ANNUAL REPORT—MINERAL INDUSTRIES. 
27 
of Hawthorne; and a locality 3 miles northwest of New- 
nansville. 
Dr. 0. A. Simmons of Hawthorne is credited by John¬ 
son as having been the first to recognize and to make nse 
of the Florida phosphate. Dr. Simmons is said to have 
recognized the phosphatic character of the Hawthorne 
rocks as early as 1879. A mill for grinding this rock as 
a fertilizer was operated as early as 1883 or 1884. 
Professor Eugene Smith, State Geologist of Alabama, 
and also Mr. L. 0. Johnson, in papers published during 
1885, described the Florida phosphates and recognized the 
localities known up to that time as belonging to forma¬ 
tions later than the Vicksburg. 
In 1886, Dr. John Kost, State Geologist of Florida, 
reported phosphate deposits extending through several 
townships in Wakulla County between Sopchoppy and 
the Ocklocknee River. Samples from, this locality were 
reported as containing as much as 23.85 per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid, (59.05 per cent phosphate of lime).* 
Phosphates along Peace River are reported to have been 
observed by Captain J. Francis LeBaron as early as 1881. 
Again in 1886 Captain LeBaron made an extended inves¬ 
tigation of the Peace River district. His plans for devel¬ 
oping the phosphates, however, do not seem to have met 
with success, and other parties took up the development of 
this industry. The first shipment of phosphate from the 
State is reported to have been made in 1888, three thou¬ 
sand tons having been sent during this year to Atlanta. 
It was during 1888, also, that rock phosphate in large 
quantities was discovered in Florida. While putting down 
a well near Dunnellon in the spring of 1888, Mr. Albertus 
Vogt observed fossil teeth in a white subsoil. This ma¬ 
terial proved upon analysis to be a good grade calcium 
phosphate. This chance discovery resulted in the speedy 
location of extensive phosphate deposits in this and ad¬ 
joining sections. 
These discoveries were followed by an exceptionally 
*Mineral Resources, 1886, p. 617. 
