Digging around Bone Valley

Mining has been conducted in the valley for more than 100 years. In 2000 alone, 28.6 million metric tons of phosphate rock were extracted from 5,385 acres of land, mostly in Bone Valley.

That same year, 6,593 employees received a total payroll of more than $415.9 million, including fringe benefits, according to the Florida Phosphate Council, a lobby for the industry. And, for each of these jobs, at least five others exist, industry officials say.

How did it all start? The phosphate precipitated from dead sea life and the action of the sea washed it into concentrations between 25 million and 7 million years ago.

Imagine a Florida where Bartow, Mulberry, Arcadia and other cities along the Peace River were seacoast towns. When mammoths and other prehistoric mammals roamed, a shallow sea pushed 60 miles inland from the present-day coast.

The remains of the plants and creatures that lived and died in that sea, plus the remains of their landward counterparts that washed into the water, have long since become fossilized by the mineral phosphorus.

That's how Bone Valley garnered its name -- from the cornucopia of larger fossilized remains found by pioneers.

The Peace River and its tributaries also carried fossilized remains and phosphate downstream, which gave birth to pebble phosphate mining in DeSoto County during the late 1800s. By the turn of the century, pebble mining became unprofitable, and the industry moved north as hard rock mining took over.

After decades of consolidation and market changes in Florida's industry, four phosphate companies maintain mining operations: IMC Phosphates Company, Cargill Fertilizer, Inc., PCS Phosphate - White Springs, and CF Industries, Inc., according to the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research.

Staff Report