Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-01-02
PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS.
L. S. Geological Survey Describes
Beds of Mineral Fertilizer.

From outcrops of phosphate rock
in the Garnet range, six miles north
of Garrison, Mont, may be seen, 35
miles away, immense volumes of
smoke pouring out of the smelter at
Acknowledged quantities of sui
phurous acid escaping into the at
mosphere. At times this acid-laden
smoke clouds the whole Deer Lodge
valley. The great economic impor-
tance of this situation lies in the fact
that phosphate rock is quickly rem
dered available as a plant food by
dissolution in sulphuric acid. The
combination of immense rock and a
practically unlimited and readily ac-
cessible supply of sulphuric acid may
have considerable bearing on the ag-
ricultural' progress of the west in
years to come, if not at present.
This deposit of phosphate near
Garrison is one of three discovered
in Montana in 1911 by ]. T. Pardee
of the United States Geological Sur
vey The others are at Philipsburg
on the south slope of Flagstaff hill.
and half a mile east of Elliston.
north of Little Blackfoot river.
Rock phosphate was also discovered
in the same year by R. w. Stone of
the Geological Survey, about two
miles east of Cardwell, Mont, on the
Northern Pacific railway, at the sum-
NIT of the cliffy slope rising to the
west from Jefferson river,
These discoveries were merely in
cidental to the prosecution of other
geologic work, so that the deposits
were not studied in any great de-
tail. Enough was learned, however,
to make certain that they are COM
mercially valuable and of the same
type as the phosphate found by Hoyt
S. Gale, also of the federal survey,
near Melrose, Mont, in 1910, and
that of the extensive Idaho-Wyo-
ming field. The deposits discovered
by Mr.. Pardee lie from 60 to 7OI
miles northeast OF Melrose, hence
they may be said 20 extend the lin
its OF the known phosphate field for
those distances.
At the point near Garrison the
phosphate bed is eight feet thick and
more than four feet of it is shown
by analyses to be high-grade ma
terial At neither Philipsburg nor
Elliston was the thickness of the bed
determined, but the outcrops show
that in each place it is at least a
foot thick and the distribution of
float indicates that it is probably
more, about the same as in the Gar
net range. At Cardwell it probably
exceeds two feet IN thickness.
Although detailed work on which
to base tonnage estimate mas not
yet been done, it is apparent from
the examinations made that in the
Garnet range, at least, a large
amount of phosphate is present. For
instance, IA, 900 tons would be the
content of an acre underlain by a
flat bed of phosphate four feet thick.
Where the phosphate bed is steeply
tilted, as it commonly is in this re-
gion, the amount beneath an acre is
much greater.
The phosphate deposits at both
Philipsburg and Ellston are near the
tracks of the Northern Pacific rail-
way; that at Cardwell Lies near the
Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound
and Northern Pacific railways; and
that north of Garrison is readily ac-
cessible by two wagon roads, one
going directly north from that place.
the other up the valley from Warm
Spring creek. The creek route is
one that offers no unusual difficul-
ties for the construction of a rail-
road that would, with a haul of
about six miles, place the phosphate
on the main line of two trunk rail
roads.
These discoveries are described
briefly in Bulletin 53O-H, "Phos-
pilates in Idaho and Montana" by
A, K. Schultz, R. w. Richards and
j. T. Pardee, just issued by the
United States Geological Survey, a
copy OF which may be obtained free
on application to the director at
Washington, d. C.
SuIZpr NoNy Naur NnrIy