The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-12
TO BRING MORE PHOSPHATE.
Savannah to Be the Great Outlet for
the Florida Mines.

The Florida Central and Peninsular
railroad win be completed to Savannah
early next month This road is expected
to do great things for Savannah, not all
at once, but by degrees. The system,
with the Plant system, will lay the whole
of Florida almost at the very doors of
Savannah, and will make convenient
sections heretofore difficult of access, and
reached by inconvenient routes, with
high freight rates.
Not the least to be gained by the addi-
ton Of the new system will be the placing
Of Savannah among the great phosphate
ports of the world. Savannah has taken
great deal of interest in the develop
ment Of the Florida phosphate industry,
but heretofore has received only a com
paratively small amount of this business.
1t is believed that the completion of the
Florida Central and Peninsular, together
with the recent extension of the Plant
system through the Florida hard rock
section, viii have the effect of making
Savannah one of the leading, if not the
leading phosphate export ports Of the coun-
try.
A good deal of phosphate has been
brought here by the Plant line, but most
of it had to be brought by a circuitous
! route. necessarily increasing the cost Of
! expectation bv additional freight charges.
! The completion of the Plant SYSTEMS ex-
| tension through the phosphate belt gives
that system direct route to two ports,
| Savannah and Tampa The freight-haul
TO Tampa is shorter. while the ocean
| rates are higher than from Savannah. BY
! bringing the phosphate to Sa-
vannah the railroad will obtain Il
| longer haul and n larger return,
! which will be met by the cheaper ocean
rate from this port, This, OF course, viii
! be an advantage to Savannah, and will be
! an inducement TO the railroads TO bring
| the phosphate here.
The Florida Central and Pennsular
| has been carrying its phosphate to Fer
| nandina for shipment. The water is
| shallower at Fernandina than at Savan-
nah. and consequently the ocean rates
are higher. With the completion of the
! Florida Central and Peninsular railroad
TO Savannah, that line will be able to OBJ
/ tain a longer haul and better ocean rates
| for its shipments. 1t is believed that this
will induce it to bring the greater portion
/ of its exports to Savannah. The Florida
! Central and Peninsular touches a
large portion Of the hard rock territory
penetrated by the new extension OF the
! Plant system, and it is likely that the
! competition for traffic will be lively
The completion Of the line will give il a
direct route to Savannah, and will make
it convenient to bring slarge amount of
its business here.
Savannah has never been fur
nisned with facilities for handling
phosphate. With its increasing depth
Of water it will soon be able to furnish as
! cheap ocean rates as any port in the
southeast. In fact, on the ma 5ority of com
modiJies, it is already the cheapest. With
the completion Of the Florida Central and
Peninsular it is believed that both that
and the Plant system will find it to their
| interest 10 provide facilities for hauling
phosphate for export, and the result will
be a large increase of shipments from this
port
One of the largest phosphate miners
and manufacturers in the south yester
day predicted that the effect Of the move
ments. that are now on FOOT and about "a
be accomplished will make savannah the
phosphate port of this section.
Florida now exports about 10000 tons
Of hard rock phosphate, and the gentle
man predicted that in a short while Sa
vannah would handle about l50,00 tons
of this amount. 1t will certainly form a
great addition to the commerce of the
port Savannah already enjoys a good
trade with the section penetrated by the
Florida Central and Peninsular. The