Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-18

CARS FILLED "
Copyright, 1908, by Frank g. Carpenter.)
0--s-za ULLrNAN. The T~ransvaal. South
Africa. - Especial Correspond
ence Of The Bes.)-XOu have all
- heard Of the Cullinsn diamond,
EE,$y&EX1 the mighty stone which was re-
CS9SfSsS Gently presented by the gov
rtnmcnt of the Transvaal to King Edward
VII and Is row being cut in Amsterdam.
Ii is by several times the largest diamond
ever found, and its value lie over a mill
Ion. I am writing three notes on the
edge Of the mine from which It was taken.
IRON where / stand 1 can look right down
into it, or rather over it, for 1t covers
eshty acres, the area of a good sized
farm. II is known as the Premier diamond
nine, and 1t is by far the largest diamond
mine in the world. on the hill at the
iett | can see the great gear, with It's
crushing. washing and pulsating machines.
1hey are fed by the caravan of cars which
are now flying up to it over tina inclined
roadway.
The mine itself is black with workmen
There are 5000 Of natives at work digging
cut the ere and loading 1t on cars. Here
men are blasting. there they are layirgS
railroads. and farther over digging tunnels
down into the blue ground. There at one
end OF the mine are the offices where the
managers direct the work. They consist
o. an iron rooted building worth under
S,tOO. and seem strange headquarters for
a busiress which employs thousands of
men and has an output of millions a year.
Farther back are the compounds in which
the native workers are kept under guard,
and just back of me is the railroad station
with its hotel and few stores, forming the
town OF Cullinan.
worlds Biggest Diamond Mine.
1 have already described the mighty dia-
mond pipes of Kimberley from which, until
lately, " per cent Of the worlds diamonds
came. I have told you how each Of them
was made by a volcano which bored it's
way up out OF the bowels of the earth
through the hardest of rock ard left there
a deposit of blue ground sprinkled with
diamonds. Some Of the Kimberley pipes
have been tested half a mile downward,
and they find that the diamonds are as
thick ut the bottom as they were at the
top. This mine here is Of the same forna-
ton, save that the pipe is so large that ali
the De Beers mines could be put inside
1t and leave room for several big diamond
mines in addition, The Premier pipe is
now well outlined. 1t is half a mile long
ard q quarter Of a mile wide. Within #
there Ia nothing but this blue ground
sprinkled with diamonds. Every yard of
It contains precious stones. In 1905 more
than 10000 carats were taken from It, and
during the first six months of 1907 the
output was more than a million carats,
IL Is now only four years since the mines
began to be worked and since then 1t has
been producing diamonds at the rate Of a
carat ana q quarter per minute for every
minute of every day and night, year in
and year out. A carat and a quarter dia-
mond makes a mighty pretty engagement
ring. Cut and set 1t would be worth az
least 800. This mine has been turning out
such q ring every minute. Thai gives YOU
some idea OF its value. The total OUTPUT
In money has been over 500 OO,O 900 ana
Within the last year or so it has been
paying several millions a year in divt-
dends.
Premier Against the De Beers.
This Premier mine is comparatively new.
Inc great pipes at Kimberley, which be-
long to the De Beers company, have been
worked for more than a generation and
until this mine was discovered It was be-
heved that they would always form the
chief source Of the worlds supply OF pre-
-cious stones. For the last thirty years al
most all OF our diamonds have come from
them' ana they still have values worth
hundreds OF millions OF dollars in sight,
They have produced more precious stones
man all the other mines OF the world put
together and almost all the diamonds now
worn by man came from Kimberley OF
Whereabouts. The product has sold 10,
something like $500. OOO,OO0
The Premier mine was discovered in 1902
AS have said, 1t has already produced
over t16,0OoO0o. and its size is SO enormou,
mat Il u bound to seriously affect tn,
desmond market OF the future. So far IN,
mine has scarcely been touched. 1t is be
ing worked almost on the surface. and it /,
estimated that at the present rate 1t will
take twenty years to get out the blu,
ground down to a depth OF $50 feet. WheI
1t IL remembered that the Kimberley pip,
has been mined % a depth OF more thar
1850 feet and that the De Beers is nov
more than 1900 feet deep. and that neithe
shows any diminution OF the output O
diamonds to the carload OF blue cart
mined. the normo possibilities Of thi
mighty eighty-aere diamond pipe can b.
appreciated.
NhNN Wv ~ G0I com
pany rather sneered at the Premier min,
until lately. and that they claimed its dia
monds did not compare with those O
Kimberley in their brilliancy. Nevertheless
within the last few months the two com
panies have entered into a working agree
ment by which the diamond output IS .
restricted as to not flood the world Wit
precious stones and thereby bring down tn
prices.
A CHAT with Diamond KinE.
During my stay here / have met Nj
T. n. Cullinan. the man who d~iscovere
this mighty diamond pipe and from WHOM
the cullinAn diamond Is named. F7v
years ago he had only a few thousand dol
lara. but he Il now worth tan or nftesi