PHOSPHOKUS    ORE    AT    MOUNT    HOLLY    SPRINGS,  PA.  475 
has  created  an  increasing  demand  for  the  clay  of  this  region,  and  it  is 
extensively  mined  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Holly  Springs  and  pros- 
pected for  everywhere  along  the  mountain  front.  In  one  of  these 
brospect  pits,  on  the  property  of  T.  J.  Spangler  in  the  vicinity  of 
Moores  Mill,  4  miles  west  of  Mount  Holly  Springs,  peculiar  round 
kvhite  nodules,  chiefly  in  aggregates  and  botryoidal  masses,  were  found 
an  the  white  clay.  The  less  weathered  of  these  nodules  when  broken 
ppen  show  a  beautiful  radiate  silky  fibrous  structure.  The  mineral 
proved  to  be  a  pure  form  of  wavellite,  or  aluminum  phosphate,  a 
mineral  that  is  rather  uncommon  in  so  pure  a  form  and  is  not  known 
po  occur  elsewhere  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  mined.  The  American 
Phosphorus  Company  was  organized  by  Philadelphia  capitalists  to 
develop  the  deposit,  and  a  mill  for  the  extraction  of  the  phosphorus 
from  the  ore  was  built  near  the  mine.  T.  J.  Spangler,  superintendent 
of  the  mine  and  owner  of  the  land,  is  paid  a  royalty  on  the  ore  extracted. 
The  mine  was  opened  in  1900,  the  first  years  being  devoted  to  pros- 
pecting and  experimenting  with  the  reduction  of  the  ore.  During 
1905  the  mine  was  in  active  operation  and  400  tons  of  ore  were 
reported  to  have  been  extracted  and  reduced  in  the  company's 
furnaces. 
The  mine  is  operated  by  open  cut.  The  phosphate  is  scattered 
through  the  white  clay  and  appears  to  lie  between  a  manganese 
deposit  in  reddish  clay  and  the  mountain.  The  open  cut  after  reach- 
ing a  depth  of  about  30  feet  was  stopped  because  of  water.  A  shaft 
near  by  was  said  to  have  passed  through  clay  with  phosphate  ore 
from  a  depth  of  12  to  52  feet,  at  which  point  16  feet  of  manga- 
nese ore  was  encountered.  When  examined  in  August,  1906,  both 
the  shaft  and  the  open  cut  were  filled  with  water  and  the  workmen 
were  stripping  for  an  enlargement  of  the  pit.  A  tunnel  is  to  be  dug 
from  a  ravine  below  to  drain  it,  so  that  mining  can  be  continued  to 
greater  depth.  The  deposit  is  apparently  limited  in  width  to  40  or 
50  feet,  with  a  depth  ranging  from  a  few  feet  on  the  valley  side,  to 
50  feet  on  the  mountain  side,  as  indicated  by  the  shaft,  and  is  of  unde- 
termined length  along  the  mountain. 
The  only  other  deposit  of  phosphorus  ore  discovered  in  this  vicinity 
is  on  the  other  side  of  the  ridge  in  the  small  valley  east  of  Upper  Mill, 
1  mile  south  of  Mount  Holly  Springs.  In  the  clay  prospects  of  J.  L. 
Musser  small  bean-shaped  fragments  and  nodules  of  the  phosphate 
are  associated  with  manganese  ore,  but  its  quantity  and  extent  had 
not  been  determined.  Wavellite  was  also  observed  by  T.  C.  Hopkins  a 
in  the  white  clay  deposits  of  North  Valley  Hill,  on  the  north  side  of 
Chester  Valley. 
a  Ann.  Rept.  Pennsylvania  State  College  1889-1900,  appendix  3,  p.  13. 
