The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-01-14
IN
SIGHT |NI0PH0S-
PHATE PLANT
IMPRESSIONS OF A VISITOR
TO THE CORONET MINE
NEAR PLANT CITY
c. G. Memminger, of this City, Is
President of the Company,
and Its Moving Spirit

The following interesting account
of the surroundings and general i'm
pressions to be secured from a visit
to the Coronet Phosphate mine at
Plant City, is taken from the Plant
City Courier, and is of special inter-
est here as Mr.. G. G.. Memminger,
Of this city, is the president of the
company, and the man who has
made the conditions there so delight
full:
The writer, who is new to this
section, visited the plant of the Coro-
net Phosphate Company one day last
week. hadn't the privilege or the
pleasure of personally conducted
tour through the works. Y inter-
viewed no one-just walked around
and observed, and felt as observed
that the active head of this great
concern has lofty ideal and is main
tanning it in the upkeep of the plant>
1t took no great degree of discern
ment to tell that things were differ
ent' here.
"The little office, clean and fresh,
surrounded by a well-kept lawn, with
beautiful growing trees and palms
and ferns and flowers, bespoke the
character of some individual. | went
through the gates and toward the
power house Despite the five tall,
forbidding smokestacks, the building
was clean and inviting almost as
much as a well-kept home. In the
engine room two giant, throbbing
steel monsters of thousands of horse
power each were pumping water at
the rate of four thousand gallons per
minute. Everything clean, the floor
spotless and the machines so free Of
surplus grease and CRIME, that one
would feel no hesitation in allowing
his garments to come in contact with
them. 1t was really inspiring to see
the way the tools were kept. A spe-
cial place had been constructed on
the wall, and every wrench, hammer,
screw driver, cold chisel, etc, was
in its apportioned place, and all
bright and shiny.
"Then upstairs and into the big
power room, where three giant tur-
bines were all softly, powerfully run
ming together and turning silent mo-
tors at Il speed of thirty-siX hundred
revolutions per minute. In the back
ground was the wonderful switch
hoard which directs the energy Of
those three dynamos. Even as | stood
and marvelled at the wonders of the
man made lightning, | felt the infu-
cnce of the methods that prevail
there and my thoughts came back to
the room Itself All so clean, and
unlike most places of similar nature,
the room was not so devoid of fur
nishings other than the machinery.
There was book case and in it were
books, magazines and papers, and
there were chairs and tables, at one
Of which sat clear eyed young man
at work upon some blue print. Again
upon leaving the room 4 noticed
there would be no wasted time here
in searching around and under ma
chinery for lost tools, no effort in
picking the one needed. They were
all placed in a neat circle upon the
wall--a perfect arrangement.
The next step was to the boiler
room BY this time the order and
method of the place was pretty well
Impressed upon me, but felt sure
bat in the boiler room we would
ind the dirt. But no-the floor was
IS clean as Il parlor, and no dust,
nor dirt, nor grease nor crime was
anywhere in evidence. Oil is the fuel
used and thus it is reasonably easy
TO keep things clean.
Upon passing from this building
ron notice a greensward around the
reservoir and water tank, and here
and there is a rose bush. Through
the yards came one of their locomo-
tiyes and its appearance was in keep
ing with everything else. 1t looked
like it might have been in use a
week, but was informed that it had
been running every day for six years.
"The same general cleanliness and
perfect order of arrangement was in
evidence in the railroad yards, the
machine shops and at other places.
The whole plant, from the tall
smokestacks to the dump, and from
the Office to the huge dry bins