Shepherd W. Mckinley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813049243
- eISBN:
- 9780813050065
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049243.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter explores the phosphate river mining industry, which had mainly different owners, laborers, and locations than land mining. Most laborers were Sea Islanders, and most river mining took ...
More
This chapter explores the phosphate river mining industry, which had mainly different owners, laborers, and locations than land mining. Most laborers were Sea Islanders, and most river mining took place near Beaufort. The rivers were public domain so mining was subject to direct state regulation and taxation. Widespread debatesamong weakened Democrats and divided Republicans in legislative halls, on the pages of the Charleston Daily Courier, and at public meetingsover royalties, corruption, exclusive rights, monopolies, riparian rights, dredging, and navigation made regulation of this industry one of the most contentious issues during Reconstruction and beyond. Dangerous yet profitable for its workers, the river mining industry made a strong start in its first five years led by the most significant companies and businessmen,the Marine and River Phosphate Mining and Manufacturing Company (William L. Bradley), the South Carolina Phosphate and Phosphatic River Mining Company (black Republicans), the Oak Point Mines (Wyllie Campbell & Company), and especially the dominant Coosaw Mining Company (Robert Adger).Less
This chapter explores the phosphate river mining industry, which had mainly different owners, laborers, and locations than land mining. Most laborers were Sea Islanders, and most river mining took place near Beaufort. The rivers were public domain so mining was subject to direct state regulation and taxation. Widespread debatesamong weakened Democrats and divided Republicans in legislative halls, on the pages of the Charleston Daily Courier, and at public meetingsover royalties, corruption, exclusive rights, monopolies, riparian rights, dredging, and navigation made regulation of this industry one of the most contentious issues during Reconstruction and beyond. Dangerous yet profitable for its workers, the river mining industry made a strong start in its first five years led by the most significant companies and businessmen,the Marine and River Phosphate Mining and Manufacturing Company (William L. Bradley), the South Carolina Phosphate and Phosphatic River Mining Company (black Republicans), the Oak Point Mines (Wyllie Campbell & Company), and especially the dominant Coosaw Mining Company (Robert Adger).
Shepherd W. McKinley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813049243
- eISBN:
- 9780813050065
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049243.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Centered near Charleston and Beaufort, the river and land mining industries dominated world production during the 1870s and 1880s. Phosphate mining fueled the rapid growth of local fertilizer ...
More
Centered near Charleston and Beaufort, the river and land mining industries dominated world production during the 1870s and 1880s. Phosphate mining fueled the rapid growth of local fertilizer companies, eventually causing the fertilizer industry to shift from the Northeast to an industrializing Charleston. The lowcountry aristocracy (planters, cotton factors, shipping merchants, gentlemen-scientists, and lawyers) created the new phosphate and fertilizer industries to reverse their losses from emancipation. Mining for their former masters, freedpeople extracted housing and labor concessions while creating an autonomous alternative to sharecropping.With access to abundant and cheaper fertilizer, previously skeptical southern farmers extended the reach of “King Cotton” throughout the South. The convergence of the two industries ignited a limited industrialization in the low country and had a long-term impact on America and the South.Less
Centered near Charleston and Beaufort, the river and land mining industries dominated world production during the 1870s and 1880s. Phosphate mining fueled the rapid growth of local fertilizer companies, eventually causing the fertilizer industry to shift from the Northeast to an industrializing Charleston. The lowcountry aristocracy (planters, cotton factors, shipping merchants, gentlemen-scientists, and lawyers) created the new phosphate and fertilizer industries to reverse their losses from emancipation. Mining for their former masters, freedpeople extracted housing and labor concessions while creating an autonomous alternative to sharecropping.With access to abundant and cheaper fertilizer, previously skeptical southern farmers extended the reach of “King Cotton” throughout the South. The convergence of the two industries ignited a limited industrialization in the low country and had a long-term impact on America and the South.
