The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-05-31
GREAT BOOM
IN PHOSPHATE
uGuRY COUNTY, FROM END TO
END. RUNNING OVER WITH
PROSPECTS.
.oOo Men At Work In the Mt. Pleas
ant Mines and Rock Is Bring
ing Record Prices.

MT. PLEASANT. Tenn, May "a
Never at any previous time has the
phosphate industry Of Marry county
baen so active. Not only are there
more men at work in the mines and
rock is bringing higher figures than
ever. but there is more interest being
taken in developing new fields and the
organization Of new companies to en-
,ge in mining, and more excitement
Asr phosphate generally than there
has ever been.
From one end Of Maury county to
the other prospectors are searching
for undiscovered phosphate. beds and
many OF the most prominent business
men Of Columbia and Mt. Pleasant
have almost forsaken theiS other bust
ness affairs to engage in the alluring
chase OF fortune in phosphate"
Quite a number of fortunes have been
made in this county within the last
few years and are still being made.
The activity in the Mt. Pleasant
field is highly gratifying to the meT-
chants, who report business to be bet
ter than ever There are now some
thing like 1000 men employed in the
mines in the Mt. Pleasant district,
who receiv all the way from $3.50 to
So per day, and the street scenes here
every Saturday afternoon, when the
companies pay off their hands, re-
semble those of big city. The stores
are crowded with people eager to
spend their money, and it is almost i'm
possible for the merchants and their
clerks to wait on all who want to be
served. Yet there is still a demand
for labor, and many companies would
put more men to work if they could
get them. In fact. lit is only by keep
ing labor agents travelling here and
there through the south picking up
men that mining is carried on. Most
of the miners are negroes, and they
are hard to keep at work. They will
work few days, long enough to get
a few dollars. then they will lay on
until they spend all of it. This neces-
states the companies keeping agents
travelling all the time picking up men
for the mines so as not to cripple the
output
The price of rock runs all the way
from $3.50 to $3.50, which gives a |
large profit to the miners. The de- |
mand is accordingly strong and is |
ahead of the supply. Inquir-
les from both domestic and foreign I
customers are coming in each day, |
and several times some of the COM
panies have been forced to book or
ders good way into the future, be-
cause their beds were clean. The
eight Incorporated companies now in
the field are handling all the rock
they can get hold Of while the indie
pendent miners are doing the same
hing.
Work on the new branch which is
being built from here to Swan creek,
4 distance of % miles, is being pushed
o completion. When this is in opera
ion it will open up phosphate field
hat will rival the Mt. Pleasant field,
is the rock all through that section
$ of very high grade.
The plant of the Mt Pleasant Ferti-
izer Company, the only fertilizer fac
ory here, is running day and night.
is capacity is SO tons per day
With the great phosphate industry
.oing as it never did before, two big
our mills, two large lumber concerns
nd other enterprises also running
I'LL time, employing all the men that
an be used, the prosperity of Mt.
'leasant is not a dream.