THE
AMERICAN PHOSPHATE INDUSTRY
At
the end of the 18th century the marl beds of new Jersey started to be exploited
as a fertiliser for the soils of that region. Bones not used as a plant food
until 1825. and the first bone mill was built in 1830. Guano from Peru was
imported from 1832 but came into large usage in 1840s and 50s. but
superphosphate was not manufactured until 1852. "Large quantities of
buffalo bones were soon collected from the western plains for fertiliser
purposes. (In Blakey,A.F., 'The Florida Phosphate Industry,' Wertheim
Committee,Harvard,1973,pp.5-8; Shrader,Jay, 'Hidden Treasures:The Pebble Phosphates
of the Peace River Valley of South Florida,' Bartow, Florida, Varn and Varn, 1891,
p.57; Collings, Gilbeart H. 'Commercial Fertilizers: Their Sources and Use' New
York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1955,p.2,4-6,180; Jordan, Weymouth T. 'The Peruvian Guano
Gospel in the Old South,' (U.S.)Agricultural History,XXIV,October
1950,pp211-221)
Following
the discovery in the 1830s that mineral phosphates could be mixed with
sulphuric acid to produce superphosphate, a new fertilizer was found. bones and
other phosphatic material.... led to searches on the continent and also in the
United States. By 1851 the secretary of the British Agricultural Society, following
an instruction by the council to make special enquiries on the subject of the
occurrence of mineral phosphate of lime in the United States, was able to read a
paper on the American deposits so far discovered. As well as those in New
Jersey and New York he suspected other deposits would soon be found in other
states and also in Canada.
Crystalline
phosphate from New Jersey with up to 95 % phosphate content was imported by
Messrs. Jevons, of Stamford Place, Liverpool. "One vein alone, discovered
in New Jersey would supply the English market for many years." In the State
of New York a great mass of the mineral phosphate had been discovered, and a
shaft had already been sunk to the depth of nearly 30 feet." This vein occurred
at Crown Point, near Lake Champlain, in Essex County, and the abundance of the mineral
was so great as to lead to the conclusion that this mine contained an
inexhaustible supply; the location was also favourable for facility of
transport and ready shipment.' It was found to have up to 80% phosphate of
lime, more than half that of the New Jersey deposit and, being very soft it
easily pulverised and was more readily dissolved than the Jersey mineral.
"It
can be delivered in London in the rough state, or powdered ready for use, as may
be thought most desirable. By single-horse power two tons a-day may easily be
ground... The price at which the Jersey phosphate was first offered for sale at
Liverpool was 5l.5s. per ton; but its interest immediately ceased, in a
commercial point of view, when the importers, on fallacious grounds of supply
and demand, injudiciously raised the price to 7l., forgetting that there were
already other forms of phosphate of lime in this country available to the
English farmer. It is now fully believed by moderate and intelligent Americans
that the United States phosphate can be afforded in the English market at such
a price as will render it a cheap fertilizer; and, as it can easily be reduced
to powder, its value cannot be doubted, provided it be treated with sulphuric
acid, and thus rendered suitable as a manure to those crops for which phosphate
of lime has been found by experience to be advantageous. Professor Johnston, of
Durham, to whose personal visit to the United States we probably owe the
attention thus paid to this mineral, occuring so abundantly in that part of the
world, remarks:- "American farmers in
general
have not the knowledge to appreciate the value of such a manuring substance as
this, nor the ability to purchase it when manufactured into superphosphate of
lime; the discovery, therefore, will be a boon, for the present,
to
both countries. It will make more abundant and cheap the means of fertility
which our soils require; while, by supplying as new article of traffic only
saleable in Great Britain, it will form a new bond of connexion between our
kindred nations."
Way,J.T.
'On American Phosphate of Lime,' Journ.Ag.Soc.vol.xii,1851,p250-51
Way,
who was the advising chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society, went on to give
more details for the British agriculturalists and manure manufacturers who were
interested in foreign phosphate supplies.
"The
American phosphate has only been recently introduced to our notice. It is
described as occurring in beds of considerable thickness, and extending over a
large district of country, in the states of New York and New Jersey... A
mineral phosphate of this composition will be somewhat greater value as a
source of phosphoric acid for superphosphate than the coprolites of the crag. I
shall not, however, attempt to give a formula for its treatment by H2SO4, since
it is quite likely that further experience in the working of the beds may lead
to the discovery of continuous layers of a more uniform character, and less
intermixed with quartz and other extraneous substances which reduce the
proportion of phosphoric acid.
Way.J.T.
'On Superphosphate of Lime, its Composition, and the Method of Making and Using
it.' Journ.Ag.Soc.vol.xii.1851, p221
Local
entrepreneurs recognised that there would be a local demand and by 1852 the
first superphosphate manufactory was set up. Aware of the enormous herds of buffalo
out on the plains, it was not long before their bones found their way into the dens.
