The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-07-02
concluded From Last Week.
Kimberley and De Beers.

Meanwhile, bigger discoveries had
been made on the farmlands of the
Dutch squatters, for It had been prov
ed that the distribution of the gems
was not restricted to the alluvum OF
the river flats, but extended through
the surface soil and calcareous ce-
ment into the yellow and blue ground
constituting the matrix of the dia-
mond. OF these mines, the Kimberley
and DeBeers were the most important
and on their development hinged
events of historic significance.
Among those attracted to the dig
gings were two remarkable men: an
oxford student named Cecil John
Rhodes and young Hebrew from
London called Barnett Isaacs, famous
later as Barney Barnato One be-
came identified with DeBeers, and the
other with the Kimberley mine. Both
of them saw that consolidation was
imperative If the diamond market was
not to be glutted. They fought siren
uously for control; and Rhodes, back
ed by Alfred Belt won. On July IS,
1899, the deal was closed by check
for f5,33S,65O, which was the price of
the Kimberley mine. Since then the
DeReers Consolidated has distributed
s3o,OOO,OOO in dividends, and redeem
ed debentures to the value Of G4,S22,-
705.
Kimberley became distributing
point for the adjacent mineral region.
In 1884 the DeKaap goldficld was dis
covered. whereby the districts of Bar
berton and Pilgrims Rest came into
existence. In 1885 LaurcnZ Geldenhuis
found gold in shale on the hills north
of the farm Roodeport. Later In the
same year Arnold detected gold IN
conglomerate lying on the farm Lam
rlaagte. Both of these finds were
made on the Witwatersrand or White
Waters range. In December, harry
Struben, who had learned something
of mining at Kimberley and Pilgrims
Rest, erected n 5-stamp mill, and with
that the exploitation of the Rand may
be said to have commenced. On July
IS. 1886, the goldfield was proclaimed.
The sober veldt sprang into busy life
and the greatest gold mining industry
of the modern world came into being
In the next 25 years the Rand produc-
ed 3O9,S72,OO0 worth of gold, the
maximum annual output being in 1872
when it was f37,1S2,795 from 25,4S6,-
361 tons of ore.
Rhodes and his partners participate
ed in that development but the dia-
mond discoveries had an even wider
Influence, for they provided capital
and energy for the extension OF IN
dustry into the very heart Of Africa
This brings us to the story OF Rho-
desia
It was the ambition of Rhodes, al
ways backed generously by Belt, TO
paint the man red. He worked and
schemed to found new empire in the
northern hinterland-a word of which
Rhodes was particularly fond. AT that
time German and Portuguese colonial
expansion seemed likely to absorb the
vast interior made known by the ex-
plorations of Livingstone and Stanley
This threatened the future of that
South African union which Rhodes
had in mind BY obtaining a con-
cesson from Lobengula, chief of the
Matabele, who dominated the weaker
tribes he got foothold. With this,
in 1888, he incorporated the British
South Africa company. under royal
charter and by the purchase of con-
cessons obtained by other adre1tur-
ers, he consolidated a great tract OF
grazing and mining territory under
the British flag.
Two years after the chartered COM
pany was formed, a military expedl-
ton was sent by Rhodes to Mashona-
land, the southern part of this new
country, to cut a road through the
bush for 400 miles, from Tuli to Sails
bury which was founded on Septem-
Der 49, 1890. The members Of this ex-
pedition, having accomplished their
task, peaceably, disbanded and went
to work as prospectors They un-
covered the mines Of the Gatooma
district. In this case the discovery
was not made in the usual way by
tracing the gold Of the river bed or
the detrital quartz on the hillside to
it's source in a vein or lode. The
prospectors were guided by ancient
workings, made by forgotten people,
probably of Arabian origin. And
though the first operations were not
successful, owing to the lack of trans
port and supplies, they laid the foun-
dation of a prosperous business. The
men who did this work were preem-
inently the pioneers Of industry: they
were actually enlisted as the Pioneer
Corps: they were guided by famous
elephant hunter; they were command
ed by a mining operator, now chair
man of several London companies;
the rank and file included large
number of men familiar with mining
at Kimberley and johannesburg. Lit
orally, they prepared the way for
others, and started the mineral ex-
ploration that opened the interior OF
South Africa to orderly development
and civilized habitation from the Cape