Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-07-15
DIGGING UP MAST0DONS,
For Fertilization, Not in tho
Interest OF Science,
Big Chunks Found in Southern Rivers,
and Ground into Bits,

gentleman in downtown Office re
marked whenever breeze strayed in
at the door and went out at q window
mat mad been left open for the pur.
pose lie threw his feet upon his
lesk, explaining that they were his
feet, and he could throw them Just
where he liked, and ruflling his whisl
GERS with his fingers so that the breeze
might work its way through them
said: ats hot, but it isn't as bad as il
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
that| picking up a gigantic molar
that weighed about eight pounds, and
was grayish black in color and half
petrilled.
GLOW would you like to own a tooth
like that, and have it ache2 If they
did ache when they belonged to the
mastodons, there must have been q
Tine bowling down there in the
swamps, for I've seen whole bushels
of just such teeth taken out OF the
rivers, and there are tons of them
there still"
"Are many persons engaged in
these mines?"
Il should say so, There are four or
live big companies, and ever so many
little ones"
"All digging up mastodons"
"les, sir; not for the sake Of the
mastodons, but for the phosphate that
me mastodons are mixed up in. Bless
Sou, they don't stop to pick out mas
Fodons and piece them together. They
throw the whole product into crush
yrs and smash it up, and when it is
ground it sells for from six to fifteen
dollars ton for fertilization. Many
farmer is spreading desiccated mas
todons and archnopteryxes around his
2ornlleld and potato patch mastodons
and archropteryXes that were-ah
sleeping the stony sleep of centuries"
WWhenw
until quite recently. This phos-
phate business is a new thing, but it
is Il big one. Why, sir, there are-let
me see" and he pointed his nose at
the middle of the ceiling and shut his
eyes until he remembered that there
are 100000 tons of those South Caro-
ina phosphates dug up every year.
The supply seems to be incxhaustible.
at least they can go on at the present
rate for twenty-five years more. DO
you see that photograph? That's the
gun that is used in catching masto.
IONS"
The photograph showed s-mething
that looked like wilted iron tulip.
dangling from the end of a stem of
Gods and chains. A man stood besids
che tulip to show that its six iron net.
ais were as long us he, and that before
it was full blown he could easily have
sat inside the bud had there been any
way of getting in.
"Thats II Topographic. These
phosphate beds stretch along the coas,
of North and South Carolina, and some
Of them are found in Alabama and
Florida They cover miles of low
country, AMI are technically divided
into land and river rock. The land
rock Is found on shore, and is mined
by colored men with picks and wheel.
barrows, assisted by dipper dredgeS
The river rock il crust of phos.
phate, from six to twelve inches
thick, which forms the bottom of
q number Of streams. 1t is espcc.
tally rich in the Beauford Stonto, and
Ashly rivers. Sometimes there are two
strata of phosphate, with Il thick layer
OF mud or clay between. This phos
phate, you understand, is almost Who'll
ly composed OF organic rcmains-the
bones, flesh and waste of nobody
knows how many animals. Whether
this was big feeding ground of theirs,
whether they were mired in swamps
there, whether-well, tho fact is, no
body knows how they came there.
The phosphate, when it comes out of
the river, lisa gray, porous, water worn
rock, and looks like rotten sandstone
Tho smell of it Is vile. but the worse
it smells the richer it is.
"That drop grapple has pointed
blades 1t weighs IA tons, and when
it is dropped on the river bottom it
knocks a hole in the phosphate. Then
a ljO-hcrse power engine Fuckers il
up, 50 that 1t takes a globular shape,
The blades folding up together and
holding the phosphate that it has loos
nned, 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 Eng.
and, but it is more commonly turned
INTO crusher that takes a rock as
age as your body and bites it up into
pieces not much bigger than your
list. 1t Is washed again and dried,
md then it is ready for shipping. 1t
$ sold chiefly as fertilizer, but it is
llso sold to chemists, who extract
acid from it for dye stuhs
md things like that. The phosphate
miners pay to the State of South Car.
lima, royalty Of 81 a ton--not for
very ton dug, but for every one
hipped-but they are not getting poor