, 1899-10-05
DIAMOND FIELD
FROM WISCONSIN ToLAHRADon
Professor Hobbs. of Wisconsin, Finds Evil
dence TO Encourage Him in Search.

eae' v
dence to Encourages Him in search.
A Wisconsin man is looking for n
new Kimberley On the American con
tinent. He knows that 1t is there, but
is not sure that he will find ii. There
are millions in it and it is n little
strange that the quest lfas attracted so
little attention n that there have
been no spies on his trail seeking to be
in at the discovery of the promised
diamond mines. From time to time
diamonds have been found in Wauke-
sha county and the n%eighboring parts
of Wisconsin. Sapphires have been
found there in much greater numbers
than the diamonds.
At times the faculty of the State Uni
versity and gem experts from else
where have investigated these diamond
fields, with the result that they were
pronounced not to be diamond fields
at all, as the region has absolutely
lone of the geological characteristics
of diamond-bearing country. SO the
dreams of diamond mines vanished.
The stray diamonds were strays, that
was all, n how they happened none
thought to conjecture until DIR. w. II.
Hobbs, professor of mineralogy in the
State University, began to Investigate
the matter.
There were diamonds there, they did
MT belong to that region. How did
they get there. Perhaps dropped there
by the aborigines. though that was
hardly a plausible theory. When gold
is found in the bed of rivers, the min
ers know that 1t has been washed
down from somewhere. They follow
the traces of he gold and look for the
mother lode. and thus many rich mines
have been discovered. But one could
hardly expect to find n trail of dla-
monds leading to the mother pans.
However, the gold hunters method
Furnished n suggestion. Where did
4 the diamonds come from? Where did
/ the bOulders and glacial debris OF the
Kettle range of hills in southern Wis
cousin come from? They didn't belong
to the underlying local geological for
nations my more than the diamonds.
hen what more natural conclusion
than that the great ice cap that
brought down the boulders, pushed up
the Kettle range as n terminal NOR
aine II dug the myriads of lakes, al
so brought down The diamonds. SO as
these boulders had n home somewhere
in h far and frozen north, so had the
diamonds. Boulders and diamonds
came together from British America.
from the shores of Hudson's bay, from
Labrador. from the Mackenzie. Lab
rador is the original home of the dia-
monds, in DIR. Hobbs opinion. and he
is on his way thithcr. He will follow
the path of the glacier. and it is taking
him in that direction ut present. 1t is
easy to follow the direction taken by
the ice cap. But whether the ice cap
did not erase all the external manifes-
%tations, the volcanic crumplings of the
diamond pans. when it was picking up
diamonds and boulders, remains to be
seen.
1t is possible that Il diamond field
may be found nearer than Labrador.
Indeed, n geologist of Wausau. Mr. 4.
w. Clark. has risen to say that the Ola
mond field is in northern Wisconsin or
Michigan. He says; Don't Labrador
me. The man who talks Labrador
talks through his hat. Well informed
men estimate that the upper peninsula
of Michigan contains more carbon than
the state of Pennsylvania, and no part
of the world had more heat and pres
sure applied to its rock than upper
Michigan. We see here all the condi-
tons required for n great natural dia.
mond factory, while the stray dia-
monds picked out of the glacial drift
In southern Wisconsin prove that the
great natural diamond factory of up
per Michigan has been successfully OPP
Grated at some former time"