The Phosphates of America. 



51 



dant surface supply and consequent low mining cost, to conduct a 

 profitable exploitation at any greater depth. A far wider area of 

 lands than those actually classed as mining properties may there- 

 fore contain the very same deposit of phosphate, lying under aeon- 



Section in one of Fishburne's pits, South Carolina. A, sand ; B, ferruginous sand ; C, 

 phosphate nodules in clay matrix. Scale : 1 inch = 7 feet. 



siderably greater accumulation of the quaternary strata, and this 

 is the view we are personally disposed to adopt as representing the 

 facts. Whether or not, however, in face of the recent Florida phos- 

 phate discovery, any economical means will ever be devised in our 

 time to exploit them at a profit, should they really exist, is a ques- 

 tion as to which we are in very serious doubt. 



The phosphate deposits in South Carolina are of two kinds, the 

 " River" and the "Land," but the material found in the river bot- 

 toms of the "belt" is of practically the same chemical description 

 as that of the land, having, in fact, been merely washed into them 

 from its original beds. It has been worked extensively and has 

 proved to be of great commercial value, since it is obtained by the 

 simple and inexpensive process of dredging, and is thus raised and 

 washed free from all adhering impurities by one and the same 

 operation. 



The dredging scoops are made extremely massive in order that 

 they may break through the nodular stratum, and the boats are 

 held in position at the four corners by " spuds " or strong square 

 poles with iron points, which are dropped into the water before 

 dredging is begun, and afford a strong support for the boat by 

 going through the nodule stratum and down into the river-bed 

 below. The nodules are thrown from the scoop into the washer, 

 which is on a lighter alongside the dredging boat. The washer, in 

 some cases, is the same as those used by the land-mining companies, 

 to be presently described, but often it consists of a truncated cone, 

 with perforated sides, revolving on a horizontal axis. It is sup- 



