Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1890-03-20
The Seneca Oil Mill anu Fertilize,
sstsst. ftE 9ss rn,nnonv {-s't4gi i4aF3s sst-

The above enterprise iii our sister town
deserves more. than u passing notice. 1t
has been projected and put into operation
during tho past six or eight months, and
will, in our opinion, provo q paying in
vestment to it's stockholders. The plant
cost something over twelve. thousand
dollars. The buildings and machinery
are in cvery respect first class, and every
thing works smoothly and satisfactorily.
We were very much Interested few days
ago in watching tho process, in all its
complex and devious ways, Of turning
cotton seed, frat into oil, and then tho
meal from tho cotton seed into q high
grade first class fertilizer. The seed are
first carried into gins, made especially
for the purpose, which takes off all the
lint remaining OH the seed, which is u
great deal moro tlian wc had any idea of,
amounting to about sixteen bales on
forty thousand bushels of seed This
cotton is packed in bales and sold, wo
arc informed, to hat manufacturers, who
convert it into hats, and it is probable
that many of us wear our own cotton, or
~ part of it at least, on our heads. From
tho gins tho seed arc passed to tho hC'llcr,
which removes tho hull, and tho seed arc
thon passed OH to tho mill which grinds
tho seed into meal, and tho meal is thon
conveyed into large steam chests or
boilers, and after undergoing steam
ing or heating process, the meal is con
veyed into large pans two and a half feet
long by one foot broad, twelve in number,
and placed into hydraulic press, which
has a pressing power equal to three
thousand pounds to the square inch.
This immense power soon presses tho oil
out of tho meal cake, which runs into a
large tank or vat underneath, which is
afterwards pumped into Two largo rccciv-
ing tanks outside tho building, ready to
bo barrclcl up and shipped to market.
Col. B. Frank Sloan, the gcne.al business
manager, informed us hc had just ship.
ped his first car load of fifty barrels to
tho New York market. This oil is worth
now twenty cents II gallon. After the
Oil is all pressed out of the meal it is
then ground up, mixed with the ncces.
sary pure materials, making splendid
guanO, containing ammonia $50, phos-
phoric acid available 500, and soluble
potassa 1.50 This fertilizer is finding q
ready sale i'll our own county, Col. Sloan
having shipped several car loads to agents
and purchasers. The company expects
to mako two hundred or more tons this
season. Col Sloan has named his fcrtli.
zer the "Bluc Ridge Guano," in honor of
our beautiful mountains which rise up
majestically and grandly along Oconcc's
Western boundary. lie says that this
guano has been made especially for this
portion of the State, where, on account OF
| Etho--oli ortnoss OF tho seasons it will
greatly hasten the maturity of the crops
Col. Sloan informed us that he had pur
chased forty thousand bushels of cottor
seed this season, which will make twenty
six thousand or moro gallons of oil. Tho
mill began work on the 10th of January
and will have seed enough to keep tho
mill running until the 1st Of May. Tel
hands arc employed, who arc kept con
stantly at work from early morning unit
nine O'Clock at night. Six tons OF sect
arc converted into oil and guano cacl
day. A splendid sixty horse power ell
ginc runs all the machinery with ease
Tho cotton seed hulls furnishes abou
half tho fuel to run the engine. Col
Sloan, with his excellent business qualifi
cations and good Judgment is rhc rgh
man i'll tho right place, as general mana
ger of this now and promising enterprise
To him we arc indebted for the kintlncs.
shown in carrying us through the mil
and explaining the m0dus operandi o.
converting cotton seed into oil and guano
Indeed and in truth "Cotton is King"