The Phosphates of America. 



71 



Florida phosphates of high grade occur in beds of an essentially 

 pockety, extremely capricious, uneven and deceptive nature. 



Sometimes the pockets will develop into enormous and deep 

 quarries, and probably yield fabulous quantities of various mer- 

 chantable qualities. At other times they will be entirely super- 

 ficial, or will contain the phosphate in such a mixed condition as 

 to render profitable exploitation impossible. 



An excellent, and indeed typical, example of this superficiality 

 is afforded by one of our recent examinations, in which the geo- 

 logical conditions did not differ in any essential particular from 

 those described. The area investigated may be thus represented : 



5120 acres of land. 



Each division representing 640 acres. 



Very fine phosphate indications were scattered more or less all 

 over this tract, sometimes in the form of big bowlders outcropping 

 at the surface, sometimes in the form of small debris, brought up 

 from below by the mole or the gopher. A local " expert " had es- 

 timated that it contained millions of tons, and our own first im- 

 pressions of it were of the highly sanguine order. A systematic 

 exploration was, however, at once instituted and carried out ; 

 first by boring all over the tract with a twenty-foot auger, and 

 then by sinking confirmatory pits at short intervals to a depth of 

 15 to 20 feet, according to the plan described in the chapter on 

 South Carolina. 



The result of our work was extremely disappointing, and may 

 be briefly summarized thus : 



A. No phosphate in workable quantities. 



B. A small basin or pocket of good phosphate, covering an area of 

 about 15 acres. 



C. No phosphate in workable quantities. 



D. No phosphate in workable quantities. 



E. Large quantities on surface, leading to a very large pocket, cover- 

 ing about 35 acres. Very much mixed-up material, principally 

 phosphate of low grade. 



F. No phosphate in workable quantities. 



