Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-25
AMERICAN DIAMONDS.
Valuable Pebbles in Gravel Beds of
 This Country.
Regions Where Precious gtones of Considerable Size Have Been Unearthed-Some Inter-
 eGting Facts.

The presence of fresh water pearls Tn American streams is a compara- lively well-known fact. The iiscov- cry of diamonds in the United States has not been so widely advertised, largely. no doubt, because so few jewels of the latter kind have been found here, says the New York Trib- une. South Africa is now the largest producer in the world, and Brazil ranks next in present yield. India, Borneo. and the Ural mountains of Russia have in the past supplied 8 great many diamonds. In nearly every country which supplies these stones they are found at a consider able distance from the vein of min eral in which they were once de- posted. South Africa affords a marked exception to the rule. In that part of the world they are em- bedded in s'pans" or pipes, 'I which are stYeaks of lava, that have invad- ed black shady rock. The suspicion is now entertained that the intense heat of volcanic action may have converted some of the carbon in the shale into jewels.
 One of the regions in the United States from which small diamonds have been obtained. is the Piedmont plateau, at the outheastern base of the Appalachian chain, between southern Virginia and Georgia. Nearly, or quite dozen, one reach ing g carats in size, have been Inx os, e%o no that suggest the proba bility of hav- ing been transported down hill perhaps-many miles from the place of their birth. Geological con ditions like those existing at Kimber- ley have been observed in Kentucky. but up to date no diamonds have yet been discovered in that state. A pos sibles explanation of the failure Is the lower proportion of carbon in the sha1e.
 A somewhat difficult problem is raised by finding seven diamonds, ranging in size from 4 to 21 carats, and number of smaller ones, in the Great Lake region. under circum- stances that indicate that they were brought there by the great ice sheet of the glacial pericd. Most of the stones were discovered in Wisconsin, but Michigan and Ohio have each re- ported one or two also. In every instance the jewels were hidden in the gravel of a kettle moraine," a kind of deposit which geologists recognize as, having been left by a glacier. Since the ice sheet which carried these stones into the United States doubtless travelled hundreds of miles, possibly thousands, it is hard to locate the center from which they proceeded, although this must have been up in British terri- tory somewhere. However. Canadian geologists have lately expressed the opinion that the highest land from which the ice sheet flowed existed west of Hudson bay, but that the source of the ice which invaded the lake region was Labrador, east of Hudson bay.
 The fact of greatest practical im- portance Is that other glacial mos raines in the United States may pos sibly contain jewels like those al- ready discovered in the lake region. There are such deposits in south- western New York and on Long Is- land, for instance. It would pay to keep a sharp lookout where gravelly ridges are being cut for roads or other purposes in order to insure the finding of jewels If any exist there. Diamonds in the rough are not exactly round, though they may have blunt corners They tend to assume crystalline shape, and have slightly curving, not flat, sides. Some of the Wisconsin diamonds had over a dozen facets. The form does not closely resemble the cut stone, nor does the pebble glisten. Their re- markable hardness enables them to scratch all other substances. Per haps they may not be over a six teenth or an eighth of an inch in diameter. But anything faintly sug- gestive of cubical bit of material found in glacial gravel ought to re- ceive critical study.