Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1894-11-17
DIAMOND MOUNTAIN.
AN AUSTRALIAN MINER Dis
COVERS A BONANZA.
Strange Tale of Miners Lucky Find,
which Makes Him owner OF the Rich
est Mine in the History of the word
He Calls 1t the Monte Crlsto.


cent opal from our White cliffs. and
all the world will soon have an OPP
portunity TO admire the superb
turquoise found at Herai. in Victoria.
says the Australian correspondent Of
the Pail Mall Gazette. We have
pearl fisheries. we have the biggest
silver mine in the world, and gold
reefs so rich that a drive is some
times described as u jewellers
shop but surely we have hit upon
the gnomes' treasurehouse when
we talk coolly of mine with ''ton
OF diamonds in sightm There have
been such sentimental rumors of
late concerning the diamond fields
of Bingara, on the Horton. in New
South Wales, that we had grown
I callously incredulous and are the
more astonished TO find from the re-
port OF a special commissioner Just
returned to Sidney that these rumors
were less than the truth.
The diamondierous tract is some
thousands or acres in extent and the
mine, the Monte Cristo, already
| opened up. belongs TO one man. He
has been working it BY himself. de.
termined to prove it before taking
the public into his confidence. and
that is why we hear so little Of what
is going on there. Before describ.
| ing the field some account Of his ca
reer is due to this Australian count
Of Monte Cristo Mr. Captain BY
mining courtesy Rogers is a Corn
| ishman, active and resolute. but now
over 50 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 demonstrated. He argued that
instead of following alluvial gold
/ should be traced TO its matrix. Act
4 ing on this conviction, in 1853 he
opened in Waffle Gully, Forest
creek, the first quartz reef in Vic.
toria, being jeered as mailman for
expecting to find gold in a lode.
His example, however, was quickly
followed. and then came the difficult
ty OF extracting the gold from tho
cruelty hard quartz. The captain
claims to have erected the first
embarrassing machinery in Aus.
tralia.
Captain Rogers acted as manager
to various mining companies. till in
1876 he was appointed expert to a
Sydney syndicate. He was sent to
report on Bingara as gold field. II
struck him the country was likely
for gems. and he resolved TO return
at his leisure and inspect it.
1t was not for eight years that
this leisure moment came. but he
had not forgotten.
Then he wont TO work all alone.
sometimes not seeing another human
being for months He sunk a shaft.
timbered ii. filed bags with the dirt
below, climbed to the surface and
hauled them up He drove and cross.
cut on two levels and sunk again
through about nifty feet OF very hard
oxidized cement. How man Of his
age could have done this work un
aided is marvel, but OF this drive
he washed fifteen loads for a yield OF
2,139 diamonds and proved the
DRIFT to BE- the commencement OF a
deep lead.
After this he sunk an air shaft.
which was destroyed BY flood and
before he could get another one COM
pleted he succumbed to bad air and
was laid up for six months As soon
as he was able to work again he fol.
lowed up this drive with a tunnel
200 feet to test the extent Of the
drift. sunk third shaft, and from
this one opened up shallow level
so rich that he christened it the
Bonanza
So far, although sending parcels
Of gems to London, Captain Rogers
had kept mis- own counsel but now.
having proved his property, he in
vited experts to visit II and very
much astonished they were They
found that this dauntles5 octogen-
arian had with his own hand accom-.
plished the work Of opening up q
great mine, displaying such con.
summate judgment that the upper
Iezel offered room for 200 men ia
start blocking; that tho drift had
teen traced to within $50 feet OF its
matrix (Which crops out on an adj
iacent hill). and sufficient Of the
forty feet laid bare to yield ton oil
diamonds. The whole OF this drift
is diamond bearing; 1t Is found To
average 300 stones to a one. horse
load OF twcnty-seven cubic feet, and
in one part yielded 2,50J stones &c
the load This one lease Is for
twenty acres.
: The Monte Cristo mine itself Is Q
veritable mountain OF diamonds,
pronounced by experts the richest
mine ever known in the world. The
stones are declared in London, Am.
sterdam and New York equal to the
best Brazilian gems. but OF so ada
mantine a hardness that special ma
chinery has had to be erected AZ
London for cutting them. It's out
put must influence, II not govern
the diamond market which ha,
already had to be nursed because o
the influx of Cape stones. Should
the matrix prove as rich as the sur
rounding country indicates. The