The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1885-06-04
- ElE ndS,
From the Philadelphia Press,

From the Philadelphia Press.
Eighteen years ago the first
diamond was found by Europeans in
what are know as the South African
diamond fields 1t was the favorite
toy of little Boer girl, which, she had
picked out from among the roots of an
CID tree. Since that time the diamond
trade of the world has been revolu-
tlonlzed, the all round pcice per carat
has fallen from $15 to So 70, while the
annual production has increased from
about $550,0O0 annually from Brazil
to $2O,OOO000 worth from South Afri-
ca. A letter published in tbs London
Times, just lat hand, from Kimberley,
e % A1r..ooa, show that DO less than
~~,vUu0QO ts annually paid cut in that
town alone in wages for diamond
digging. And from this mining oasis
III the agricultural desert has Eeen
Sent in the last fifteen years some
thing like $20O,0O00O0 worth of dia-
monds in the rough, which with the
cost of cutting, setting and selling,
must have taken from the pockets of
consumers sum not far short Of $780,
100000.
Is it surprising, then, since diamond
digging has become an organized in
dustrY like coal, iron, silver and led |
mining, and the new world Is no long
er dependent upon eastern stocks. %
OF from the scanty produce of Brazil
| for this species of adOTnment, that the
price has tumbled, and the market is
suffering from over production. AT
first these South African diamonds
were obtained with pick and shovel,
each miner working for himself. But
this did not last long. The geologisC
stepped improperly organized and sys-
tematic mining operations took the
place of every man for himself and
the general confusion of the first STAN
pede to the newly discovered fields.
Machinery has been introduced. The
earth in these diamond quarries is
eXcavated, spread out, and when duly
disintegrated blythe weather, broken up
by hand and narrowed and rolled to
the washing places, where it is sent by
hydraulic action through series of
rotatory sleeves and pulsators, washing
away all dirt that is lighter than dia-
mOrds. The washers are so arranged
that the outfall of each portion is
graduated in size and falls on series
of sorting tables. Says the Times cor
! respondent:
At these stands five or six of the
principal men--oWnerS and directors of
companies among them-spreadiDg
out the clean washed stuff graduated
from the size Of PEOPLES to that Of
sand; and then the visitor may stand
10y Ill wonder to see the searcher at the
one end pick out his eight or ten "blg"
stones per hour, or assist the search
at the other busily sorting out of the
sand Vulnerable white specks of dia.-
monds. The days work, tumbled in
TO small snuff-boXes, Will frequently
reach ii local value of $1,000.
1t is said the cost of the removal of
the soil tor labor alone in these i'm
mense qucrrieS ihaS teen So, C0O,C00,
while over $5.OOO,OO0 has been pe1ma-
nently invested in machinery. The
next move will be the sinking OF regu-
lar shafts and underground work. Al
depth of 300 and 40 feet, and the
sides OF tho quarries are caving il.
The "blu ;" as the formation contain
ing the diamonds is called, can thus
De followed and brought up. But the
fall in price, already noted, together
with the increase in depth, makes did
and many OF the less important mines
have stopped work, while the larger
ones contemplate restriction of the
output in hopes Of stiffening prices.
Another reason for the low price of
diamonds appears to be the large per-
centage stolen by the Workmen, which
in Kimberley alone, we are informed,
reaches at least $2,5000C0 annually.
n n firy1n
fore a royal commission that their an.
nual losses were above $4,000 in
unnecessarily deprecated price and
$500, 900 in value Of diamonds stolan
"a to'a annual loss O.
81, 100000 out OF total output uf
100000.
The ingenuity of man has been
taxed to the utmost to prevent this !
form of depreciation: but seeming to |
no purpose for the II. ID. b" Gllegiti- |
mat diamond buying hourishes almost |
within sight of the mines. The men |
swallow the stones, tempt their dogs
to swallow them embedded in choice
bits of meat, pitch them away to be
picked no at night and every other de-
vice. The trouble is that diamonds
arc apt to show them selves at any and
all stages of the worK--during tn.
Blasting, picking. shovel'ng down in
the mite, on the laden trucks, in tfr
buckets-an1 where, evtryH here And
the largest and most va
iab'e stones turn UP in this way. L.
has been proposed, as last resort, to
place wire and google masks on those
working in the mine, so arranged that
hey cannot see the diamonds. but on
" sufficient to do the work.
A Denisop man who has got cranky
IN religion, undertook to convert
lard character named Buekskir
George, at Sherman. Ali that Buci =
kin expected was drink OF whisky.