phos plate that the masto
dons are mixsi up in. Bless you, they dom
stop to pick oat mastodoas AMI piecs then
together. They throw the whole product
into crushers AMI smash il up. and when il
is ground it sells for from So TO SIS ton fol
fertilization. Many farmer is spreading
desiccatei mastoions and archHopt ryxe.
aroun1 his corntis!d AMI potato patch
mastodons and archie Jpteryxes that were
ah!-sleeping the stsny sleep of centuries
This phosphate business is a new thing,
but ITS big one. Why, sir, there are--let
me see, and he pointe1 his nose at the mid
die Of the ceilin, and shut his eyes until he
remembered that "taers ara $4,000 ton, of
those South Carolina phoSphates dug w
every year. Tn, supply seems to lie mex
haustible. At least they can go on at the
present rate for twenty -tive years mora. Do
you sea that photograph That's the gun
that is used in catching mastodons.'
The photograph showed something tina
looked like q wilted iron tulip dangling
from the end Of stem Of rods and chains.
A man stood beside tle tulip to show that it;
six iron petals were rs long as he, and that
before il was full blown he could easily
have sat inside the bud had there been any
way of getting in.
"That's u drop grappls These phosphat,
beds stretch along ths coast of North and
South Carolina AMI ,ons Of them are
found in Alabama AL Florida They cover
miles Of low country, AMI are technically
divided into land AMI river rock The
land rock is found on shore, AMI is mine
by colorsd men with picks. AMI wheelbar
rows, as-iitei by dipp.r dredges. Tho river
rock is crust OF phosphate, six t.
twelve inches thick. that forms the bottom
Of number OF streams 1t Is especially
rich III the Beaufort, Stono, and Ashley
rivers Sometimes there are two strata OF
phosphate, with a thick layer of mud Of
clay between. This phosphate. you under
stand, is almost wholly composed Of organic
remains-the bones, fish AMI waste II no
body knows how many animals. Whether
this was big fee ling ground of theirs,
whether they wero Elired in swamps there
whe iher-well. the fact l., nobody know:
it comes out Of the river, Is q gray, porous
water-worn rock, and looks like rotton sani-
stone. The smell of it is vile, but the worse
il smslls the richer it Is.
That drop grapple has points1 blads S.
1t weighs fourteen tons, AMI when it is
dropped on tho river bottom it knocks a
hole in tn, ls:er of phosphate. Then 49,
horse power engine FUCKERS it up so that it
takes globu!ar shape, the blades folding up
together and hol ling the phosphate thu. it
has loosenad 1t is raised, swung over \
boat, and emptied INTO the boat There the
phosphate is washed, to take out the sand,
and it Is sometimes loaded aboard ship,
chiefly for export to England, but it is more
commonly turned into a crushcr that takes
n rock as larg, as your body and bites it
up into piece; not much bigger
than your fist II is WASHED again
AMI dried. and then it l. really
for shipping. 1t is sold chiefly as fertiliz r.
but it S also sold to chemists, who extract
pho'phoric acid from it for dye stuff, and
thing, like that. The phosphate miners pay
TO the state OF South Carolina a royalty OF
81 ton-not for every ton dug, hut for
every one shipped-tut they arc not gettin,
poor for ali that: AMI a to South Carolina,
there nice little plum-sjJo .00) n year
falling into Ter mouth with u: raising a
finger to pick it, The only machinery that
will pull that stuff ont # the water Is male
in this country. One company spent $50 =
90 for a Clyie-msde dreiSe. but when |
was down there crew of Scotch sailors
were packing II into tho hold OK an English
steamer to take back American machinery
does il INV bly every time