Mabch 13, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



401 



sale lots in New York City varied in price per 

 pound from 18i to 27 cents, tlie importance of the 

 relation of bauxite production to what promises to 

 be one of our most important future metallic in- 

 dustries becomes apparent, as does also the im- 

 portance of a careful search for future supplies of 

 the mineral. 

 The Outlook for the Aluminum Industry in the 



South: 



Two water-power installations of great magni- 

 tude, for the manufacture of metallic aluminum, 

 are now in process of construction in the southern 

 states. One of these is by the Southern Aluminum 

 Company and the other by the Aluminum Com- 

 pany of America. The former, with a capital of 

 several million dollars, has been organized by an 

 amalgamation of foreign aluminum interests, 

 chiefly French, together with certain metal inter- 

 ests in the United States, and has acquired a 

 water-power site on the Yadkin Kiver, near Whit- 

 ney, North Carolina. The company is now en- 

 gaged in the development of the property, and has 

 plans to erect, eventually, a complete plant with 

 large capacity for the manufacture of the metal. 



In addition, the Aluminum Company of Amer- 

 ica has acquired certain riparian rights in North 

 Carolina and Tennessee, and has undertaken pre- 

 liminary developments on the Little Tennessee 

 River near the Tennessee-North Carolina boun- 

 dary. The plans contemplate a water-power de- 

 velopment of great magnitude, together with a 

 reduction works at Maryville, 16 miles south of 

 Knoxville. 



The consummation of two such projects as those 

 mentioned should prove a tremendous stimulus to 

 the search for new deposits of bauxite in the 

 south. 

 The Phosphate Deposits of the Southern States: 



E. H. Sellards. 



The southern states at the present time are pre- 

 eminently the source of phosphate rock in the 

 United States, the total rock mined elsewhere in 

 America being not more than 10,000 or 11,000 

 tons per annum. In fact this section contributes 

 fully one half of the phosphate of the world. 

 The statistics for 1910, the latest date at which 

 approximately complete returns are available 

 show the world 's production of phosphate to be 

 5,156,671 metric tons, of which the United States 

 produced 2,697,468 metric tons, or slightly more 

 than one half, all of which with the exception of 

 11,612 tons was from the southern states. The 

 production in the southern territory during 1911 



was 3,420,774 long tons, while Florida alone in 

 1912 produced 2,579,865 long tons. 



The phosphate deposits in the southern states 

 are widely distributed and are diverse in their 

 origin and manner of occurrence. Those states 

 tliat are actively producing rock are: Arkansas, 

 Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida. At least 

 live other states, namely, Kentucky, Virginia, 

 North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama are known 

 to have phosphate, or phosphatio marls of agricul- 

 tural value. The phosphate deposits of North 

 Carolina and Kentucky have been mined to a lim- 

 ited extent. Those of Georgia and Alabama have 

 been partially prospected, while the Virginia 

 phosphates have been but recently discovered. 



The methods used in mining the phosphate rock 

 are, as a rule, neither complicated nor expensive. 

 The open pit method is used for those deposits that 

 have a removable overburden, while underground 

 mining is resorted to only for those bedded de- 

 posits that are interstratified with other forma- 

 tions so that the overburden can not be removed. 

 The chief production at the present time is from 

 the open pit mines. After being taken from the 

 mine the rock is washed and dried for shipment, 

 almost one half being exported. 

 The Tennessee Phosphates: T. Poole Maynakd. 



The phosphate deposits of Tennessee rank nest 

 in importance to those of Florida. 



These deposits are found in what is known as 

 the Central Basin of Tennessee, and in the valleys 

 of the western part of the Highland rim surround- 

 ing this basin. Nodular deposits of black phos- 

 phate are found to the northeast of the Highland 

 Eim in Putnam county. 



All of the phosphates are found associated with 

 rocks of sedimentary origin and occur in rocks of 

 Ordovician and Devonian age. 



There are three important classes of phosphate 

 rock, while there are many characteristic differ- 

 ences among these classes. The brown, the blue 

 and the white phosphate represent the three im- 

 portant classes. While the black rock phosphates 

 of Putnam county are not economically important 

 they form a fourth class. 

 The Salt Indxistry of the Southern States: W. C, 



Phalen. 



The five southern states which produce salt on a 

 commercial scale, named in the order of their im- 

 portance, are Louisiana, Virginia, Texas, West 

 Virginia and Oklahoma. In the year 1912, the 

 latest for which statistics are available, the out- 

 put of salt in the states mentioned amounted to 



