How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 194: The Birth of Fertile Mine (1)
Andrew was a young man who lived in the Speyside region of Scotland. His family, like others, lived ordinarily by farming and brewing alcohol with their surplus grain.
Until the day they had to hide equipment passed down from ancestors due to taxes imposed by royal decree.
Eventually, they were scraping by selling already brewed alcohol or moonshine bit by bit, living quietly with their heads down when it happened.
'Announcement: To the land of true faith, freedom, and wealth. -Virginia Trading Company-'
"Did you see it too? How much land they're giving away... Good heavens! They say they're distributing over 100 acres per household!"
They sowed dreams of becoming landowners in the New World.
It was a time when stories of people making fortunes from aluminum or fur trading seemed to come from far away like dreams.
He too thought he could become like that if he just crossed the Atlantic.
He believed that after sweating a little, enduring some hardship while cultivating his own field in the wild land, he could become wealthy.
His thinking was wrong.
Vroooom!
"Why farm by yourself? Leave it to us! Just come occasionally to sow seeds and pull weeds."
"..."
He received already reclaimed farmland as a gift.
The farming is done by the 'Knights' on his behalf.
They don't take taxes for anything. (Uniquely here, taxes were called gifts.)
Without any hardship, he became wealthy.
And he and his neighbors were clever.
"Do we really need to plant seeds? The Knight Brigade will do it for us even if we don't."
"Even so, the taxes... no, 'gifts' that we give less aren't that significant."
Farmers who survived under Scotland's constantly changing tax system quickly figured out how they should live in this new paradise.
"Do we really... need to farm?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just take surplus barley and brew alcohol to sell to the mainland like our ancestors did?"
"And there's no tax if we brew here? It's not even moonshine?"
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So they didn't obsess over the dream of becoming landowners. The path to wealth in this land was not in becoming landowners as they had known.
The villagers pooled their resources to build a massive distillery, and Andrew worked there too.
He was working there today as well.
"There, there! It's 'Him'! It's 'Him'!"
With that single phrase, he abandoned the cask he was rolling and came all the way here.
==
The new village of Scottish people in the Pamlico region.
That is, the village that settlers call 'Glenaingeal' (Angel's Valley).
...Well, it's better than naming a village 'Seisui' because they planted many Seisui grapes, or calling it 'Barón' because they planted many baron potatoes.
Anyway, a phosphate rock mine is about to be developed near this village.
Phosphate rock literally means minerals containing phosphate. Since it's rich in phosphorus, an essential component of living organisms, it's used in fertilizer production.
In this era without chemical fertilizers, digging the ground yields fertilizer? Mining agricultural productivity from a mine? It's an unbelievable blessing.
Even though it's not as rich in nitrogen as the guano piled high in Peru, South America, it's still more than enough to be grateful for.
'But in America, this stuff is just scattered all over the ground...'
Thinking about it again, the world is really unfair. Looking at the map, it's not even just in this area.
"Huuuuh..."
Let's stop complaining about the 21st century that we can't return to. The important thing is that I'm in this land now, and need to focus on the current situation.
The phosphate in this area is mostly in sand form and mixed with fine quartz and clay. Therefore, although there may not be an immediate risk of natural fire, it should be approached carefully.
First...
"Let's go back to the car for a moment. I have something to bring. I would appreciate it if a few strong men could help me."
"What? Ah, understood!"
The parliamentarian selected some stronger individuals from among the spectators, and we drove the Porter near the phosphate mine and looked around.
"I want to draw water from the lowlands and connect it to this area."
"To this area...?"
"Yes. The goal is to bring water here and create a decent-sized lake... well, more like an artificial pond."
After researching fertilizer-related materials at home and searching through the catalog contents, the conclusion was clear.
Phosphate, due to its chemical properties, dissolves easily in water. If we're going to filter out other impurities anyway, a dissolving process in water will be necessary.
According to my research, dissolving in water is an essential process for making phosphoric acid from phosphate rock, so a pond is necessary.
'Above all, considering the fire risk... there should be water nearby.'
What is the most important resource in our settlement?
Aluminum? Grape seeds? The endless supply of various fertilizers and daily necessities from my house?
None of these.
Our most important resource is people.
Preventing people from dying or getting injured is not only a moral act but also the most practical approach.
In developing this phosphate mine, we must ensure that no one gets hurt. If people frequently die or get injured, it would be better not to develop it until we find another method.
"But how should we maintain the artificial pond? For humans or animals to draw water..."
Thud.
"We can use this."
"..."
"..."
"..."
I brought the pump I had loaded on top of the camper and placed it in front of them.
"If we use this to draw water, we can create a pond up here. However, for that, we need someone to regularly place coal here and manage this pump..."
"I'll find people for that."
"Thank you, Parliamentarian Pastor. Please convey that the community will pay adequate compensation for this as well."
"Of course! In this blessed land, who wouldn't be rewarded?"
Listening to the parliamentarian's words, I looked around.
There are still many spectators gathered in this area.
It seems like about 500 people, and I remember the village population was just over 600. So basically all the Scottish and Spanish people living here have gathered.
At this point, I raised my hand and said:
"From now on, I plan to select people from Glenaingeal (Angel's Valley) to be the managers of the mine to be established here."
Then people begin to murmur with a different atmosphere than before.
"We need miners to extract valuable resources from there, and technicians to process those resources under extremely strict and delicate conditions!"
