The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-04
DIAMONDS BY THE TON.
4 Monte CriStO Find Of Gems in New
South Wales.

will Prove HIN Iho OWhSr O1 Ihs
picbest Diggings on Earth-Report
Of Commissioner.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
Australia is a prodigious lucky bag,
ont If which somebody is always fishing
nm some surprise. There is scarcely
naradic who has not hoard of red and
LI-o and green stones which he cannot
..oLa nm his mind to sell for the trife
a4orad bv the jewellers. He means TO go
home some day, and then he will get
,rice for them. Meantime he carries
them about in little gold dust bag,
sometimes getting wheedled out of one or
two bv a barmaid or ''going on the tan
yIeu and losing the lot. Occasionally one
saas in A breastpin or a ring fine sap
rbire. youched for as native; but the en-
araIds. rubies, spinels and almandines
found are mostly of small size. All the
4Corid knows the magnificent opal from
tba White Cliffs and all the world will
soon have an opportunity to admire the
sTnarb TURQUOISE found at Herdi, in Vic
4oria saws an Australian correspondent.
We have pearl fisheries; we
have the biggest silver mine
in the world and gold reefs so
rich that drive is sometimes described
as a Jewellers shop" but surely we have
bit npon the gnomes' treasure-house when
no taIlx coolly of a mine with "a ton of
Giamonds in sightW There have been
such sentimental rumors of late concern
inc the diamond fields of Bingaf, on the
E9rton in New South Wales, that
we had grown callously incredulous, and
are the more astonished to find from the
report of a special commissioner just re-
turned to Sidney that the rumors were
less than the truth. The diamondifer-
ous tract is some thousands of acres in
extent, and the mine, the Monte Cristo,
already opened up, belongs to one man.
He mas been working it by himself, deter
mined to prove it before taking the pub
lie into his confidence, and that is why
we have heard so little of what was
poing on there. Before describing the
field some account of his career is due to
this Australian count of Monte Cristo.
WAITING PATIENTLY FOR HIS OPPORTUNITY
MIR. captain by mining courtesy Rog-
ers is a Cornishman, active and resolute,
but now over so years of age. After
opening up tin mines in Tava, Penang and
elsewhere, he came to Victoria in the
first flush of its gold fever and gained his
colonial experience in several rushes.
His practical shrewdness was early DEM
onstrated. He argued that instead of fol-
lowing the alluvial the gold should be
traced to its matrix, Acting on this CON
viction in 1858 he opened in Waffle Gully,
Forest Creek, the first quartz reef in Vic
toria, being jeered as a mailman for ex-
pecting to find gold in a lode. His exam
pie was. however, quickly followed, and
then came the difficulty of extracting the
gold from the cruelty hard quartz. The
captain claims TO have erected the first
quartz crushing battery in Australia. BY
the by home people cannot imagine what
a dazzlingly beautiful thing in the sun is
pure white quartz crushed. The streets
of Ballarat are metaled with it, and make
one think of that little surprise the
French king prepared for his mistress
when he had the park avenues spread
with salt.
Capt Rogers acted as manager to va
rious mining companies, till in 1876 he
was appointed expert to Sydney sindi-
cate. He was sent to report on Bingara
as a gold field. 1t struck him the country
was likely for gems, and he resolved to
return at his leisure and prospect it. 1t
was not for eight years that this ''leis-
ure' moment came, but he had not for
gotten. He came all the way from Hal
larat in the adjoining colony, and after
two months prospecting found lead
which averaged three carats to theload
Although at this time there was>uncer-
tainty as to the market value of Austria
Ian diamonds $50 called, some specula-
tors at once offered S17 500 for his claim.
II was probably this want of definite
knowledge about the stone found here
That induced Rogers to accept the offer
a proceeding he soon regretted, as the
purchasers made ring and took up every
acre OF dlamondiferous country in the
district.
Here again the Cornishman's innate
shrewdness stood him in good stead He
alone knew the trend of the country and
the dead work needed to develop it. He
argued that some of these mining leases
would inevitably be forfeited owing to
noncompliance with labor conditions. So
ne waited, His foresight had not de-
celyed him AS the leases fell through
ne lodged his application and secured
ttnem, always keeping his eye steadily on
mat big plumb, the Monte Cristo block
de waited five years before this last
lease was obtained.
FABULOUS RICHNESS OF THIS FIND.
i. linen he went to work all alone, some
times not seeing another human being for
months. He sank a shaft, tim bered it,
HIIeu bags with dirt below, climbed to the
81 "Ce anu nduled Jhem up. de drove
and cross-cut on two levels, and sank
again through about thirty feet of very
hard oXdized cement. How man of his
age could have done this work unaided is
marvel; but of this drive he washed fif-
Teen loads for yield of also diamonds,
ana proved the drift to be the commence
meht OF deep lead. After this he sunk
gu ar shaft, which was destroyed by
noou and before ne could get another one
To1pIeted he succumbed to bad air and
ldlu up for six months As soon as he was
9Uie 10 work again he followed up this
uI!Ve with tunnel 200 feet to test the
extent OF the drift, sunk third shaft,
I Iuu from this one opened up a shallow
mama. ~
So far, although sending parcels of
gems to London, Capt. Rogers has kept
Us own counsel, but now, having proved
- nlS property, he invited experts to visit
~ ~, ana very much astonished they were.
Iney found that this dauntless octogena-
ian ian mad, with his own hand accomplished
r rIe work OF opening up great mine, dis
pJtaJlug such consummate Judgment that
.ne upper level offered room for 200 men
" START blocking; that the drift had been
Otdced 70 within $50 feet of its matrix
L"alch crops outon an adjacent hill, and
o.ulclent OF the 40 feet laid bare to yield
ton OF diamondsl The whole Of this
~ Is dlamond-bearing; it is found to
~ eI age ZOO stones TO one-horse load of
s e, cuolc 1eet, and in one part yields $500
wv enty acres