PHOSPHATE BEDS OF CHARLESTON. Ill 



had a very high percentage of phosphate of lime, but lay rather 

 too deep for successful raining, (from six to twelve feet on the 

 average from the surface.) At various distances from Charles- 

 ton beds of phosphate were found on the peninsula formed by 

 the Cooper and Ashley Rivers. As a rule, this belonged to the 

 softer kind of phosphatic marl ; the nodules were of a lighter 

 color and contained more sand than the others. For an analysis 

 of one of the best samples from this vicinity, see below. 

 The best beds lay at an average depth of eighteen inches from 

 the surface ; the nodules were from the size of a boy's fist to 

 that of a man's head ; the depth of the stratum from twelve to 

 eighteen inches. Some such beds extended over hundreds of 

 acres. This kind of phosphate appears to be very promising, 

 not only on account of its high percentage of phosphate of lime, 

 but also on account of the ease with which it may be crushed 

 to a powder. 



Ajialysis of a soft nodular phosphate from heticeen the Cooper and 



Ashley Hivers. 



Percent. 



Amount of moisture, expelled at 212° F., . . . 3.04 



Water and organic matter, ...... 6.03 



Sand and sesqui oxide of iron, ..... 12.83 



Carbonate of lime, ....... 8.06 



Sulphate of lime, 2.2 



Phosphate of lime and iron, ..... 69.00 



" Tlie phosphate of iron rarely exceeded five per cent., and 

 was much less in these light colored phosphates. The masses 

 were not very irregular in form. 



" The chief beds were discovered on the Ashley River, ex- 

 tending from about seven miles above Charleston up the river 

 for ten to fifteen miles. The land is not level, but rolls in low 

 bluffs, generally twenty to forty feet high, at right angles to 

 the course of the river. Between these bluffs there are swamp 

 lands, most of which have canals through them, and were once 

 thoroughly drained for the culture of cotton. In these low 

 lands the rich top soil is about four to six inches in depth ; then 

 follows a light, sandy stratum, sometimes eigliteen inches thick, 

 generally less ; and underneath, the stratum of nodular phos- 

 phates, packed close together with hardly any soil between 



