16 
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-— 15TH ANNUAL REPORT 
DIATOMACEOUS EARTH 
This material, deposits of which are located in Take County and 
mined several years ago near Eustis, has not been produced in Florida 
for several years. Renewed activity in diatomaceous earth deposits of 
Lake County is shown by the organization of The Florida Diatomite 
Company, of Clermont. Samples of this earth have been received from 
Mr. C. Lindley Wood, President of the company named, and from these 
the material is shown to be of high quality. A small sample of both the 
crude and the burned earth was submitted to Dr. Albert Mann, Dia- 
tomist, Carnegie Institution, Washington, and the following paragraphs 
are quoted by permission.* 
“Your sample, when freed from organic matter, is a pure fresh-water diatom 
material of recent origin, practically free from any clay, sand, iron or other deleteri¬ 
ous material. The different species of diatoms composing it vary considerably in 
size, contrasting thereby with such homogeneous diatom earths as those from Nevada, 
etc. This may be an advantage or a disadvantage according to the commercial 
purposes to which it is put. 
“As the ratio of organic matter to diatom silica is unusually low I think it would 
be a profitable substance to put on the market.” 
fuller's earth 
The demand for fuller’s earth in 1922 was more active than during 
the year 1921. The output of this product in 1922 was second only to 
the output in 1920, th% banner year of the fuller’s earth industry in 
Florida. According to published statistics by the United States Geologi¬ 
cal Survey, Florida is credited with a production of 64,122 short tons, 
valued at $1,122,940, or an average of $17.51 a ton.f According to the 
same authority this was 46 per cent of the total output of this earth in 
the United States and 49 per cent of the total value. 
The following companies reported production of fuller’s earth in 
1922: 
Attapulgus Clay Company, Ellenton, Manatee County. 
Floridin Co., Quincy and Jamieson, Gadsden County. 
Fuller’s Earth Company, Midway, Gadsden County. 
Manatee Fuller’s Earth Corporation, Ellenton, Manatee County. 
♦Letter of Sept. 20, 1923. 
fU. S. Geol. Surv., Min. Res., 1922, Pt. II, p.. 70, 1923. 
