The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-11-30
PHOSPHATE MINING.
South Carolina's Marvellous Natural Pro-
luct--A Recently Developed Industry.
" Especial Correspondence

$2O93, ,OcS, and of this about s. per cent. is
phosphate rock. Visitors to the New Orleans
Exposition in 1884 and 1885 will remember a
pyramid formed entirely of this curious de-
posit It may now he seen at the spacious
hall of the state department Of agriculture in
Columbia, S. C., where it towers from base
twenty feet square to the height of thirty
feet. Long known to geologists, it was not
until 1867 that the commercial Importance of
South Carolina phosphatss was recog-
nized, yet more than 100000 tons
of the rock have been mined and shipped
since the peculiar industry was established.
A dozen land and twenty river mining COM
panies, now actively working, have 81 ,000,-
600 invested. During the three years, 1868,
1869 and 1870, only 10000 tons were raised,
90 per cent of which was land mining. In
1880 1885, 600 tons were produced from the
land mines and upwards Of 65,600 tons of
river rock. Last year the total output was
$4,000 tons, almost equally divided between
the two varieties Most of the river rock is
sold in Europe
It is officially stated that notwithstanding
the comparatively low price of phosphate
alone was more than three times as great as
the aggregate value of precious metals un-
earthed in the entire south in the same
period.
This remarkable deposit is found in beds
on the South Carolina lowlands running par
allel to the Atlantic seaboard and from eight
to fifty miles distant from the coast. It is
also roughly massed with fossil bones and
teeth in creeks and rivers. The nodules have
developed, on analysis, from S. to 62 per
cent of tricalcic phosphate and from to II
per cent. of carbonate of lime, with various
minor constituents. These phosphates form
tho basis of superior artificial fertilizers
largely consumed throughout the United
States and in foreign countries. Tho chem
ical working reduces the rock to powder of a
most insdious nature. In the manufactures
the men who are employed to pack this dust
into bags are compelled to wear handker-
chiefs bound across their mouths and nostrils.
South Cardinals phosphate mines are To-
Gated in Beaufort, Col!eton and Berkeley
counties What is known as the Coosaw
Mining company is the only river dredging
phosphate syndicate that has exclusive rights.
There has recently been much talk of
''pools" and trusts" among the river
companies, mainly with a view to pro-
tect the price of rock. The principal opera
tors in Beaufort county, besides the Coosaw
syndicate, are the Oak Point Mining COM
pany and the Sea Island Chemical company.
Next January the Port Royal Mining COM
pany will begin rock dredging.
The Cooper and Ashley river marls are
composed of minute shells, and their granu-
lar texture is frequently so compact that the
dark gray mass is suitable for building ma
teriaL Fragments broken from the irreg-
ular surfaces of these nlaris. rounded by
wave action, have become converted into the
nodules that are SO rich in phosphate Of lime.
The rock which is now extensively mined in
South Carolina is always found everything
the marl Much darker in color than the
land deposit, and palpably harder, the
water rock is found at dredging depth of
fifteen to twenty feet at the bottom of creeks
and rivers that are feeders of Port Royal
harbor or St. Helena sound. Land rock is
usually mined at Il depth of five to seven feet
from the earth's surface 1t varies greatly
in size of the nodules. Found in clay, mud,
sand or peat, it is marked with the fossil re-
mains of nlastodons elephants, deer, horses,
COWS and hogs; not inlbedded in the rock but
mingled with tho loose layers. Beautiful
specimens of sharks teeth, from two to four
inches long, are not infrequent.
Scientists have been mentally exercised to
account for tho changing Of mari which
originally contained GO per cent Of carbon
ate of lime and only or 4per cent. Of phos-
phate of limo into one which shows by analy-
sis So to GO per cent. of phosphate of lime,
and from to II per cent of carbonate OF
lime. In the exhaustive and deeply inter-
esting reports of South Cardinals state
board of agriculture, it is mentioned
ns noteworthy circumstance that
while the greater part Of eocene
1narls in that region have preserved their
constitution almost unchanged, very re-
markable mutation is observable at the be-
ginning and end of tho series, in the buhr
stone on the northern border, and in the
widely removed phosphate rock on the south
ern In the buhr stone the original carbon
ate of limo composing tho SHELLS has been re-
placed by si'cia, rendering huge masses OF
rock that cncc might have impaired valu-
able properties to the soil, worthless to the
asriculturst; while in tho phosphate belt
there has been curious but vastly beneficial
evolution.
Two theories arc offered for explanation of
the change from carbonate of lime to phos-
phate One of these theories assumes that
tho fragments of mari were charged with
sweepings from Guano beds formed above
them by consrcgated llocks of sea birds. But
no remains of birds have been found among
the other fossils discovered in these wonder
full beds. The other theory as to the forma-
ton of these rocks is that certain mollusks
have the power Of separating the phosphate
of lime from ocean water, and that through
their instrumentality the mari especially its
upper strata) became charged with phosphate
of lime. That the proportion of phosphate,
thus obtained, to the whole body Of the
superficial layers of mari was afterwards in
creased: First, by the removal of a consider
able quantity of the carbonate of lime rem
dered soluble by the percolation through it
of rain water containing carbonic acid, de-
rived from the decomposing vegetable matter
in the soil overlaying the marl Second, by
we'll known proneness of phosphoric
acid, when diffused, to concentrate
and to give rise to concretionary processes
similar to those strongly marked in the flint
nodulcs and pebbles Of English chalk. This
theory agrees with the difused occurrence of
phosphate of lime in the superficial layers of
the mari, cs well as with the fact that the
upper layers of the deposites and the outside
of the nodules are richest in phosphate. It
substitutes general cause for a local one,
commensurate at once with the wide area oc-
cupied by tho phosphate rocks and by the
phosphate marls of the south Atlantic coast
line
One ton per day of the rock can bo raised
by an ordinary laborer. lie is paid for this
work sls1. A royalty of 81 for each ton
mined is paid into South Carolina's treasury.
In 1883 phospla c rock was marketed at 50
per ton, but of late years lower prices have
ruled. Working one and one-haH hours on
the cbL and the same length Of time on the
foo.! tid:., at depth Of ten feet or more, tho
Coosaw divers earn as much as SIS week
raising river rock. This labor is neither un-
healthy nor perilous.
HENRY CLAY LlKESs.
Novel Form Of Lifeboat.
A certain line has furnished each Of its
steamers with two folding canvas lifeboats Of
the pattern invented by an English clergy
man. The boat is twenty-five feet long, il
double pointed, and is made Of oiled canvas
fastened to longitudinal elm wood ricks
which are secured to posts at either end. An
air space between the canvas coverings rem
ders the boat unsinkable There is u folding
bottom hinged in the center. The seats fold
upward when not in use. The beat weighs
$500 pounds, and will hold 100 persons.
Boston Transcript.
Belle-Introduce me to your Pittsburg
friend, dear. hate to see girl want all
the good things in life.