Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-06-04
NHsRr p,.nosDs ARE yoUsn
me process OF Mining as Conducted In south
Africa-The story Of an Unexpected

Afftfa--lne Ht1fl vi uu DheNfNNs+,
Discovery.
Among the .'curlositics OF com
merce' none. perhaps Is more curit
GUS than that the major portion OF inc
produce exported from South Africa
Is simply used for the adornmeh ?,
!s.:cs nnt of a total value exported
~ 81. SOC. 900, ostrich featnefs aud diaA
monds account for E5,D0o,00e TwenS
ty years ago all knowr dianends had
come 10 Europe or the United states
from in,memorial eastern stocks or
from the scanty produce OF mines 10
Brazil and elsewhere, which were cal
culated to Weld not mere than ESQ.,
600 worth Ia the year. To-day, situ-
ated In the midst Of wide stretching
plain aflording at all points 0 sea-line
horizon of fat "seldhh We hid this
town of Kimberley with a large Rur
ropean population Of wealthy and
well-to-do people, and q iarge native
population Gaining every year more
Shan Ei 100000 sterling In wages.
And from this mining oasis In the az.
ricultural desert has been sent in the
last fifteen years something like E40,7
100000 worth of diamonds ia the
rough, which, with the cost d, cutting,
setting, and selling, must hare taken
from the pockets of consumers some
Thing approaching fl00, 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 geld
field or other rich mineral deposit in
Tie world. In 1867 the first diamond
was found, tne favorite toy OF little
Boer girl, which she had picked out
from among the roots OF an old tree.
Its genuineness was not long in doubt,
..,.., IN few months the bed of the
Naai FLYER was known as profitable
diamond region. Prospecting became
the rape; and here and there on the
bperi, hat, grassy veldt diamonds were
f6tthd IN spots with common peculiar
tiles 0f sofl and so forth. In three
years time the secret OF the diamond
| deposits had been so far fathomed as
ID. prove that they were strange eircu-
/ lar deposits, or patches OF peculiar
! earth isolated from one another and
! few in number. These were at once
crushed" and a regulation digging
| community took possession of the new
| district. Private individuals, previ-
Gus proprietors, and governments
fought for the claim TO these new min
eraf riches, but despite these SQUAD
bles the practical work was carried on
of marking out these circular patches
in diggers' claims over the fiat 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 q discovery
exceeding in magnitude, real and
prospective, any previous find. But
as men dug deeper in their claims, Sc
thew found il necessary to arrange ano
amalgamate with their neighbors
moreover, the deeper they went the
more necessity for machinery to hois
the soil to the surface. And then, ~
they passed on through the top ,.,'yel
low,n they came upon a blue" sJi
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 o
soil as to represent great quarries ont
hundred to two hundred yards across
and three hundred or four hundred
feet deep. Early in the digging thu
geologist stepped IN TO point out tina
these circular basins were evidently &
species of volcanic crater, hollowe,
out in the surface rock by subterTaneal
action and filled up to the surfac,
with blue diamondiferous mud. The
walls of these basins arr locally know
as 1.-THE reefs and in their greed Il
secute all they could the older miner
cut out all the blue" right up to tn
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 heay.
rain, covering up in their fall larg'
areas OF valuable blue. At first tn
digging was simple and cheap-th
mere turning up and searching of loos
soil; a second stage when the soil ha'
to be cut out and hauled up to tn
: surface with the aid of machinery;
: third stage brought the miners to
stifiened blue, which had not only t
! be brought to- the surface, but the
spread about and broken up by han
labor and exposure to the weather
and at the present moment all atoun
: the mines are to be seen literall mile
of the "blue," laid out in shallow lay
: ers over the open veldt. With thes
| more extended operations came NOR
. elaborate machinery for hosting, TO
spreading on the "ioors," and f
, sorting. Now round eacn great basi
/ or quarry is circle of steam-engin,
1 working wire-rope lifts up and dow
t to the bottom of the quarry; and roun
|. the brink run locomotives and trait
h of trucks whlsking the "blue" {
5 brought up away to be spread out Ill
|. so much manure over the veldt, and
n be taken thence, when duly dis int
r grated by the weather, broken up
hand, and narrowed and rolled, to Il
. washing places, where it Is all sent
9 hydraulic action through series {
h rotatory sleeves and pulsators on u
a principle of, in successive mechanic
k operations, washing away all di
e that is lighter than diamonds. III
v washers are so arranged that the on
e fall of each portion is graduated
o size, and falls on series of sortir
IS tables. At these stand five or six
IF the principal men-owners and dire
IF tors of companies among them-spres
2. ing out the cleaned washed stuff gra
n. uated from the size of pebbles to tn
d of sand; and the visitor may stand
n in wonder to see the searcher
to the one end pick out his eight or Il
a "big" stones per hour, or assist Il
searcher at the other busily soItir
out of the sand innumerable viii
specks of diamonds. The days wor
~ tumbled into small snuff boxes, W
10 frequently reach local value
t, E1,0O0. None can fail to be struck
Is looking into one of these great min
ID or quarries that the whole of tn
ID great mass of earth and rock has be,
a dug out, pulverized, and searched (
= the diamonds 1t contains. One CT
70 lookintoa quarry of states or stone al
Of SEQ tho rocks thpmsalyas out dnwn a