The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-12-11

managed to swallow the gam as ne
was being searched for II. This did
not save his life. for, failing to find
Il, the sultan ordered him beheaded
and the diamond was found In his
dismembered body. Upon the annex
alton OF the province OF Punjab to the
British empire in 1S49 the Koh-isnoor
was presented to Queen Victoria and
has since then been the greatest
treasure in the collection OF the Eng
lish crown jewels.
Unlike most other precious gems,
the diamond cannot yet be manufac-
tured artiicially with any profit.
Artificial or chemical rubies, sapphires
and emeralds and sultured pearls are
accepted in the trade. They are fully
equal to the natural gems in appear
ance and quality and are produced at
a moderate cost. Artificial diamonds
can be manufactured. A Frenchman
discovered process of crystalizing1
the carbon into synthetic diamonds.
but so far the expense attending 1t is.
SO great. that It is Of no practical
value. The cost Of manufacturing a.
small diamond, worth about ten dol
lars, would be almost fifty dollars, SO, /
until an ingenious American makes an
economical Improvement upon the
French process, artificial diamonds
will not be upon the market.
The most important diamond mines
| in the world are located in South
Africa, and are under the control OF
the British government. The value OF
their products last year amounted to
over S35.000.000. India was for
lmerly the source Of the worlds dia-
monds. All of the great gems Of an
| tiquity came from that country, but
at present the production of Indian
diamonds is comparatively small.
Diamonds were discovered in Brazil
| in 1921. and some gems OF the first
water really came from there, but
the vein of diamond producing soil
/, is thin. 1t is believed that the Bra
lillian diamond supply is practically
exhausted. The. brilliancy of the
South American diamonds was so
great as to attract the attention OF
fakirs and SO many imitation gems
have been sold as Brazilian diamonds
that the general public is under the
erroneous belief that no real dia-
monds were ever produced there.
Considerable excitement has been
prevalent at various times over the
possibility of discovering diamonds in
paying quantities in the United
States. At present extensive dia-
mond producing operations are being
conducted in Arkansas. While no
official report has yet been made of
the quality and quantity of the dia-
monds secured, the Arkansas mines
are fully organized and elaborate
machinery has ben set up for washing
gems. The company so far has been
averse to attracting public notice,
and have carried on their work al
most secretly. Their plants have
been; freely opened to the visitors
from the United States Geological
Survey, however. and careful exam
nations of the peridotite rock in
which the diamonds are being found
have been made The first examina-
tion brought about search for otn-
er areas of this particular formation
and at least three others have been
discovered. Last year the Arkansas
field was rapidly developed and i'm
portant results are being looked forI
in the near future. The most valu-'
fabla diamond known to have been
produced in Arkansas so fer is an
eight and half carat white diamond
from the Mauney tract. Under the
auspices of another comuany small
amount of washing produced 1855 di-
almonds whose combined weight
amounted to nearly fifty carats. The
fire and quality of these diamonds IL
said to be unsurpassed but in amount
they have not as yet assumed COM
mercial importance.
Diamonds have been found at rare
intervals in number of other states
also. A beautiful diamond weighing
nearly two and,a half metric carats,
was found recently near Birming-
ham. Ala, on southern railroad
sliding. 1t was not recognized as a.
diamond aud was sent to the Geolog-
ical Survey for Identification. AL
first quality white diamond was.
found IN December of 1913 in Cali
fornia which weighed one and half
carats and brought $57 in its new
state.
The great desire to secure dia-
monds in this country has led to-
much speculation and the formation
Of bogus companies. The finding
of solitary gem does not Indicate
the probability of others unless the
proper sort of surroundings exist,
and this can be determined only BY
an expert gcologist. A number OF
attempts have been made to salt
diamond mines, just as gold mines
were sailed to deceive investors.
Such case occurred in Montana a
few years ago, in which company
was formed to mine diamonds from
specimens which had been cleverly
placed there. But the specimens
were Brazilian diamonds. The geolo-
gist to whom they we're shown
promptly recognized their origin and
was able to check the fraud almost
at Its beginning.
New York city's amazing wealth