Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1890-10-25
0deehlp Sentinel.
PUBLISHED livery SATURDAY Br
CASSIDY q sKILLMAN.
sKILLxAx. GRO. ". Cassidy
CORRESPONDENCE.
An Interesting Letter From One of
Eurekas Former Society Bellies
60 her "Friends at Home"


The following is condemned from a
letter written TO her uncle John Pardy
and her friends at home by Mrs. A
p. Galway one OF the little favorites
Of Eureka society who left here with
her husband for England and South
Africa ten months ago:
JoHANNEsBERG,
TRANsvAAL, l.. A. REPUBLc,
Aug. IA, 1890.
We arrived here last Friday glad to
get to our journeys end, 80 tired and
dusty we're we.
johannesburg is very much like
Eureka not quite so nice perhaps,
but | am so happy to tell you it is not
one bit wilder. The place is ever so
much larger than Eureka, or even
Virginia City, with some beautiful
buildings and lovely residences. Al
most everybody lives at Doorfontein,
as it is healthier, and one escapes the
dust, which is something awful; Eu-
reka is not a bit dusty compared
with this. The wind blows awfully at
times, for we are in mid-winter
here, but at present we have glor-
ious weather. 1t is bitterly cold at
nights, but the days are delightfully."-
warm. The Summers here, they tell
me, are lovely. House rents are aw-
fully high, the cheapest being $75 and
the nicer $l25 to $50 month. Every
thing is high, but you can coin money.
On our arrival at johannesburg we
stopped at hotel. said to be the best
in the town, but the rooms are poor,
except the dining room, which is
beautiful the meals compare favor
ably with the Metropole in London.
We have just gone TO housekeeping in
a dear little house, with a very pretty
garden, etc.
We staid at Capetown two days, and
left Aug. 2. Everybody there had the
blues men who but short time ago
were worth from thirty TO sixty thous-
and pounds were dead broke. Mr..
Gallwey took me to the DeBeers dia-
amond mine, and was surprised at
meeting an old college chum in the
person of its foreman-Mr. Gardiner
Williams. The superintendent, an
old Californian, kindly led US through
the grounds. In the Office we saw
diamonds in the rough being assorted
according to size and color. We saw
some lovely colored stones-all very
valuable-heliotrope, pink, yellow,
brown and green. The diamonds are
put up in small lots and the diamond
brokers call and bid for each parcel.
All the stones are sold to local buyers
for shipment TO Europe, where they
are cut. Some OF the diamonds are
beautiful in the rough we saw several
OF them worth from 5000 to 10000
pounds each, uncut. We we're driven
TO the mine, and saw the stones being
washed out Of the clay, which is
spread over the ground, covering
several acres, where ii is exposed to
the weather for six months and crum-
bles to peioes. The clay in a crushed
condition is then put into big pans,
mixed with water and run through
circular revolving screens; the mud
is washed out, leaving nothing but
the gravel, which in turn is looked
over and the diamonds are picked out
OF it. The work is very interesting.
The negroes, or Kaffirs, who are en-
gagged at this work are bound under
contract for several months, during
which time they are shut up in bar
racks which they are not permitted to
leave. This is done to prevent steal
ing; but they steal all the same. The
grounds are fenced in with barbed
wire, and the Kaffirs are held under
guard OF armed men.
George Rives gave us letter OF in
PRODUCTION to Mr.. Williams, who for
merly lived at Phoebe, and is now a
big man at Kimberley. He has a
really fine house. 1t is lighted with
electric lights and has all the modern
improvements.
Sam. Curtis, formerly q U. s. G.
Surveyor, and well known in Eureka,
is here. When told OF my arrival he
was said to have exclaimed in sur
prise, 4" What, little Oracle married,
and in Africai" He is married to a
charming little American lady
bright and full of chat. This is a
wonderfully rich country. You can
see the Main Reef stretching over a
distance of thirty miles northward
across the Transvaal, said to be a
vertiable river OF gold, with an as
certained depth OF 450 feet. 1t is a
great sight to see the numerous shafts
A..