The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-05-02
-, - |{s;11dE n
DIGGING DIAMONDS.

The methods of compelling Mother
Earth to disgorge her hidden stores
of wealth-be it in the form of dia.
monds, gold, silver, copper or coal
appears to be much the same every.
where. You first find your mine, your
reef or crater of blue clay, as it is al
Kimberley, and then you bore hole
down to it, which you call shaft
Sometimes. as at Kimberley, you can
begin at the top, but sooner or later
you have to resort to burrowing later
ally OF perpendicularly. Then "the
thing you are in search or is wound
up on a pulley, over wheel such as
you see in any train journey through
the midlands and the north OF En-
| gland.
Mouth of the Crater.
The blue clay-as everyone knows
by this time;TTis 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 70
the floors" The trans run on dou-
bic lines, one set of trucks carrying
the Nay. 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 crumbles like loan.
Inc harder rock, consolidated under
tremendous pressure, has to be pulver-
lied by crushing. Thousands Of acres
are inclosed by barbed-wirs fencing
much disguised blessing Of South At
rica-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 1. D. B.
laws, it is difficult to believe that none
Tails to reach the sorting house.
Aid of Sun and Air.
When sunshine and atmosphere have
done their work the decomposed clay
IS taken back from the floors and com
mitted to the pulsators, writes the
Kimberley correspondent for the Lon
don Telegraph. The matter is shot in
TO 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 steps
Oh the pulsator are covered with grease
TO which the diamonds-at least. all
OF any size-adhere as the broken CLAW
PUSHES over mingled with a cream of
water. The top step generally man
ages to catchsfthe 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 dizziness 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
1nal ppearance-much prefer this
work to the dull monotony of prison
labor. The sight of these convicts en-
gagged In sorting out minute gems from
the dross might suggest many ref1ec-
lions. The contrast is the most strik-
ing; at one end of the scale diamonds
representing the highest luxury of civ
l1zat1on, at the other the native to
whom European culture means the
magistrate and the politician. How
ever, If the native criminal moralizes
which am sure that, as a rule. he
Is far too sensible to do-he can chuck
lie at the idea that each stone he ex-
tracts may easily prove an incentive
to his fellows on higher plane to go
and do likewise.
Washing 1t Out.
The sticky matter, holding little but
the gems, is thoroughly washed out
and the deposit is ready for the sort
er. Diamonds are by no means I'M
lovely in their uncut condition. and
there is no mistaking the slightly grea-
sy feeling of the real gem. due, / am
told, to its incompatible hardness. The
stones are then inspected and weighed
and are ticketed according to their
value In little heaps On counter Of the
sorting room. Thus, the first hean Of
weeks clean up" will contain. ner.
haps, dozen large diamonds. perfect
in shape and color and without 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 40
on, down to the heaps of tiny gems
like coarse sugar, white and brown.
Roughly there were. / suppose, some
$4,000 pounds worth on the counter
representing the output of seven DAYS.
The company does not, of course. cut
it's own diamonds-that is special in
dustry OF Amsterdam-nor do they sell
them directly to the diamond mer-
chants. A syndicate contracts to take
the whole product Of the mines at a
fixed price-so much carat-and as.
owing to the war and other causes, dia-
monds have been very, very dear late
ly the syndicate must have made large
profits.
PAVED WITH GOOD INVENTIONS.
THAT friend of mine in the asphalt
business had a horrible dream the
other night He dreamed he had work
ed through a contract to pave the
main street in shell. In his joy over
getting it he was foolish enough to
guarantee to keep the roadway in re-