Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-10-06
The KIMBERLY DIAMOND MINE.
Curious History or the Pioneer OF the Dry
Dig ns.

1t has "a curious history, this mine,
the pioneer Of the ''dry diggings," first
called Rush and now Kimberly. says
w. p. Pond IN Drd&e's Afn0uzine. A lit
tie child playing at 'jackstones" or
some other child's game drew the at
tention of Trader O'Reiily to one Of
the stones. He offered to buy it and
was offered it for nothing; but he was
conscientious. and, believing it val
liable, he finally proposed half profits
If the surmiSe of value should prove to
be correct. O'Reilly took the stone to
C~olesbrrg and was laughed at for say
Ing it was a diamond. He took medi-
cal and spiritual advice from a doctor
and a bishop IN Grahamstown; they
declared it To be a diamond. 1t was
then sent TO the colonial secretary and
was sold 10 Messrs. Hunt IL Roskell for
81. JOO. The father of the boy Mr..
Nioukerk, then hunted up a native
witch doctor who had II famous white
stone and gave all he possessed for it.
afterwards selling it TO Messrs. Lillicn-
field of Hopetown for $56 5000. 1t was
cnristened the Star Of Africa" and
was sold by them to the countess of
Dudley.
Then began a mad rush to the rivers
where these stones had been found.
Then diamonds where found at Du
Tots Pan and Bulfontein and finally
the cream of the diamond region, New
Rush, was struck and the diggcrs-at
first pooh-poohing the idea Of dry
diggins"-came with u rush and nearly
precipitated "a war, which was only
STAYED off by the English government
paying down $3.50, 900 TO the rival
claimants.
When the Kimberly mine was first
started the claims were dumped" in
the majority of. cases, but numbers
brought with them order, and eventual
~ the mineor ENTHUSIASTICALLY called
"Kopjes"-were divided into claims,
which originally were thirty feet wide
aud ten feet long, or thirty feet square,
according to location. Learning wis
dom from the experience of other dig
gings, "a law was passed that a strip
seven feet six inches wide should be
taken from one side of each claim for
aroad, and the Kimberly mine was the
first one to enforce this most necessary
regulation. These roads were twelve
in number, and should have been
maintained at n mean breadth of fifteen
feet, but in Il short space of time most
Of them ceased TO be t%wo-thirds of that
width. When a rich piece Of soil was
struck the diggers, careless of the fu-
ture, undermined them and frequent
landslips took place.
Natives were employed to work in
the claims. and the rudcst machinery
imaginable was used to remove the
soil for sorting. At first the claims
were simply shallow pits, which had
a large stake driven into the ground
at the upper edge of the pit, 10 which
was attached a pulley, with a rope to
draw up the buckets or bags contain
ing the diamondifcrou5 soil for sort
ing.
As the mines grew deeper huge cap
STAINS were introduced, WhicA were
worked by horsepower and were
called ''whins." As the work of min
ing progressed and capital anne TO the
front, steam engines took the place Of
the old "Whins," and soon the edge OF
the pit was one mass of machinery.
Any description Of the mine itself
falls short OF the reality. You peered
ONNI iti th@t WV saw ~ CFliliNNII NlN
hole crossed and recrosscd by banks of
greater or less height, some appearing
i'm the likeness of battlcments and tur-
rets, some like II cluster of pillars or
spreading terraces or steps; others gap
ing like great black pits that might be
full of siagnant water; while three
hundred feet below, almost out Of sight,
looking like ants, labored ten thousand
men in six acres of ground; a gigantic
hive filled with human bees, the hive
resonant with the clang of the iron
pick on rock or loose stones. the thud
of falling earth, the splash Of water
from the pumps, buckets rising and
falling, pullcys creaking, ropes strain
Ing and grooming. wires humming,and
through the gigantic cobwcb Of the
wires iloated the gray acrid dust rising
from thousands of Stoves, slowly set
Ting and liltering back into the depths
of the mine; while overhead the scorch-
ing sun beat down with burning, pitt
less, vertical rhyS