The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-10-31
PRODIGAL
WASTE
Phosphate Rock Used
As a Land Fertilizer
THE SUPPLY Is QUITE LIMITED
Deposits Found Along the Atlantic
Coast In Georgia and Ten
nessee.

whoever makes two ears of corn
to grow where only one grew before
deserves well Of mankind and is of
service to his country" That Jonathan
Swift spoke for all time when he
wrote those words is a fact that will
be appreciated by those who study
the Columbia (Tennessee} geologic
folio. recently issued from the press
Of the United States Geological Sur
vey. 1t is the work Of Messrs. c. Will
lard Hayes and Edward o. Ulrich, who
in describing the mineral resources
Of the Columbia quadrangle, have
taken pains to emphasize the limited
extent of its most important product,
the rock phosphates that are help
ing to make TenneSsee's geologic
fame. The report has, therefore,
great economic interest, in that it
may be expected to call to the atten-
ton of those engaged in the develop
ment of this important resource Of
the state, the almost criminal waste
fulness of the mining method now in
vogue.
Surely no subject can be of more
vital interest to mankind than the eX-
haustion of the soil and the possibili-
ties Of it's enrichment. 1t might, there
fore, behoove the American people Of
today to initiate the wise policy Of
the ancient Peruvians, who, apprecia-
ting the agricultural value Of the
guano formed on their shores from the
excrements of sea birds, enacted laws
that forbade the slaughter Of the
birds The census bulletin OF 1900
shows, however, that, owing to the
final exhaustion OF supplies, the i'm
portation Of guano into the United
States has now almost ceased. The
majority OF the 478 fertilizer facto-
rfes in the country depend on the
chemical treatment Of phosphate
rock for their product. How import
ant, then, that the limited nature Of
the supply be fully realized. The fact
that the need for fertilizers grow
with the advance OF civilization makes
all the more imperative a wise con-
servation of this valuable deposit. 1t
is only ten years since hfgh-grade
phosphate rock was discovered in
Tennessee The first commercial
shipment of this rock was made in
1894, and in the eight years up to the
end of 1902 about 1900 900 tons had
BEEN marketed, which had a. value at
the mines OF nearly six million dollars.
Phosphate rock has thus become,
next to coal, the must important min
eral product of Tennessee.
In the United States, deposits of
rock sufficiently high in phosphates
to be- commercially valuable for the
OF fertilizers are conf1n-
ed to a narrow belt along the Atlantic
coast in the Carofinas, Georgia and
Florida, and a small district in west
ern middle Tennessee. The latter dig
trict, embracing portions Of Maury,
Hickman and Lewis counties, is prac-
ticaI1y all covered by the Columbia
folio Five MISUNDERSTANDING forma-
tons are found in this field, and as
two of the formations contain each
three or four separate BEDS, no fewer
than ten phosphate horizons are dis
tinguishable within the Columbia
quadrangle. Of the five phosphate
bearing formations four are Ordovi-
clan in age and carry brown residual
phosphates, while the fifth is Of De-
vonian age and contains several varie-
ties of black or blue bedded phos-
plate. The Devonian phosphates diff
fer from the Ordovfcian phosphates,
which are the result Of the Teaching
OF a phosphate limestone, In being
simply beds unchanged from their
original form and composition except
BY such alteration - results from the
process OF consolidation to which oil
deeply buried sediments have been
subjected They aT~ therefore hard
or and have q much deneer structure
than most Of the Ordovtedan phoe-
pilates, and are richer In pApsphoric
aeid than the 1nlsachsd Ordovic1an
phosphate nmestonss. They are
mined, not like the lsaGhed phue-
pilates, by stripping, but rks coal, by
the much more s1penstvo method Of
d7iviao tunnels. The maps IN the 10
ldo show the exact location and extent
Of ~ deposits which have CONNER
eani value, aAd also tho extent q the
vaxtoUs phosphate formations IN out
snop end beneath TIN MT1AAo. Why