The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-06-05
WHERE DIAMONDS ARE FOUND.
The Process Of Mining as Conducted in south
Africa-The Story Of an Unexpected
Discovery,

5000
is simply used for the auornment O
ladies. Out of a total value exported
of f., 800, 900, ostrich feathers and dia
mOnds account for Is, 600, 600. Tween
ty years ago all known diamonds haC
come to Europe or the United State
from immemorial eastern stocks 81
from the scanty produce of mines il
Brazil and elsewhere, which were cal
Culated to Weld not more than ESQ.
600 worth in the year. To-day. stu,
ated in the midst of a wide stretching
plain atfOrding At all points a s~ea-line
horizon of flat ''yeldt.' we ind this
town of Kimberley with q large Eu-
ropean population of wealthy and
well-to-do people, and a large native
population earning every year more
than Il, 900, 600 sterling in wages.
And from this mining oasis in the az
riCultural desert has been sent IN the
last fifteen years something like $40
GOO, 900 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 600, 900, 600.
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 OF other rich mineral deposit in
the world. In 1867 the first diamond
was found, the favOrite toy of 81 little
Boer girl, which she had picked out
from among the roots of an old tree.
It's genuineness was not long in doubt,
and in a few months the bed of the
Vaal river was known as a profitable
diamond region. Prospecting became
the rage, and here and there on the
open, flat, 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 were strange clrcu-
lar deposits, or patches of peculiar
earth isolated from one another and
few in number. These were at once
rushed" and a regulation digging
community took possession of the new
district. Private individuals, previ-
u 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 a discovery
exceeding in magnitude, real and
prospective, any previous find. But,
as men dug deeper In their claims, so
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 a ''blue'' soil
which was yet more rich in diamonds.
Suffice it to say, that in ten years
time each n 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 huHdred 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 s~ubterranean
action and filled 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 ''bluen right up to the
reef. When, however, the cuttings
got down deep the walls or reefs be-
gan o fall in, owing to the dlsintegfat-
ing action of boiling sun and heavy
rain, covering up in their fall large
areNsg IT valuable blue. At first the
digging was simple and cheap-the
mere turning up and searching of loose
soil; a second stage when the soil had
to be cut out and hauled up to the
surface with the aid of machinery: a
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 literall miles
of the s'bIue, laid out In shalloy lay
ers over the open veidt. With these
more extended operations came more
elaborate machinery for Insisting. for
spreading on the floors" and for
5oT ting. NOW rOt.nd eacn great basin
or quarry is a 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
10 much manure over the yeldt, 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 1t Is all sent by
hydraulic action through a series Of
rotatory sleeves and pulsators on the
principle of, in successive mechanical
Operations. washing away all dirt
That Is N8ntef Lnd diamonds. Inc
mouharQ ara az arra n frod that fIn art