The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-11-08


for diamonds there although many
prospected for asphaltum, silver and
other minerals in that region.
Meanwhile, additional finds Of dia-
monds. were being reported and the
experts were convinced that Pike
County contained real diamond
"pipe." There was no way Of deter
mining If the stones existed in paying
quantities except by developing the
field and mining, under the conditions
was an expensive undertaking. With
the prospects seemingly very good,
good, however, small company with
$4,000 capital was organized under
the name, THE Arkansas Diamond
Mining Company" In it were Mr..
Stiff, the Little Rock jeweler; Sam
w. Raybuln, then president Of bank
nLittle Rock but now generela
manager of Lord and Taylor in New
York York; a. D: Cohn department store
owner in Little Rock. and J. G..
Pinnix, the circuit Judge of Pike
County.
The little company gave Farmer
Huddlestone $4,000 for his farm
much more than it's ordinary worth
after Informing Huddlestone of plans
which entailcd the prospective sink
ing Of considerable sum Of money
with the chance of no returns. Hud
dlestone relinquished ownership with
the understanding that he could re-
main upon the property ard that he
would be given employment with the
company.
Progress in development of the
property was very slow. It was al
most impossible to convince even a
limited number of Arkansans that
real diamonds were to be found in
the state and that there were even re-
mote possibilities in the Pike County
field. Work was undertake min a
crude way, however, being confined to
surface scratching" and use of the
crudest sort of washing machines.
And diamonds continued to be found.
English capital became interested
in the "find" short time after the
company was a going concern. The
firm OF Lewis and Marks Of London,
owners and financiers of the Roberts
Victor Mine in South Africa, also of
the. Vcerspocd Mine which aftcrward
was sold to the DcBecrs syndicate,
sent representatives to America to in
vcstigate and make report dealing
with the new field. Harry D. Lewis,
son of the head fthc firm, and B.
Oppenheimer, their diamond expert,
who afterward was created baronet
by the British Government, were Sc
lected for the mission.
The two men visited Arkansas and
were so impressed with conditions as
they found them that they expressed
a wish TO take half the capital stock
OF the company, which at that time
had increased its capital to $1,000, 900.
The prospects gave the company re-
newed hope and the capitalization was
further increased to $1,25O,OOO. It
was arranged that representatives
should go to Eng for conference
with the English syndicate and
Messrs. Stiff, Rayburn and Cohn
were soon afterward in London. It
was impossible to close a deal, how
ever. The London concern insisted
upon controlling interest in the
company which the Arkansans de-
clined to give and the three officials
returned empty-handcd.
Lacking the capital for the purchase
of adequate machinery and rapid de-
velopmcnt work, the project went
along with little change for several
years. Two years ago, eastern cap
ltal became interested, and a holding
company for the "Arkansas Diamond
Corporation" was formed. 1t became
possible then to buy machinery. The
making of this, linked with the diff
ficulties Of getting materials to tho
new field, then almost in the wilJs OF
Arkanssa, held up operations until
last fall, when the new machines I'm
ally were in place, and operations
were begun under modern methods.
Much of the work now being done
in the Arkansas field, aside from the
mere recovery Of the gems, is Of 4
test nature. AS yet it is not known
how many carats per load nor what
the exact cost of getting stones will
be. 1t is not possible to ascertain
until later the average cost per carat
nor the average size, color and value
of them. 1t has been determined.
however, that the field in Pike County
embraces 6 2acres. Compared with
the Premier field Of 80 acres in Afri-
ca, the Arkansas "pipe" is the second
largest in the world.
In the matter Of quality, the Arkan-
sas diamonds are said to average, in
the higher grades, even better than
the output of most Of the South AT
rican mines. The first lot sold
brought an average of $120 per carat,
q much better price than those not
familiar with the handling of dia-
monds might understand The low
grade stones used for manufacturing
and mechanical purposes range as
low as Sd carat at the mine and
from that low figure diamonds range
upward in worth accohding to color,
hardness, and perfection. There is,