Large bones and teeth had been found in South Carolina as early as 1795 in
Biggin Swamp, near Cooper River but the first mention of them being phosphatic was
in 1837 when a Professor F.S. Holmes discovered some in Ashley River. As
gelatine was considered at that time to be the fertilising principle in bones,
their use as fertiliser was dismissed as they only contained a small percentage
of carbonate of lime. However, by 1845, Dr. E. Emmons acknowledged in an
article in the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, that,
'It
is an object of great importance to discover bone phosphate of lime in its pure
state, or even mixed with other materials in sufficient quantity to supply the
wants of agriculture.'
Davidson,W.B.M.
'Notes on The Geological Origin of Phosphate of Lime in the United States and
Canada,' Trans. Amer.Inst. Mining Engineers, XXI, New York,1893,p140)
Despite
this it was fifteen years before the South Carolina phosphates began to be utilised
as fertilisers as Otto A. Moses observed,
"Prof.
Shepard and Col. L.M. Hatch suggested the utilization of phosphatic marls in
the manufacture of commercial fertilizer, and started a factory at or near
Charleston, which was soon abandoned. Remains of their compost heap were used
by farmers with good effect long after the war. At the close of the war, Dr.
N.S. Pratt, formerly connected with the nitre bureau of the Confederacy,
visited Charleston, with the object of starting sulphuric acid chambers. About
this time, Dr. St. Julian Ravenel of Charleston, who had mined marl extensively
at Stoneys
Landing,
on Cooper River, for the manufacture of cements, noticed the nodules, analyzed
some of them, and found them to contain much phosphate of lime. He became
engaged soon after in the manufacture of commercial fertilizer from foreign
phosphate rocks. Then followed the discovery in August 1867, which has been of
such vital importance to agriculture and the prosperity of South Carolina.
Pratt and Holmes (Charleston Mining Co.,) Ravenel and Dukes (Wando Co.,) then
located territory. The value of the deposits became known, other beds were
discovered, and many persons and considerable capital were soon employed in
developing the new industry by mining the crude rock and exporting or
manufacturing it on the spot into superphosphate. Later on, the beds of many
navigable streams were found to be largely paved with the substance.'
(Mineral Resources of the United States for 1882,Washington D.C. ,U.S. Geological
Survey, pp517-868)
Exports
began in April 1868 of deposits from along the Ashley River, near Tenmile Hill,
above Charleston. (Blakey,A.F.'The Florida Phosphate Industry,' 1973, p.12)
River rock was not mined until 1870. Mineral Resources of the United States for
1914,Washington D.C. ,U.S. Geological Survey, pp42) By 1870 ships unloaded 1,400
tons on Liverpool docks, alongside 3,700 tons of Estremadura deposits and a
small cargo of 140 tons of Canadian phosphates. With yields then of between 55
- 60 % phosphate of lime, they were quickly purchased by manure manufacturers. (Mark
Lane Express,1870) "Mr Pitts stated that large quantities of these
phosphates are being used in America, and also imported into this country for
the manufacture of artifical manures." (Geol.Mag.vol.viii,1871,p235 )
Charles
Bidwell, a Cambridgeshire surveyor with extensive knowledge of Great Britain's
coprolite industry, gave a lecture on the subject to the Institute of Surveyors
in 1874 in which,
"In
conclusion, he alluded to the extensive deposits of phosphatic minerals in
South Carolina, which intimately resembled some of the Cambridgeshire coprolite
beds; indeed, he might say, some of the Carolina deposits could hardly be
distinguished from Cambridgeshire Coprolites. There were the same fossils, of
the same greenish grey appearance, and also a similar composition, in the
better deposits of South Carolina. The per-centage of phosphate of lime
averaged about 58 per cent., whilst that of the best Cambridgeshire beds was
about 61. The South Carolina beds were very extensive indeed, spreading over
hundreds of miles; but the expense of shipping to this country was too great to
make it a very profitable speculation, so that many importers had given up the
enterprise, and, so far as his knowledge went, there was only one firm who
brought that material into the English market at the present time. (Bidwell,C.
'On Coprolites.' Inst. Surv. 1874,pp314-5 )
Whether
any of England's eighty manure manufacturers at the time were at the Institute
of Surveyors meeting is unknown but Voelcker was there and his contacts with
the fertiliser industry were well known. It seems that he looked into the
American deposits and the following year, in the Journal of the Agricultural
Society reported that,
"Phosphatic
nodules, similar in many respects to the coprolites of the London basin, have
of late years been discovered in great abundance in the calcareous strata of
the Charleston basin. Although the material which at the present time is
largely imported into England under the name of South Carolina, or Charleston
phosphate, was known perfectly well in 1843, and probably as early as 1795, its
value remained undetected; and until within the last seven years it was
regardless as worthless for all practical purposes; nor was its true chemical
character known previous to that period. The first shipments that can be
traced, as made with a view to bring its value and utility before the public,
it appears was made on the 4th December, 1867, by Messrs. W.D. Dukes and Co. to
Mr. Geo. White, New York; on the 15th December the Charleston Mining and
Manufacturing Company shipped, per steamer 'Falcon,' to Geo. P. Lewis, of
Philadelphia, sixteen tierces.
See
The South Carolina Phosphate Industry for more detail.