The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1885-06-04
WHERE DIAMONDS ARE FOUND:
ihs tfooceiii 81 Mipinx ~ Conducted III South
Africa-Tho story Of IN Unexpected
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i1s tf f,,,; 81 Mining a, Conducted ID South
Afrtea-fhe stsry Of IN Unexpected
:, Among the ..curlosities of COM
mercs none, perhaps: is more curl.
GUS than that the major portion of the
produce exported from South Africa
is simply used for the adornment of
ladies. Out of a total value exported
of $780, 600, ostrich feathers and dia-
monds account for E5,OOO;OOO. Twen-
ty years ago all known diamonds had
come to Europe or the United States
from immemorial eastern stocks or
from the scanty produce of mines in
Brazil and elsewhere, which were cal
culated to yield not more than ESQ.,
600 worth in the year. To-day, stu
ated in the midst of a wide stretching
plain affording at all points q sea-line
horizon Of fiat ':veldt;" we find this
town of Kimberley with a large Eu-
ropean population of wealthy and
well-to-do people, and a large native
population earning every wear more
than e1,O0O,OOO sterling in wages.
And from this mining oasis in the az
ricultural desert has been sent IN the
Ass0o "AVNOA yo0A0 SOAAOVA1AS 1lA0 14Us~
100000 worth of diamonds in the
rough, which, with the cost of cutting,
setting, and selling, must have taken
from the pockets of consumers some
thing approaching f10O, 900. 900:
AS all the world knows. the south
African diamond mines have their own
story Of unexpected discovery at the
least as startling as that of any gold
field or other rich mineral deposit in
the world. In 1867 the first diamond
was found, the favorite toy of u little
Boer girl, which she had picked out
from among the roots of an old tree.
Its genuineness was not long in doubt,
and in q few months the bed of the
Vaal river was known as profitable
diamond region. Prospecting became
the rage, and here and there on the
open, fiat, grassy veldt diamonds were
found in spots with common peculiar
tiles of soil and so forth. In three
years time the secret of the diamond
deposits had been so far fathomed as
to prove that they we're strange clrcu-
lar deposits, or patches of peculiar
earth isolated from one another and
few in number. These were at once
''rushed," and regulation digging
community took possession of the new
district: Private individuals, previ-
Gus proprietors. and governments
fought for the claim to these new min
eral riches, but despite these squab-
bles the practical work was carried on
of marking out these circular patches
in diggers' claims over the fat sur
face. At first the rule was each dig
ger for himself; and with pick and
shovel diamonds were brought to grass
in such profusion that the whole min
ing world was startled by discovery
exceeding in magnitude, real and
prospective, any previous find. But,
as men dug deeper in their claims, 50
they found it necessary to arrange and
amalgamate with their neighbors;
moreover, the deeper they went the
more necessity for machinery to hoist
the soil to the surface. And then, as
they passed on through the top ''yel-
low,' they came upon "blue" soil
which was yet more rich in diamonds.
Suffice it to say, that in ten years
time each one of these greater circu-
lar areas had been so far emptied of
soil as to represent great quarries one
hundred to two hundred yards across,
and three hundred or four hundred
feet deep. Early in the digging the
geOlOgist stepped IN to point out that
these circular basins were evidently a
species of volcanic crater, followed
out in the surface rock by subtercanean
action and filed up to the surface
with a blue diamondiferous mud. The
walls of these basins are locally known
as 1.-THE REEFS" and in their greed to
secure all they could the older miners
cut out all the "blue" right up to the
reef. When, however, the cuttings
got down deep the walls or reefs be-
gan to fall in, owing to the dlsintegrat-
ing action of boiling sun and heavy
rain, covering up in their fall large
areas of valuable blue. At first the
digging was simple and cheap-the
mere turning up and searching of loose
soil; second stage when the soil had
to be cut out and hauled up to the
surface with the aid of machinery;
third stage brought the miners to a
stiffened blue, which had not only to
be brought to the surface, but then
spread about and broken up by hand
labor and exposure to the weather,
and at the present moment all around
the mines are to be seen LITERAL miles
of the ''blue," laid out in shallow lay
ers over the open veldt. With these
more extended operations came more
elaborate machinery for hosting, for
spreading on the ''floors," and for
sorting. Now round eacn great basin
or quarry Is circle of steam-engines
working wire-rope lifts up and down
to the bottom of the quarry; and round
the brink run locomotives and trains
of trucks whlsking the ''blue'' so
brought up away to be spread out like
50 much manure over the veldt, and to
be taken thence, when duly dis inte-
grated by the weather, broken up by
hand, and narrowed and rolled, to tho
washing places, where it Is all sent by
hydraulic action through series of
rotatory sieves and pulsators on the
operations, washing away all dirt
that is lighter than diamonds. The
washers are so arranged that the out
fall of each portion is graduated in
size, and falls on series of sorting
tables. At these stand five or six OF
the principal men-owners and direc-
tors of companies among them-spread
ing out the cleaned washed stuff grad
uated from the size of pebbles to that
of sand; and the visitor may stand by
in wonder to see the searcher at
the one end pick out his eight or ten
"big" stones per hour, or assist the
searcher at tho other busily sorting
out of the sand innumerable white
specks of diamonds. The days work,
tumbled into small snuff-boxes, will
frequently reach local value of
f1,OOO. None can fail to be struck on
looking into one of these great mines
or quarries that the whole of that
great mass of earth and rock has been
dug out, pulverized, and searched for
the diamonds 1t contains. One can
look into quarry of states or,stone and
see the rocks themselves cut down and
carted away for use; but in these quar-
ries the soil and the rock are cut out
and dug out and what for? Simply
that out of every one hundred tons
raised ont IF tho nnarrv an o,noo