The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-10
BORING INTO FLORIDA.
THE BIG PHOSPHATE EXCITEMENT
STILL KEEPS Up.

Phosphate Fields and Florida Being
Bored Full of Notes.-The Chemists
Making Fortunes Out ofthe Prospec-
tors-Theories as to the Origin of the
ACCOMPLISHMENTS Capital Taking
Hold in the Peninsular State.
Excitement in Florida over the phosphate
discoveries is at its hight now. People from
all over the country are going there to in
vestigate the extent of the riches of the
phosphate deposits Allof the big fertilizer
concerns are represented by experienc ed
chemists, and Florida is being thoroughly
bored into. Dunnellon, the little township
twenty miles south Of Ocala on the Silver
Springs, Ocala and Gulf railroad, has the only
phosphate bad developed, but there are I'M
mistakable evidences of others which
may be as valuable as the Duunel.
Ion bed Savannah fertilizer concerns are
well represented. The Baldwin Fertilizer
Company is operating the beds at Dunnel-
Ion, and Dir. Joseph Hull has just returned
from an extended visit TO Florida. The
following extract from the Ocala Daily
Banner Is interesting:
"Col. I'm NJ Martin, who owns a large
the'state, near aud TO the east OF Martin,
in this county, has been induced by the in
terest centering in phosphate lands to make
a careful examination of his tract, and
greatly to his satisfaction finds in sinking
a fourteen foot shaft and drilling seven feet
more solid deposit of phosphate, which
analyses rs per cent. We congratulate Col.
Martin upon his rich find, and the people Of
Martin who are embarking on the full tide
of phosphate prosperity"
THE EXCITEMENT INCREASING.
A MORNING NEWS reporter had talk
with a gentleman who has been in Florida
for the last three weeks. and he gives al in
teresting account OF the situation down
there. When the announcement that valu-
able fertilizer was TO be obtained in Florida,
and which surpassed the South Carolina
fertilizer, all eyes were turned toward
Florida. Large fertilizer concerns sent
representatives there at once and the ex-
perjments began. A prospector would
propose to the owner Of land in the
neighborhood where the phosphate was
known 10 exist to pay $50 or 800 for the
option Of tract for which he pledged him
self to give $50, 900 or 100000. If after a
continuous boring it was seen that the land
did not possess the phosphate, the prospector
would pay the owner the stipulated sum for
plan Of working, the gentleman said,
has played out The owners OF lands
have become too sharp to allow any more
such practices, and they force an actual sale,
or else try 70 develop the lands themselves
Up to a short time ago, the only sign of
phosphate was south of Ocala and in the
neIghborhood Of Dunnellon, but the con-
tinuous diggi & all over the state mas evil
denced the fact that there are other valuabls
beds. just TO what extent the phosphate
exists, anywhere in the state except at Dun
mellon, however, the gen.lemal said is not
known, and the true condition cannot now
be arrived at. The expense of sinking wells
and determining accurately the presence
and amount Of phosphate is too
burdensome for the majority of
land owners, and they are going at
1t slowly. But they are at work To begin
with, the gentleman said, an owner has got
10 fluid out first where the phosphate exists,
then be begins boring. If he is fortunate
enough t. strike bed, he is still ignorant
as TO rs coug Sc or the extent of It. He is
compelled to keep on digging until he ascer.
tains the direction of the vein and the depth
of the phosphate.
ONE ACRE BooMs ONE HUNDRED ACRES.
1t is estimated, said the gentleman, that
a single acre Of solid phosphate viii mako q
The Florida phosphate is regarded as hav.
ing the highest percentage Of any in the
United States, not excepting that found in
South Carolina The South Carolina phos
phate averages only about 81 per cent. and
the Florida phosphate from Is to so per cent
1t is also said that the South
Carolina beds are not more than
three or four feet in depth, while it i:
believed, and, in fact, experiment has
shown, that the Florida beds are four aud
five times that depth. The discovery of the
beds Is the grestest event of Florida'G
existence. In South Carolina it is said that
the royalty accruing to the state from the
development Of beds pays the interest on
the states debt. 1t is believed that the
same will be true of Florida
The most valuable tracts of Florida land
are those near enough the railroad to ira IS
port the material without having to build
tracks out through the country to get it
To put railroad down several miles into
the heart of the country will eat up profits,
and render the valne OF the bed uninviting.
what is the character Of the land where
the phosphate exists"
"At Dunnellon the soil is sandy, at Mar
tin in Marion county, the soil is loose with
a clay subsoil.h
Does the land have anything to do with
the presence of the materiall"
ut is not supposed that it has In South
Carolina the character II the land is differ
ent from that, at either Dunnellon or Mar.
tin. In some Instances the phosphate il
reached in chalky state, and in others i
is found to be of the nature of a rock
No certainty as to the character of the
phosphate can be determined until it ha
been analysed by chemist. The Ocal,
chemist has his hands full of business
Crowds of land owners who have made
borlngs are pouring in upon him to get al
analysis of their rocks"
THE ORIGIN OF THE PHosPHATEs.
"What is supposed to be the origin Of th
phosphate?'
81 inquired diligently about this, bu
opinions vary. The chemist who discov
cred the phosphates in South Carolina is
Florida In the interest of Bradley 81 Co
said to be the largest and wealthiest ferti
iZer company in America. He thinks tina
it is bird deposit Many others believe the
it is the deposit of the sea, which, it is be
lieved, covered that portion of the countr
at one time"
Mr.. Bradley and his son are at Ocala, an
have been there for a number of week
looking after their interests. Nearly ever
fertilizer company in Georgia. and, in fact
in the south, are represented. Each has
special chemist, and the investigations ar
going on all the time.
Marion county, the gentleman said, ful
nlshes one-fourth of The orange crop O
Florida, and is said to be the richest count
in the state. The railroad facilities ar
superior, aud Ocala, the county seat, bein
the most central city in the state, makes th
tDr adC Il u