THE PERIOD OF GUANO EXPLOITATION ON ENDERBURY ISLAND 
In the middle of the 19 th Century the Central Pacific islands became 
a center of commercial interest. When it was discovered that many of 
these islands possessed large deposits of guano (a combination of soil, 
bird droppings and bodies, very valuable as fertilizer) a number of 
companies formed intense rivalries for rights to the islands. 
In May or June of 1859; Thomas Long, agent for C.A. Williams and Co. 
of New London, Connecticut, visited Enderbury in the ship Agate and claimed 
the island. The guano deposits on Enderbury, together with those on 
McKean, Phoenix, and Starve or Barren Islands were bonded and claimed by 
the Phoenix Guano Company, a subsidiary firm of C.A. Williams and Co. 
Enderbury was bonded under the terms of the T, Guano Act of 1856 " 
passed by Congress on August 18 of that year. The Act enabled the 
President of the United States to declare that a guano island "appertained 
The 
to the United States" if several conditions were fulfilled. condition 
were wax that the island must be-^ftree of eaw^foc r nations sovereingty; must 
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have guano depositis) landed upon and peaceable possession taken by 
a U.S. citizen. 
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