Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-07-08
IN AN AMBER NINE.
A Queer Industry In Which Hon.
esty Is at a Premium.
Valuable Deposits Displaced by Propitious
Gales and Carried Ashore by the
Waves-Some Interesting
DO


Waves-Some Interesting
Particulars.
Deep down in the ssblue earth" along
the shores of and beneath the treacher-
GUS breakers of the Baltic sea are found
in bits and fragments of fossllized wood
the traces of vast forests that in ages
long past had covered nearly the entire
coast line of what is now known as
East Prussia, says the New York Press.
Large tracts of land have sunk there
below sea level and in time were COW
cred with the rank submarine growths
of seawood and algae. Whenever a
storm churns and lashes the waves then
large masses of this green tangle are
torn from the bottom, and often carry
with them pieces of amber, the resin of
fossil pines, which, being but slightly
heavier than salt water, will float in
the network of weeds Upon bringing
the floating meadows, that cover the
sea after a propitious gale, ashore at
given points, there depends frequently
an enormous gain to the amber fishers
who has rented certain portions of the
shore from the crown.
At those times the villages on the sea-
board are all astir with excitement.
Nobody thinks of rest day nor night,
and everyone is on the alert, ready to
fly to the edge of the waves at the first
alarm from the watchers. Men defy
the roaring breakers, and, standing up
to their shoulders in the seething foam,
catch wisps of seaweed in long nets
and fling them shoreward, where the
women and children gather from them
the yellow jewels of the sea. In this
manner as much as fourteen thousand
dollars worth is known to have been
gathered in a single night. But in spite
of the most rapid work it is not always
possible to bring all the cast-up amber
ashore; the larger pieces, especially,
are apt to sink. They are gathered by
means of longhandled nets called
''catchers," when a bright day and a
placid sea enables the amber fishers
sight to penetrate the limpid water.
Inasmuch as it is often necessary to
turn over huge rocks this work is very
laborious, yet case is known where
six hundred dollars worth of amber
amply repaid four men for summer
days drudgery. Recently, however,
this mode has been entirely abandoned
in favor of one more in keeping with
modern ingenuity and inventions.
The company now having charge Of
the industry recognized some twenty
years ago the fact that the largest
i pieces of amber could not be easily
moved by the waves on account of their
weight, and that therefore lucrative
harvest could be gathered directly from
the submerged portion of the amber
bearing stratum. Accordingly divers
were imported from France, but the
very first attempt, though thoroughly
satisfactory from commercial point of
view, demonstrated that Frenchmen
were not able to stand the rigid climate
of eastern Prussia, and Lithuanians
were substituted for them.
Naturally the cleaning Of the bot
| tom of the sea along the coast eventual
| ly exhausted the accessible supply of the
| valuable resin, and from twenty eight
thousand four hundred pounds in 1881
the treasure dropped to five thousand
two hundred pounds in 1890, so that div
| ing had to be discontinued and will not
| be resumed until the government permits
| submarine amber mining. The rapid
| action of dynamite is then to take the
place of the work of divers, whose
movements are hampered by the stiff
| and heavy rubber suit and brass helmet.
Every miner has strapped to him a
bag, in which he collects the pieces OF
amber. Before a miner is permitted tc
leave the premises after each days
work he is searched. Scrupulously
honest men have had strangely per
verified conception of right and wrong
as regards amber. It seems to be con
sidered as gift of nature to which he
who finds it is entitled. In the Baltic
amber fields such thefts were formerly
punishable by death, and occasion still
required quite frequent infection Of
severe punishment. A recital Of the
curious and ingenious ways and means
In which men have attempted to cir
cumvent the vigilance of the examiners
would add a highly interesting chapter
to the history of fraud.
The amber gathered in the mine anc
the smaller pieces collected from the
shelves are washed with sand in revolv
ing drums. Next the pieces are sorted
into nearly one hundred classes, eacf
one representing some particular adap
tation Of the raw material, fat pieces
that are made into smokers utensils
sound pieces for beads and jewelry, anC
wmall fragments out of which amber
varnish is made. The output Of las
year was manufactured in four hundred
thousand dollars worth of smokers
utensils, and the balance of some
eighty thousand dollars worth into jew
@lry and varnish.