The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1903-11-13
TENNESSEE PHOSPHATE BEDS.
q. 8. Geological Survey Reports on
The Limit OF Their DeposIts--
Necessity Of ECONOMY.


4 -1NCrAns ~
ward q. Ulrich of the United States
Geological Survey. in report deserlo-
ing the mineral resources OF the Co
Iumbia quadrangle in Tennessee,
, have taken pains 10 emphasize the
limited extent OF its most important
product. the rock phOsphates that are
helping 10 maze Tennessee geologi
fame The report has, therefore,
great economic interest in that 1t may
be expected to call the attention OF
those engaged in the development of
this important resource of the State
u the almost criminal wastefulness of
the mining methoGs now IN vogue.
Surely no SUBJECT can be of more
vital interest to mankind than the
exhaustion of the soil and the
possibilities of Its re enrichment. 1t
might. therefore behoove the Ameri-
can people of To-Day 10 initiate the
wise policy of the ancient Peruvians.
who. approaching the agricultural value
OF the guano formed on their shores
| from the excrements of sea bros,
enacted laws that forbade the slaughter
of the bros. the census bulletin OF
1900 shows, however, that, owing tc
the final exhaustion of supplies, the
importation of guano into the United
States has now almost ceased. The
majority OF the 47S fertilizer factories
in the country depend on the chemical
treatment of phosphate rock for their
product. How important, then, that
the limited nature of the supply be
fully realized The fact that the need
for fertilizers grows with the advance
of civilization makes all the more
imperative a wise conservation of this
valuable deposit. 1t ia only ten years
since high grade phosphate rock was
discovered In Tennessee. The first
commercial shipment of this rock was
mace In 1894, and IN the eight years
up to the end of 1902 about 2. 200, 600
tons had been marketed, which mad
value at the mines of nearly S. 600, 00o.
Phosphate ROCK has thus become, next
to coal, the most important mineral
product of Tennessee.
In the United States deposits of rock
sufficiently high in phosphate to be
commercially valuable for the manu-
facture of fertilizers are confined to a
narrow belt along the Atlantic coast
/ in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida
ana small district IN Western Middle
| Tennessee. The latter district,
EN- bracing portions of Maury. Hick-
man aud Lewis counties. is practically
all covered by the Columbia folio
Five phosphate beaIlng formations are
found in this held, ana as two OF the
formations contain each three or four
| separate beds, no fewer than ten
phosphate horizons are dlst1ngulshable
within the Columbia quadrangle.
or the five phosphate bearing forma-
tlons, four are Ordivician IN age and
! carry brown residual phosphates,
while the fifth is of Devonian age and
contains sevela al varieties of black or
blue hedded phosphate. The Devon1an
phosphate differ from the Ordovlcian
phosphates, which are the result OF the
teaching OF phosphate limestone,
in being simply beds unchanged from
their original form and composite
| oIfnrafiOn fnSI1ItR
from the process OF consolidation TO
which all deeply buried sediments
have been subjected. They are, there
| fore, harder and have much denser
structure than most of the Urdovician
phosphates. and are richer In phos-
| phoric acid than the unleached
Ordovlcian phosphate llmestones.
They are mined, not like the leached
phosphates, by stripping, but like
coal, by the much more expensive
method of driving tunnels. TIE
maps in the folio show the exact loc--
| non and extent of the deposi Is which
have comm ercial value, and also the
extent of the various phosphate
formations in outcrop and beneath the
surface. Why these formations
contain valuable deposits in some
places and not IN others is question
that can be answered only by a con-
sderatlon Of The entire geologic
h story of tn region.
A Dangerous Mouth.
This is the mouth,t 7ugh-. colds and
acute catarrh. Do you each cold easily?
Find ,otrself hua,sa, with a tickling
| in your thtoat and an anro, ing cough
| 1T MIC hi 2 Z b N. Won shNnld 0 lMaNs have