Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-12-07
PHOSPHATE MINING.
South Carolina,s Marvellous Natura, Pro-
duct-A Recently Developed Industry.


South Carolina's Marvellous Natural Pro-
duct-A Recently Developed Industry.
Especial Correspondencel
New YORK, Nov. l9.-Within seven years
the annual value Of South Carolina's mineral
has increased from s1,37l $3.50 to
32,O93, ,02S and Of this about IS per cent. is
phosphate rock. Visitors to the New Orleans
Exposition in 1884 and 1885 will remember
pyramid formed entirely Of this curious de-
posit. It may now be seen at the spacious
hall Of the state department of agriculture in
Columbia, 8. c., where it towers from base
twenty feet square to the height Of thirty
feet Long known to geologists, 10 was not
until 1867 that the commercial Importance of
South Carolina phosphates 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 "a, ,OOO,-
900 invested. During the three years, 1868,
1869 and 1870, only 900 tons were raised,
90 per cent. of which was land mining. In
1880 900 tons were produced from the
land mines and upwards of 65,6OO tons of
river rock. Last year the total output was
1873 900 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
rock, during 1887, the value of this product
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. 1t is
also roughly massed with fossil bones and
teeth in creeks and rivers. The nodules have
developed, on analysis, from IS to GO per
cent. of tricalcic phosphate and from 5 to II
per cent of carbonate of lime, with various
minor constituents. These phosphates form
the basis Of superior artificial fertilizers
largely consumed throughout the United
States and in foreign countries The chem
ical working reduces the rock to powder of a
most insidious nature. In the manufactures
the men who are employed to pack this dust
into bags are compelled to wear handker-
Gated in Beaufort, Colleton and Berkeley
counties. What is known as the Coosaw
Mining company is the only river dredging
There has recently. been much talk of
apools' and 'strusts" among the river
companies, mainly with view to pro-
foot <l,ov <,f Nl,o
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 mails are
composed of minute shells, and their granu-
lar texture is frequently SO compact that the
dark gray mass is suitable for building ma
teral. Fragments broken from the irreg-
ular surfaces of these marls, 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 depth of five to seven feet
from the earth's surface. It varies greatly
in size of the nodules. Found in clay, mud,
sand or peat, it is marked with the fossil re.
mains of mastodons, elephants, deer, horses,
cows and hogs; not imbedded in the rock but
mingled with the loose layers. Beautiful
specimens Of sharks teeth, from two to four
inches long are NOT Il. ereuI1ent
Scientists have been mentally exercised to
account for the changing It mari which
originally contained 60 per cen::> of carbon
ate of lime and only 8 or per cent Of phos-
phate of lime into one which shows by analy.
sis IS to 62 per cent of phosphate of lime
and from to II per cent. Of carbonate 81
lime In the exhaustive and deeply inter.
esting reports Of South Cardinals state
board of agriculture, it is mentioned
as noteworthy circumstance tina!
while the greater part of eocene
marls in that region have preserved theil
constitution almost unchanged, very re-
markable mutation is observable at the be-
ginning and end of the series, in the buhl
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 lime composing the SHELLS has been re
placed by SILICA, rendering huge masses Of
rock, that once might have impaired valu.
able properties to the soil, worthless to the
agriculturist; while in the phosphate belt
there has been a curious but vastly beneficial
evolution.
Two theories are offered for explanation Of
the change from carbonate of lime to phos
phate. One of these theories assumes that
the fragments of mari were charged witt
sweepings from guano beds formed above
them by congregated aocks 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
tion of these rocks is that certain mollusk,
have the power of separating the phosphate
of lime from ocean water, and that through