The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-05-18
DIGGING DIAMONDS.

ssa#sl nes melHOuS OF scOInpelllng mother
Earth to disgorge her hidden stores
Of Wealt h-be lit in the form of dia-..
monds, gold, silver, copper or coal rs
appears to be much the same every
where. You first find your mine, your
reef or crater Of blue clay, as. it is at
kim erley, and then you bore a hole
down to it, which you call a shaft.
Som times, as at Kimberley, YOU can
begin at the top, but sooner or later
you have to resort to blrroWing later
ally or perpendicularly. Then .''the
thing you are in search Of is wound
up on a pulley, over a wheel such as
you see in any train journey through
the midlands and the north of En-
gland.
Mouth OF the Crater.
me blue clay--as everyone knows
by this time--is found in circular pits
(once craters) filled up from an un-
known depth; they have not touched
bottom at 1000 feet. The inclosing
walls are basalt and then layer Of
shale is superposed. In the open, or
through shafts, the clay is blasted and
carried on trucks by endless wires TO
the ffoors.'' The trans run on dou-
bic lines, one set of trucks carrying
the clay, the other returning empty.
The floors" constitute one of the most
interesting features of the place. The
earth which contains the diamonds be-
comes very friable when exposed to
sun and air and crumb les like loan.
The harder rock, consolidated under
tremendous pressure, has to be pulver-
lied by crushing. Thousands of acres
are inclosed by barbed-wire fencing
much disguised blessing Of South At
rlca-and there, hidden in the molder-
Ing earth, are hundreds of thousands
OF pounds worth Of precious stones
Some, OF. course, become detached and
are picked up by the boys" and gener-
ally accounted for, though, in spite
OF the necessarily stringent I. D. B.
laws, 1t is difficult to believe that none
falls to reach the sorting house.
+ Aid of Sun and Air..
When sunshine and atmosphere have
cone their work the decomposed clay
is taken back from the floors and com
m1tted to the pulsators, writes the
Kimberley correspondent for the Lon
don Telegraph. The matter. is shot in
10 receivers and passes down to the
pulsator, graduated plane Of metal
as the name implies, is shaken by ma
chlnery literally, as man shakes a
sieve in his hand The different stems
OF the pulsator are covered with grease
TO which the diamonds-at least. all
OF 2'ny size-adhere as the broken clay
rushes. over mingled with a. cream Of
water. The top step generally man
ages to- catch the larger stones and
very few escape the lowest grade. The
refuse, however, is all carefully hand
sorted, by natives, whose natural quick
ness OF eye and deftness Of finger have
been improved by long practice Many
OF the hands so employed are convicts,
hired by the government to the com
pany. These victims of civilization
most OF them are guileless of any Grim
lnal appearance-much prefer this
work to the dull nnonotony Of prison
labor. The sight Of these convicts en-
gagged in sorting out minute gems from
the dross might suggest many refiec-
tons. The contrast is the most strik
ing; at one end of the scale diamonds
representing the highest luxury Of civ
llzatlon, at. the other the native to
whom European culture means the
magistrate. and the politician. How
ever, if the native criminal moralizes
which .i=a am sure that, as a rule, he
is far too sensible to do-he can chuck-
le at the idea that each stone he ex-
tracts may easily prove an incentive
to his fellows on a higher plane to go
and do likewise.
Washing It Out.
The sticky matter, holding little Int
the gems, is thoroughly washed ONT
and the deposit is ready for the sort
er. Diamonds are by no means IN
lovely in their uncut condition, and
there is no mistaking the slightly grea-
sy feeling of the real gem, due. r am
told, to its Incompatible hardness. The
stones are then inspected and weighed
and are ticketed according to their
value in little heaps on a counter Of the
sorting room. Thus, the first bean Of
q week clean up will contain. ner-
lhaps, dozen large diamonds, perfect
in shape and color and without a flaw:
they may be of any value from 200
to 1000 pounds. Then come smaller
ones Of the same spotless Character:
next in value are the large yellow
stones; then the faWed whites, and so
on, down to the heaps Of tiny gems
like coarse sugar, white and brown.
Roughly there. were, suppose, some
80 900 pounds worth on the counter,
representing the output Of seven DAYS.
] The company does not, of course. cut.