The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-10
WISCONSIN DIAMONDS
THEY ARE SUFFICIENTLY NUMER-
OUS TO CAUSE MUCH En-
CITE MENT
KLoNDIKE OF GEM STONES

That May Eclipse the Famous Mines
OF South America-AII the Stones
So Far Found Have Been Thor
oughIv Examined and Pronounce
ed Genuine Diamonds OF the Pur-
est Water.
A diamond KIondike has been discov-
cred out in Wisconsin. Seventeen stones
of the purest water have been found,
which government experts now pronounce
as fire as those of the famous Kimberly
diamond fields Of South Africa. An ex-
element has been started which may re-
suit in the whole state being dug over
for precious stones. The diamonds which
have already been found have been picked
up in the most curious ways, says the
New York Journal.
A farmer turned up with his plow one
worth hundreds of dollars. But thinking
it only a pretty white pebble, gave It TO
his wife who sold il for one dollar.
Another person found clear white
stone in digging a well, which proved to
be a diamond of finest quality,
Still other stones have been picked up
in creek beds by men prospecting for gold,
and even children at play have picked
them up under the caves of houses where
the dTtppings have washed away the soil
and exposed the gIstening stones.
The region where most of these dta-
monds have been found in the eastern
part of Wisconsin, in the netghborhood Of
Milwaukee. The prospective diamond
fields extend from Lake Superior on the
north to the Illinois state line on the
south.
1t would not be surprising if this whole
region had boom like that which swept
over Pennsylvania when the oil strikes
began to be made.
Diamond experts are already on the
ground with a view 10 selecting fields FOR
extensive mines, TO be operated like the
Kimberly diamond mines of South Africa,
which are the present source Oh the
worlds greatest diamond supply.
The government mineralogists are en-
eouraging this diamond boom, for it
promises to become most fabulous
source of wealth TO this country.
Besides the diamonds found in Wiscon-
sin. one was picked up in the southern
mart of Minnesota, another in the south
eru part of Michigan, and still another
away down in Indiana, near the Ohio
river.
This shows how widely distributed the
diamond fields may eventually prove to
De.
But for the present the greatest inter-
est is conferred in the eastern part Of Wis
consin. where the bulk of the diamonds
have been found. It is here that it is ex-
oected that the first diamond mines will
De opened up.
Biologists and scientific experts in min
sraIogy are now turning their eyes to-
ward this territory, where countless mill
lions Of wealth lie in the bottoms and
creek beds and hidden deep in the debris
and glacial drifts now overtopped in
many instances by farm land.
Up to the present time seventeen d1a-
mOnds varying in weight from one-half
carat to over twenty-one carats have been
found in Wisconsin.
This wholesale find IS not attributed to
accident, but is a foreruuner of an i'm
mense diamond belt in this vicinity, which
came down in ages past from the north in
the glacial drift, bringing along the
stones from their ancestral home imbed-
ded in the glacial material and deposing
them in its huge path.
There is only one more step necessary,
which IS the tracing Of the exact path Of
the demonstrating glacier. This the
scientists are now at work on.
All Of the stones so far found have been
thoroughly examined and pronounced
genuine diamonds of the purest water. A
number Of the largest ones are now in
possession of the American Museum Of
Natural History of this city and with
Tiffany & Co. Mr.. George F, Kunz, the
eminent expert of Tiffany and also for the
government, attested to the genHineness
Of these stones to a Journal correspond
ent, as well as to the story of the recent
finds, etc, which has so aroused the pop
ular interest in the state Of Wisconsin.
The story Of their discovery, which Mr..
kunz is preparing in a special report to
the government, is substantially the same
as what the Journal now presents in ad-
vance.
The first Wisconsin diamond was found