The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-10-16
GETTING SCARCE.
Phosphate Rock Is Said to Be
Hard to Get. {.
Yet the Price Shows No Marked In
crease.-Some Interesting Figures

About the Industry.
The State says the fertilizer plant
Of the Vinginia-C Carolina Chemical
Company In Columbia, which has
been shut down all summer, on &C.
count Of a lack Of phosphate rock,
will probably not be in operation be-
fore the first Of November. Some
needed repairs are now being made
on the plant and it will require at
least fifteen days to complete them.
Several years the State of South
Carolina derived a handsome income
from the royalties received from the
operation Of its phosphate beds along
the coast, but1business has decreased
in the past 16 years to such an ex-
tent that the revenue for the past
year is less than ~one-fourth what 1t
was in 1890. For the years named
the States revenue from this source
was as follaws. 1890, $237,149.06;
1891, $169,292.6S; 1892, $16S,270.-
rs. During these years the royalty
paid the State was $1.03 and $1.O5
per ton. .
Between the years 1893 and 1900
inclusive, when the royalty had been
reduced to SO cents per ton, the fig
ures were as follows: 1898, $751;
393.12; 1894, $57,S27.13; 1895, $4,-
566.7o; 1896, $e2,631.O1; 1897,
s42,373; 1898, $24,264.31; 1899,
1851; 1906, $8,667.
The figures for the years 1901 to
1906, inclusive, when the royalty had
been reduced to Is cents per ton, as
at present, the revenue was: 1901,
$23,1Os; 1902, s~27,291.65; 1903,
s16,s36.47; 1904, $9,73s.N; 1905,
1851; 906,$8,667.
So, it will be seen that one Of the
State governments principal sources
Of revenue 16 years ago has gradual
ly dwindled until 1t car hardly be
considered worth while. Several
causes have brought about this con-
dition, chief of which it that large
fields of rock have been discovered
in Florida, Tennessee and Algeria.
Another cause was the effects of the
disastrous coast storm of 1898
which almost wiped several Of the
small towns along the coast OF the
map, overturned and wrecked the
boats and .dredges employed in the
digging of this phosphate rock, en-
failing great losses on the mining
companies.
Practically the only phosphate
mines in the world operated on an
extensive basis were those along the
South Carolina Coast, but now both
Florida and Tennessee mine more
rock than this State. Of the $780,
957 long tons of phosphate marketed
in the United States in 1906 valued
at $8,579,437) Florida produced l.
3O4, sos long tons, valued at $685.
578; Tennessee produced 547,677
long tons, valued at $2,147,991, and
South Cardinals production was $685.
675 long tons, valued at $S17,06S.
Other States, including Arkansas,
marketed 500 tons, valued at $685.
500.
The use of phosphate rock Is limit
ed to the manufacture Of fertilizers
and chemicals containing phosphoric
acid. A distinction is made In this
State between "land" and "river'
rock; but the two are the same in
origin, the "river" rock being simply
"land" rock washed out from the
banks and deposited in depressions in
the beds of the streams.
1t is the "river' rock from which
the State derives royalties, the
"land" rock being mined by compan-
les who own the land in fee simple.
This river rock is fast becoming ex-
hausted and in a few years the State
will probably derive no revenue
whatever from it.