Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-11-08
A Lost Fortune.

In work recently published on the geology
and minera'ogy of Georgia, the following slight
ly improbable story is told of the diamond mines
of Hall county;
Running parallel with the marble is the i'm
mcnse ledge of itacolumite, or elastic sandstone.
the matr,X of the diamond. 1t extends through
out the country for thirty miles, and in every
gold deposit, or branch mine near it, have been
found splendid diamonds by the gold washers,
who, being totally ignorant of their nature or
value, either lost or destroyed them. Some
were sent to Europe to be cut Or set in iewelry,
but most of them were lost. Some OF them
are st in the hands of the finders, who
keep them as mementoeS, in their rough state.
Being entirely ignorant of their nature
or value. none were picked up but such
as were without incrustration, which in
Brazil and Golconda amount to only the one
tenth part of the whole product. FOurflthS of
all the diamonds found in any country are
small, and only tit for mechanical purpOSes-in
general, being less than a half carat, or from
one to two grains. The carat is a fraction less
than four grains (threc and one-SiXth,) but in
all estimates and sales in the mines the carat is
put at four grains. 1t originated from the use
Of the seed of plant in the East Indies, in the
sales Of diamonds. This berry, which grows
only in that region, though not very ace urate,
answered the purposes of the semi-civlllzcd ln-
dams for several thousand wears.
The yield in Brazil, for forty years, from the
labor of from thirty thousand to sixty thousand
hands, ranged between one thousand and twelve
hundred ounces. OF this large amount they
rarely found more than three or four, and never
more than ten, that weighed more than thirty
carats. These facts strongly confirm the opin-
ion that, when developed, Hall county will be
rs rich in diamonds as Brazil, and contain even
a larger per cent of stable ones OF the first
water. In washing for gold, all the large ones
would, from the construction of the machines,
necessarily be lost or thrown away with the
quartz gravel with which they are associated, and
only such as passed into the rifiiers with the
gold and fine sand would be found in the pam
ming after the days work was done. All of
those found in Hall county were thus found,
weighing from two to six carats, some few less,
and three were of large size. One of these, as
before stated, was broken up to see the cause of
their luSter by the ignorant miners Another
was used for years by the boys as a middle
man in playing marbles; and the largest one
by far was lost by DR.. Lloyd, who was employed
10 oversee thirty negroes in working the Glade
gold mine, deposit twelve miles northeast of
Gainesville.
During the four years he was employed he
picked out of the sands of the paintings for gold
every night, after the DAYS washing was over,
about half pint of pretty stones, which he
gave 10 his wife, who put them in mustard
bottle in an old cupboard, except such as the
children took fancy to, which were generally
lost. When the bottle was full she made
a little bag, and put them into that
for future amusement. Some of these,
from their size and reputed luster must have
been worth from twenty thousand to fifty thou
sand dollars. But the "big one" was found by
himself whilst working in the pit in the place of
a sick hand. He said that about two hours 10y
the sun The had no watch) while raising 4
gravel he found a stone Just like the little ones,
except that it was bright and shining only on
one side, the other side being covered with acrnst
of brown stuff. 1t was about the size Of a
guinea egg" Being hard pushed to keep the
wheeIbarrows filled with gold gravel, so as TO
furnish grit for constant washing, he laid it on
the bank by a gum tree which stood close by,
until night when he intended to take it up to
the cabin and give it to his wife and children as
being the largest of the pretty stones he had
found. But when night came the machines were
emptied Of their gold sand and in the hurry of the
moment he forgot all about the pretty stone.
Twelve years afterward he was shown a rough
diamond, and at once recognized the contents of
the mustard bottle" and the big one" he had
laid up by the gum-tree. Soon after he found
the Chg pretty stone" the lease expired and
the company who employed him sent home the
bands, and quit work. About the same time
Mrs. Lloyd died; and his daughter, who had
reached wOmauhood, married, and moved away
to southwestern Georgia, and took the little fur
niture they had, among which was the emp
board which then contained the laed bag.
When he became satisfied of the value of the
stones, he at once left Atlanta, where he
was keeping the Washington hail. and
went to his daughter; but she had no knowl-
edge Of the bag or mustard bottle. They were
gone. He then went to the mine, and looked
long and anXiously for the stone by the gum
tree. No tree was there. The ground had been
cleared and cultivated in corn for ten years. He
looked in vain for any sign of the place. None
existed. He now washed the gravel from the
heaps where he thought it was, for weeks and
months, but he found il not Discouraged and
weary OF hunting he returned to Atlanta to die
From his description Of its size and character
there can be no doubt of its being diamond;
and being, as he described it, about as large MS
a guinea egg" must, if pare, have been worth
about sos, 900 00O