The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-07-19
PHosLIME IS FLoURIsHING

Rooney, sales manager of the Florida
Soft Phosphate and Lime company,
visited Phoslime, the plant of the
company and new Seaboard station,
some Is miles, by rail, north Of Ocala.
Mr.. Rooney took the reporters out
in his classy Maxwell touring car,
and the only drawback to the trip was
that the newspaper men lost their
beauty sleep, both being hauled out of
bed at the unreasonable hour of 5 a..
m. That however is the best time OF
day to be up and out. but it is rather
nagging on disciples of journalism,
who do not generally go to bed before
midnight.
Once fairly awake, the newspaper
men enjoyed the trip in the swift and
easy riding car, in the cool air thru
lovely farming country, whose dewy
fields were sparkling brightly in the
morning sun. The journey lay thru
the pretty towns of Anthony and
Sparr, always pleasant to visit. The
good road improvement between these
places is noticeable, the change in the
road, which keeps it all on one side Of
the railway, being almost complete.
Reaching Phoslime, the newspaper
men were pleasantly surprised to find
. model industrial community being
laid ont. As a general thing, works
of any character, even plantation,
consist Of two or three good houses
and bunch of ugly. unsanitary
|shacks. The Phoslime company, how
ever, is housing its men in neat, paint
ed cottages, each provided with light
and water. The price it charges them
for these accommodations would make
many rent-ridden Ocala people want
to move to Phoslime right away. The
little village is in healthy location,
and the company is evidently deter
mined to keep it so.
Our friends over on the east coast
who want to save daylight by showing
the hands on the clocks an hour ahead
should take lesson from Phoslime.
The people there save daylight, by
getting up and going to work early,
and they find no difficulty is doing this
by standard time. It was six o'clock
when the newspaper men arrived, and
they found the entire force busy as
bees.
The plant consists of the works,
the warehouse, laboratory, ETC., the
excavations from which the mineral is
being taken, sidetrack from the Sea-
board, and the company's own railroad
out into the woods, over which fuel is
hauled. The principal point of inter-
est was the vast excavation north OF
the works, from which the soft phos-
lphate is being removed This looks
rather peculiar on account of the soft
mineral being IN beds and veins, which
lie among lime deposits. A number OF
| hard lime-cones were sticking up like
monuments. When all the phosphate
has been dug out, the company will
dispose of this lime, which is all valu-
| able.
A tramway runs down into the pit
and by means of q turn-table sends di-
verging lines out into it. Some forty
men were at work, mining the phos-
lphate and loading it into the cars
which as fast as filed were hauled by
q steel wire cable up into the top story
lof the building above the dryer. There
| the contents Of the cars were dumped
thru shaft down into the dryer
Dried and pulverized the mineral went
back up on an elevator to the top OF
1.-THE building, from which it came
down thru shaft TO the sacking ma.
chine, where the men took the rapidly
| filled sacks and carried them into the
warehouse.
| All the work is done rapidly ane
smoothly, and the powerful machinery
lis all simple It is evidently of tbs
best, and yet it is SO simple in iii
workings that child can understand
lie
| Phoslime is a new thing, and is not
yet fairly introduced to the people
yet the demand for it is large and In
Icreasing. There are big deposits of i
| in this county, and once it's merit i:
proven it viii develop into great in.
dustry.
If it does so develop, the credit will
be due the Florida Soft Phosphate
and Lime company, which is the pio-
Ineer, spending a large amount tt
bring into use hitherto neglected
natural resource.
The company has already done
much for the county in the consider.
able sums of money it has spent here
1t has established its big plant al
Phoslime, with the surrounding vii
llage, at large expense. It is main.
tanning at work at good wages some
forty or fifty men out there, and it has
a good sized Office force in Ocala. II
pays its bills right on the notch, and
when we even partly estimate the
amount of good coin it has caused te
be spent here in Marion, we can't heir
4