The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-24
100 EAGER TO GET RICH.
That Is the Trouble With Many Of the
Florida Phosphate Miners.

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Florida Phosphate Miners.
From the Charleston Nes0s and Courier Sept. %.
The condition of the Florida phosphate
industry continues to attract attention aud
general discussion. particularly in this city,
where many Of our citizens are financially
connected with several Of the wealthiest
companies now mining rock in Florida
Capt. Kirby Upper, who is the Charles
ton agent for q large and wealthy London
firm that is engaged in mining Florida
rock, does not feel in the least surprised at
the statements which have been published
for the last three or four days concerning
Florida phosphates He says that dozens Of
companies, which have been organized to
| dig Florida rock, will be wrecked before
many months, but that few of the larger
companies with plenty of capital will
weather the crisis and yield handsome re-
turns to the stockholders in the future.
The phosphate industry in Florida is a
most important one and will grow and In
crease in value and importance as time
passes, and it cannot be killed out by the
| failure of a number of small firms The
| great trouble has been that persons eager to
rapidly acquire wealth went into Florida
mining as the means which would Weld
most quickly golden results. They had nc
experience in mining phosphate rock and
knew absolutely nothing of the business,
| and as a result have lost money from the
very first, and still continue to do so.
| Others. with any quantity of money at
| their command, went TO work in a careful
intelligent manner to develop the deposits A
| Florida, and though they likewise sank
money in the beginning they are now fairly
on the road to prosperity.
| People have been eager for immediate re-
| turns, and as consequence the majority of
. -
| losing money instead of gaining it. They
failed to realize that the phosphate industry
| cannot be developed in a day, and that
| while the deposit might be the most extern
| sve in the world it would nevertheless re-
! quire time to develop it. In South Caro-
| lima it took fifteen years to develop the
| industry, and even now the extent of the
| deposit is not fully known and new deposits
of rock are being constantly discovered and
| opened up.
That Florida has very large and valua-
BILE deposit of phosphate rock is fact that
cannos be denied. The people of this state
might as we'll realize this fact first as last.
| 1t is a deposit which will give large returns
| when worked, and it is destined to furnish a
large portion of the phosphate trade of the
world. That Carolina rock will suffer from
the competition is not generally believed by
| phosphate men here They claim that the
1 q.
and that there will be sufficient demand for
the consumption of all the rock which Caro-
lima and Florida miners can dig, and that
the industry in neither state will suffer.
AS has already been stated in the NeUs
and Courier the land companies in Flor
ida are the ones which are losing money at
present, and which are liable to 90 under
| at any time. The great danger is that when
the smash does come, as it surely will, there
| will he r n of aiIinor yubo h. a..
age will stop, or whose fingers will be
| burned.
In speaking to another we'll known phos-
| phate man in regard to the situation he
said that a striking contrast to the condi-
| tion Of the land miners is that OF those en-
gagged in mining rock IN that state on Peace
river.
As an evidence of the high esteem in
which Peace River rock is held Couper
MILAN & Co. the leading fertilizer brokers
In London, IN their recent annual report Of
the fertilizer market of the United King
dom refers to the firm position taken by the
sellers Of the Peace River rock, VINO are dis
| posing of their output freely at 1016d.
There is a good demand for that
| grade in the states, while sellers of
the higher grades of Florida phosphates
are continually reducing their prices with
| out being able to induce buyers to operate,
| The Peace River rock is being used
largely and with most satisfactory results
in Atlanta, Mobile, New O3eans, and also
at other points along the Cuff
The principal operations on Peace river
are conducted by Charleston and Sayan-
nah capitalists, who are now bending all
their energies to make deliveries of all the
sales they have made. Daily inquiry Is
made for their output, and yesterday sale
| of 800 tons of Peace River rock was con-
| summated. The owners of Peace River
property acknowledge that the situation for
the land companies is very blue, and that
there is certain to be a general smash, by
which several companies will go by the
board, before long, but insist that the Peace
River companies will not be affected, that
their business is already on a paying basis
and that the failure of the land companies
will not touch them.