7
The End of the Beginning
After the guano operation had been going on for some time I could see that it wasn't turning out to be as profitable as I had originally thought it would be. With the vast quantity of guano under ground, and with our efficient method of extracting it, I wasn't able to realize what I felt was a sizeable profit from the time and effort involved.
Of course there were lots of factors that entered into the operation which do not meet the eye. For instance, when the guano was brought to the surface it was filled with moisture, and I was paying the freight charges to San Francisco by the ton.
Yet when the guano arrived in San Francisco, the Hawaiian Fertilizer Company would pay only for guano that was dry. So, when I found I was paying freight on unwanted moisture, I stopped that in a hurry.
I built a series of drying racks or platforms in the western section of Carlsbad and let the guano remain there until it had dried out. This kept a pay load from reaching market and was one more operation which ate into the profits.
The freight to San Francisco at that time cost me $9 per ton. The guano was $2.25 per unit, $1 for phosphoric acid, and $1 for potash per ton.
One answer would have been to find a closer market, as that would have cut down the high cost of freighting, but there was no other market, so we were forced to continue sending the guano to San Francisco.
With some products the manufacturer sets his price, based on cost of production, but with us we had to accept the market price at the time, or else not operate.
When these problems were becoming more complex and I couldn't see any good solution, a man by the name of Patterson who lived in Carlsbad offered me $500 cash for my equipment and the work I had done at the Big Cave. I immediately accepted his offer.
And then, what did he do but turn right around and hire me as foreman! So, for some time after that I continued the operations at the cave, but of course not as owner.