How Phosphate Helped Save West Ashley

Phosphate is an inorganic chemical when used in a geological reference. The rock or ore is mined to produce phosphorus for agriculture. When used in a biological reference it is an essential chemical in the biochemical processes of metabolism. When used in an historical reference around the Lowcountry it was a means for economic recovery after the Civil War.
In the December 1875 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine an article was published entitled “Up the Ashley and Cooper.” Among the many topics reviewed in this article was the discovery of “rolled or water-worn nodules of a rocky material filled with the impressions or casts of marine shells” in an old rice field along the Ashley River by Professor Francis S. Holmes in November of 1837.
Holmes’ professional interest included the disciplines of geology and paleontology. He amassed a collection of the specimens and spent six years studying them. Coincident with his find, the planters of Virginia had discovered that marl was useful as fertilizer. Being a planter himself, Holmes decided to include marl in his explorations of the treasures found in the local river beds.
The article states:“…Professor Holmes discovered, in December,1843, a stratum of the same rolled nodules as those previously found on the surface of the adjoining field. This stratum was about a foot thick, imbedded in clay; the yellow marl lay beneath it, five feet from the surface. The phosphate rock of Carolina had been discovered at last, in situ.”
The Civil War destroyed the financial backbone of St. Andrew’s Parish, the home of many a large plantation. The discovery of these phosphate “veins” in conjunction with Dr. St. Julien Ravenel’s discovery of how to use phosphate of lime to increase agricultural yields gave the Parish the means for a post war recovery. Phosphate mines, like Bulow mines, mining companies, like Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company, and fertilizer manufacturers, like the Atlantic Phosphate Company (later known as the Ashley Phosphate Company) all contributed to the commercial recovery of not only St. Andrew’s Parish but also South Carolina.
According to Shepherd W. McKinley’s dissertation: “The Origins of “King” Phosphate in the New South: Workers, Managers, and Entrepreneurs in South Carolina’s Phosphate and Fertilizer Industries, 1865-1884” South Carolina held the monopoly on the phosphate rock supply and produced 25 percent of the fertilizer used in the country.
The impact of this post war emerging industry rippled throughout the area and was felt by land owners, entrepreneurs, farmers, the shipping industry and laborers.  Cotton was no longer “King.”
Phosphate and fertilizer production had taken its place. The export of these new products from the Lowcountry helped not only in keeping the railroads running but also the viability of the Port of Charleston, thus making it attractive to the United States Navy when it was searching for appropriate locations to build yards during the first World War.
Laborers, mainly freed slaves, were able to earn between 97 cents per day (Mary Just’s wage for gathering and stacking rock) and $3 for river mining jobs.
The personal story of how Mary Just used her wages to purchase land in Maryville is just one of the many nuggets of phosphate related stories unearthed while mining the surface of this rich topic and its impact on the economics of St. Andrew’s Parish.
 
Mining stories? Contact Donna at westashleybook@gmail.com.