The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-06-28
PHOSPHATE BEING
SHIPPED FREELY
FINE WEATHER A BOON TO THE
MT. PLEASANT PRODUCERS.
THOUSANDS OF TONS
MOVED.
Increase in Price Also Puts the Devel-
opers to Work, and Properties at
Other Points Are Being Nearly
Worked.-subways for Extension of
Railroad.


MT. PLEASANT, Tenn, June %
The dry weather of June has been
great boon TO the phosphate people
and thousands of tons of rock hav,
been mined and shipped during thi!
month. Were it not for the scarcity
Of labor the output might seriously
effect the market, for at the price the
commodity now brings it can be mined
and hauled quite a distance and yield
a profit As a result many persons
who have small deposits of the min,
eral on their farms located from three
/ to four miles from the railroad have
been able to find buyers on a royalty
basis who are taking advantage of
this dry spell and getting out a good
deal of mineral of this class.
The deposits near the railroad are
nearly all owned by strong companies,
whose yearly output varies but lit
'AS, anu VIM usually Sell rum SIA W
twelve months in advance, and they
accumulate their surplus in kits or
sheds during the summer. But the
weather conditions OF the last ten
months have been so unfavorable that
these producers are nearly all behind
in their deliveries and are not yet
accommodating much surplus stock.
The movement Of phosphate has
been heavy during the entire month,
sometimes reaching as high as $50
car loads a day.
Among the developments OF outside
properties, because of the increased
price of phosphate, the SCOTS Mill
and Southport section is decidedly in
the lead. Last fall the Mt. Pleasant
Southern Railway. which extends from
Mt. Pleasant to SCOTS Mill, was
changed from a narrow to standard
guage, and is operated by the Louis
Vile & Nashville road. By this change
the rich Southport field was given
practical outlet, and already a hun
dred cars or more week are shipped
out of this field. During the past week
surveys have been made for an ex-
tension of this road from SCOTS Mill
to Southport, about three and a half
or four miles. If this is done, or rath-
er, as soon as this is done, at least |
two modern plants, equipped with |
dryers, will be established |
at Southport, and genuine boom will l
strike that hitherto quiet and sedate
Already some two hun
1red men and over fifty teams are
employed in the mining out there.
The trade is watching this develop
nent with great interest, for it is
admitted by all who are familiar with
he phosphate situation that the lar
sest undeveloped field of high-grade
brown phosphate rock left in the world
S in the Southport field, which will
De sintersected by this three or four
nile extension of the Mt. Pleasant
Southern Railway. The principal ow-
lers of this field are the Globe Phos-
,hate Company, of Philadelphia Pa;
he Federal Chemical Company, of
louisville, KY; the Brown Rock Phos-
hate Company, Ruhm & Gregory,
'oble, Garrett & Smith, the Little Big
Y Phosphate Company. all of Mt.
Pleasant, and Lowell & Watson of
southport. A conservative estimate
+ the tonnage of the foregoing six
is in excess of 100000
ons, and there are a number of farms
till in the hands of the original ow-
ers, which will probably yield half
lillion tons more.
The building of the Swan Creek
alley Railroad from Mt. Pleasant to
[ayfield, in Lewis County, is progress
lg rapidly, and will open up to the !.
larket some of the best blue rock
hosphate known to exist. Rhodes &
o., the contractors, who are building
lis line, have a force at work on
very one of the nineteen miles of the
,ad and expect to have it completed
Y the first of the year. When the
lad is completed it will greatly facil-
ate and increase the production of ,
e blue rock and will to some extent :.
lieve the tax on the Mt Pleasant Il
I'D, which is now being very rapidly 4"
.hausted. The scarcity of labor and
e high price of wood have caused the
rye producers here at Mt Pleasant b
install much more modern equip IA
ent, such as steam shovels, mechan-
Al dryers, etc. In fact, no less than
ven or eight modern dryers, with
pacity of from five to twenty cars
r day each, are in process of erec-
IN here in the original Mt. Pleasant