The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-31

that our syndicate includes great num-
Der OF gentlemen-in fact several hun
dred Iandholders, don't you know. 1t is
our interest TO keep the price of phos-
phaOes down. In order that our tenants
NAV buy them If they become too dear
the tenants would be economical in en-
pIoylng them, and the land would become
impoverished. That would be a great
source OF loss, don't you know
In the middle part of Florida hundreds
OF miles of soil are underlaid with
stratum many feet thick of pebbles of
phosphate. 1t is supposed thai these are
fragments OF what was originally a rock
formation of phosphate of lime such as
mas been already described. BY the ac-
ton of water the rock became disin-
tegrated, and the same agency has worn
the pebbles to shapes of more or less
roundness. Mixed in with them are dis
covered great numbers of the teeth and
bones of various animals. Among these
remains the teeth of sharas, many of
which must have been as much as 50 or 80
feet long, are conspicuous. There are
also numerous bones Of species of land
ANIMALS long ago extinct
AS would naturally be the case, great
quantities of these phosphate pebbles are
found In the beds of some streames. hav-
ing been washed out OF the banks They
occur in gravel bars, which are composed
almost wholly Of them cry often. Being
very hard aud heavy, they have formed
accumulations. while other debris has
been sifted out and iioated away. Such
river deposits yield a large part of the
present phosphate output of Florida
Peace river is the richest locality for
that sort OF water mining all the way
from Barlow to Charlotte harbor Other
Phosphate producing streams are the
Alatia, Manatee and Cdloosahatchee
rivers.
MINING EOR PHOsPHATEs.
The mining is conducted by scows.
Each scOw has an engine on board and d
pipe which extends to the bottom of the
stream. Through the pipe the gravel is
sucked up, and, being brought aboard
passes over revolving sieces. The refuse
of clay and sand. being finer than the
phosphate pebbles. passes through the
sleeves and is thrown away. The pebbles
are dropped into a lighter alongside
which, when it is filed, is towed to mar
ket by a tug. One-half of the phosphate
thus obtained from the Caloosahatchee
river is composed of casts of molluscan
shells, which are so perfect as to show
even the beaks of the bivalves and the
markings of the uniValVeS. In some
streams of Western Florida the bulk of
the phosphate deposit is composed of
bones-largely those of mastOdons, me-
gatheriums, elephants, manatees, musk
rats and horses. They are all trans
formed into pure phosphate of lime.
Up to thirteen years ago nobody had
ever imagined that there were any phos-
pilates in Florida. Boulders of the mate
rial as big as -four barrels were frequently
used as underpinuing for houses, while
smaller ones were employed in the con
struction of chimneys and sugar furnaces
, and as paving for sandy sidewalks In
the ruins of the old brick chimney of the
winter quarters of Gen. Andrew jackson.
fragments of the valuable substance con-
tanned in the clay can still be seen.
In the winter of 1881 Capt. J, Francis
lie Baron, while surveying Peace
river discovered the wealth in
the pebbles. He was in command of
detachment of the engineer corps of the
army Fully approaching the scientific
as well as the commercial importance of
the find, he shipped nine barrels and boxes
of the phosphate to Prof. Baird of the
Smithsonian Institute. Nevertheless, he
was not able to induce anybody to invest
money in the mines. One capitalist re-
fused to pay for large area OF rich terri
tory as much cash as the same individual
subsequently gave for a single mine.
In 1887 Col. Z. S. Morehead, after exam
lining the gravels of Peace river, estab-
lished the industry which has since be-
come so vasta source Of profit. Last year
a French syndicate invested more than
100000 in Florida phosphate lands
This resource has made the railways of
that state profitable and has even built
many of them The available supply is
well nigh inexhaustible and promises to
bring enormous wealth to the lowery
peninSular.