The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-11

wife of General Bidwel of Chico. Its
weight is ~ caTats, or over AZ grains.
The stone was discovered in a placer mine
at Yankee Bluff, Butte County, in 1861. IL
was bought by w. I'll. Wells, who pre-
scented il 30 General BIdwell. The latter
had the stone cut in Boston for bis wife.
who thus had a California diamond in a
setting of California gold.
A number of years ago one of the miners
in Plac-rvlIe found a shiny stone. and
upon showing II 10 companion the latter
sal that he had several, anu that he gave
them to his children To play WITH Other
miners had some, and in one camp The
stones were employed as counters in a
nightly game of seven up A gentleman
of Placerville accidentally saw them, and
tLey were pronounced diamonds by an
expert, he dis overy resulting in no little
excitement at the time. They were taken
from an ancient gravel bed, the deposit OF
an old river which had been capped with
lava.
Search in this vicinity resulted in the
discovery of number of stones, but not
enough to justify working for that alone.
One of these diamonds brought $500 in San
Francisco Professor Silliman exhibited
fine stone to The Academy of Sciences
some years ago which was taken from
French Corral, Nevada County. 1t weighed
! 3-5 carats, and was yellowish hue; an
other from the same place weighed IL
caratS.
In all, diamonds have been found In fif-
teen or twenty different localities in this
State, but so far the finds do not Justify
continued search for them, tn ough mum bers
of persons are prospecting for them, the
hunt having peculiar charm and fascina-
ZION.
Diamonds are found in various portions
of the West. A few wears ago a diamond
boom occurred in Idaho from the discov.
cry of few stones. and mnch excitement
was the result. Between Boise City and
Owyhee tract of about forty miles square
was said TO abound in them. Deer
Lodge County. Montana, has produced
several good stones. One found by a
Chinaman was left lying about the cabin
OF the owner until one day a jeweler saw
il and it was shown TO be diamond
Twenty or more years ago a diamond was
found In Arizona, and this probably sug-
gested TO clever party one of the most re-
markable diamond fakes of The century.
The scheme was to sell barren tracts of
land as ruby and diamond producing.
and the first move was to announce in the
papers all over the country the discovery
of gems of extraordinary SIZE and bril-
liancy. Then the promoters took hold,
and to show the amount of money in
vested in the scheme il is said that nearly
100000 caTats OF diamonds and rubies were
ted 10 induce capitalists 10 invest.
One diamond weighed 108 carats and con-
verted many. The fake progressed so far
that in May, 1872. a bill passed Congress
for the protection OF the diamond searcher
or miner. Capital was interested, both
East and West. and party started out 10
test the stories under the charge
of an expert. The leaders conducted
the party south from RawIins. Nom
tana, on most tlresome journey and
over a country rough in the extreme /;
but finally they were taken to a
! mountain and the diamond region pointed
out. The proof of pudding is said TO be
IN the eating; so in diamonds and rubies,
! If they can be picked up here and there
promlscuously the inference is that they
are there, aud as ii happened that every
man In the party found diamonds or rubies
here they were convinced that they had
! struck bonanza and returned with 5000
carats of rnbies and 1000 carats of da-
monds which they had found themselves.
| NEEDLESS 10 say. sales were made, and as
result, before the end came the schemers
took from capitalists, mostly Californians.
over $4,000 In hard cash. for which
nothing remained. Clarence King Of the
United States Geological Survey exposed
the scheme and showed that the su-called
mine was literally "Salted" by the men.
who obtained the rough diamonds in Lon
don for the purpose.
The diamond is found in various other
Localities IN the United States, bu along
the Sierra Nevadas and the Allrghanies
are the two most famous.
1t is interesting to note the vast sums
Invested In diam onds by Americans. Mrs.
John Mackay possesses the finest dia-
mODds in the world. it is said. and one of
her sapphires. purchased from Russian
prince. is valued at a princes ransom, or
S150,000. She also has pair of solitaire
diamonds said to be worth S225,000 apiece.
One came from the collection IF the Duke
of Brunswick, and it took two years to
duplicate 1t by searching the markets of
the world. Wien be French crown jewels
were sold in 1886 one-third of thu cnllec-
ton came to America, for which $500, 600
in American coin went into the reasury
of France. There are in America over q
dozen families who possess diamonds to
the value of half million, and many more
that own collections from $4,000 upward.
Several millions of California money are
tied up in these gems.
There are three diamonds in America
which weigh II. 55A and 1255s carats. The