THE FLORIDA PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS. 
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Pale yellow incoherent sands... 5 to 10 feet 
Red clayey sands.. 5 to 10 feet 
Phosphate-bearing formation....... .. 10 to 25 feet 
Limestone at bottom of pit. ■ 
The phosphate matrix consists of gray sands, yellow, buff and 
blue clays, and phosphate rock. At one place in this pit a stratum 
of gray sand h to 2 feet thick is seen interbedded with the phos¬ 
phate rock. 
The incline leading to a new pit being opened up by M. C. and 
T. A. Thompson near Neal gave the following section: 
Pale yellow incoherent sands .. 5 to 10 feet 
Red clayey sands.... ......... . ..... .. .7 to 10 feet 
Gray phosphatic sands (exposed) ......................... 15 feet 
The gray sands give place laterally to phosphate rock. 
Pit No. 2 of the Cummer Lumber Company is perhaps the 
largest single pit in operation in the hard rock phosphate section. 
This pit is reported to include at the present time about thirteen 
acres. Pit No. 5 of this Company, one mile west of Newberry, 
gives an exposure of the sandstone and flint pebble conglomerate al¬ 
ready referred to as occurring occasionally in the hard rock de¬ 
posits. The pebbles are round and more or less flattened. They 
vary in size from very small pebbles to pebbles weighing five to sev¬ 
en pounds. 
In the pit of the Union Phosphate Company at Tioga a con¬ 
siderable number of rounded elongate siliceous boulders occur. 
These vary in size, the largest approximating a ton in" weight. 
They are embedded in the phosphate-bearing matrix. 
The many other pits which are now being worked, or which 
have recently been abandoned, although varying much even within 
a single pit in details are in general much the same as those de¬ 
scribed. 
The limestone in this county as a rule, lies relatively near the 
surface. In most instances the limestone is encountered before or 
very soon after reaching the water level. The phosphate is thus 
largely worked out by dry mining and dredges are not in use. 
The limestone is encountered at varying depths. One pit may 
show a great deal of limestone projecting as peaks, while another 
pit of equal depth near by may scarcely reach the limestone. 
Some of the limestone peaks project 15 to 25 feet above the 
general level of the bottom of the pit: The phosphate-bearing 
matrix here as elsewhere fills up the irregularities in the lime¬ 
stone. The top surface of the limestone is as elsewhere entirely 
