The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-10-12

| ana no one ever IuouSuI VI PAoepoE1
inc for diamonds there, although
many prospected for asphaltum, sill
yer and other minerals in that region
Meanwhile, additional finds of
diamonds were being reported and
the experts were convinced that
| Pike County contained real dia-
| mond "pipe.' There was no way OF
determining if the stones existed in
paying quantities except by develop
| ing the field, and mining, under the
conditions, was an expensive under
taking. With the prospects seemingly
very good, however, small company
with $4,000 capital was organized
under the name The Arkansas Dia-
| mond Mining Company. In it were
| Mr.. Stiff, the Little Rock jeweler;
Sam w. Rayburn, then president of
a bank in Little Rock but now gen.
eral manager of Lord and Taylor in
New York; A. D. Cohn, department
store owner in Little Rock, and ]. 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 entailed the prospective sink
ing of a considerable sum of money
| with the chance of no returns.
Huddlestone relinquished ownership
| with the understanding that he
could remain upon the property and
that he would be given employment
with the firm. :
Progress in development of the
property was very slow. 1t 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
| remote possibilities in the Pike
| County field. Work was undertaken
in a crude way, however, being con-
fined to surface scratching" and use
of the crudest sort of washing ma
chimes. And diamonds continued to
| be found.
| English capital became interested
| in the ssfind'' a short time after tine
company was going concern, The
firm of Lewis and Marks, of London,
| owners and financiers of the Roberts
| Victor Mine in South Africa, also OF
the Veerspoed Mine which afterward
was sold to the DeBeers syndicate,
sent representatives to America to
| investigate and make report deal
ing with the new field. Harry D.
Lewis, son of the head Of the firm,
and B. Oppenheimer, their diamond
expert, whe afterward was created
a baronet by the British Government,
were selected 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 it's capital to s1,OOO,-
600. The prospects gave the company
renewed hope and the capitalization
was further increased to $780,
600. It was arranged that represent
atives should go to England for a
conference with the English syndi-
cate and Messrs. Stiff, Rayburn and
Cohn were soon afterward in London.
1t was impossible to close deal,
however. The London concern insist
ed upon a controlling interest in the
company which the Arkansans de-
clined to give and the three of1clals
returned empty-handed.
Lacking the capital for the pur-
chase of adequate machinery and rap
id development work, the project
went along with little change tor
several years. Two years ago, east
ern capital became interested, and a
holding company for the ''Arkansas
Diamond Corporation was formed.
1t became possible then to buy ma
chinery. The making of this, linked
| with the difficulties of getting mater
ials to the new field, then almost IN
the wilds of Arkansas, held Up op-
| erations 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
fest nature. AS yet it IS not known
how many carats per load nor what
the exact cost of getting stones VIII
be. 1t is not possible tc ascertain un-
til later the average cost per cara1
| 81 on,nr and va Il1a