The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-19
DIAMOND
The First Found In
South Africa.
SOLD FOR A TRIFLE.
Famous Stones Afterward
Discovered.

L no llISI uIdlIOllu discovered IN
South Africa" said. Henry A. Kratsch.
who spent several years in the diam
ond fields, to a New York Sun man,
was purchased in 1867 by trader, an
lrishman by birth, named John O'Reil-
ly. While returning from the interior
with his cattle he stayed for few
days, in order to recuperate, at a large
farm on the banks of the Orange river
owned by a Boer named Schalk Van
Niekerk. A peculiar stone had been
picked up some time previously by a
Bushman boy. OReilly bought it for
trifie out of curiosity not knowing
himself what it was, and took it with
him to a town called Colesberg and
handed it to the resident civil COM
missioner, who in turn forwarded it to
DR.. Atherstone, in Graham's Town,
Cape Colony. This gentleman, after
careful examination, pronounced it a
veritable diamond, PIN carats in
weight and worth $250O. 1t was
subsequently purchased for this price
by the governor of the colony, Sir p
Wodehouse. When the find became
known a search for diamonds was in
stituted throughout the Hope Town
district, but ii was not until 1869 that
the existence of diamonds in paying
quantities was proved beyond a doubt
Then a great rush of diggers from all
parts of the globe was made to the
Orange river and its vicinity. 1t is a
curious fact, that, although the earli
est finds were made in the Hope Town
district, no mine was discovered there.
In the later part of 1870 a lot of min
ers who had gained valuable expert
ence in California and Australia dis
covered a mine about 100 miles due
north of Hope Town, nearly 1000 miles
from Cape Town, which they named
after the then British colonial secre-
tary, the Earl of Kimberley AT the
beginning of 1871, 10000 men had found
their way to this spot. The extensive
farm on which the Kimberley mine
and town are situated was the property
of one Van Wyck, from whom it was
purchased for about $4,000.
1.-The actual diamond mine is hole
of 25 or 80 acres. The mining was So
called gravel digging until 1878, when
the hard rock was reached at the depth
of 270 feet from the surface. There
were then about 800 claims on which
licenses We're paid. The yield of dia-
monds from this big excavation since
the opening Of the mine in 1871 prob
ably exceeds eight tons weight of
precious stones, in value about $240,-
100000 After years of progress all the
individual small diggers and claim
holders sold out to a gigantic syndicate,
of which the late Barney Barnato and
Cecil Rhodes were the promoters. This
company employs at present about 100
white men and about $4,000 Katfirs, and
it's expenditures for labor material
etc, are not less than S12, 100000 an
nually. The finest diamond ever found
in South Africa was the famous Porter
Rhodes, discovered in claim No. 375
near the centre of the Kimberley mine
on Feb. II, 1880. 1t is a pure white
octahedron, weighing $50 carats and
valued at $500, 900. A splendid yellow
octahedron was found on March 81
1884, at the east end of the mine 1t
weighed 302 carats. The largest dia-
mond ever found in this mine was dis
covered near the west end of the mine
on Sept. 80, 1885. 1t was large, ir-
regular octahedron, slight spotted, of
yellow color. and weighed 404 carats, or
nearly three ouoneS. In the month of
FEBRUARY previous a similar stone of
352 carats was found near the east end
of the mine. The former of these stones
is probably the largest diamond the
world has yet produced, excepting a.
very imperfect stone of some 500 carats
found in Jagersfontein, Orange Free
State, in 1881.
About 20 miles to the westward of
Kimberley the Vaal river is met. Dia-
mond mining is in active progress on
its banks. These mines are generally
termed the poor mans diggings, be-
cause any man with a little capital can
go there and stake off an unoccupied
claim 40 by 40, pay his monthly license
lee OF 81 M To the int
commissioner and go to work
The only mining implements neces-
sary for his undertaking are q pick
and shovel, a large gravel sieve and a
smaller hand sieve, Two tubs, general
ly obtained by saving an ale barrel in
half, and provisional table to sort
on, as well as a large pail in order
to carry the water for washing the
sand from the gravel in the tubs. As
rule, one of these prospectors, ac-
cording to his means, hires two or three
haf11r laborers at about So a week and
keep, the rations being regulated by
law. These men perform the more la
borious work in the sun, the prospec-
tor generally limiting himself to the
actual washing and sorting. The dig
ging is purely surface, as at depth
of about two feet solid rock is met. l
have known instances during my So
Journ there where men have expended
their last cent and savings, proba bly,
ranging from $500 to $1,000 enduring all
kinds of hardships, and never found
anything
"On the other hand, have also met
men who, after a few weeks work
found stones to the value of $4,000. [
can recall one instance where a man
whom I personally knew had accumu-
lated about $4,000 He took chances and
went to the river to try his luck. He
employed several natives and took out
a license for three claims. He worked
increasingly for about two months
without ever finding a single stone
Then he abandoned his claim and re-
turned broke to Kimberley. A week or
two after his departure a Scotchman
named Cameron staked off one claim
in the centre of where the former three
had been, hired one Kaflir and started
to work. On the fourth day when he
was washing up, he found q pure white
actohedron of 14715 karats, which he
sold to a visiting broker on the spot
for 100000 cash, The largest diamond
found on the Vaal river surface dig
gings, known as the Spalding or Stew
art diamond, was discovered in 1872
IT weighed 2sS carats and was valued
then at $4,000 1t has been cut and
weighs now 1913 karats. These diamonds
found on the banks Of the river are of
a decidedly superior quality to the
Kimberly mine diamonds, being gener-