The Coolidge examiner., 1934-03-09

hess. and--thanks TO the giant ven
tliaiors-of a aot-too-uncomfortahle
warmth
You stay long enough 20 watch
surface hoist start OF with its az
ton load. which Il will lift up that
mile or more o' shaft. n the crush
ins and reduction plant IN about
two minutes. Then you regain the
skip and ascend once more TO what
measuring holes By skyscrapsrs. the
cable operator might conceivahly
announce as Two kundredth aooT
las, stop :"
That which you have gllmpSed Is
but a t!ny corner of what ls. In e.
feet. a vast subterrnnean city. whose
axis measures 20 miles whose
workers number 10000. and whose
shafts avenues. and streets total
4.cro miles or approximately The
length of the African Continent
And the business OF this super-mole
city Is 10 dlsEorEe over oue-hait OF
the worlds annual gold production.
How 10 handle that grand total
of 2i2cco men. 90 per cent Of thefn
Rantu. who. either above ground or
under II. work on the Randi
Observation-Disclosures golf. tennis.
bowls. swimming. or native dances
Is universal. with inter-mine sports
as n corollary. As TO health and
safety. each man regularly under.
goes medical examination. hrst aid
is taught TO many thousands while
that CHEEKY organ. the Reef. advises
you on everything. from keeping ~
10 giving accident prevention tips To
American visitors In wha, Is thought
TO be Americnncse. as thus;
Say. folks. we're right here a,
a real slap-up gold mine Lady
from Memphis please don't eject
your gum down the shaft That
pellet will accomplish velocity
OF 100000 miles per second and
give some one headache"
Huge Cost of Supplies.
Whoever prcssdes over the mines
commissarlat must az times deyei-
op a genuine house~ifc's headache.
let us imagine n symbolic Mr.. and
Mrs. Transyaal Goldmlnes making
up their household books al the
close Of ig2s:
Hum. SIX millions % dollars
worth of food for our native boys.
Rather steep. my dear.'
let me look. papa. oh. 5000
tons % meat. beans. and ush--that
accounts for II"
Hunt suppose 800 tons OF
soap for baths and 1000 tons of
candles are correctr Here's
$4,000 for the boys clothing.
sllckers. and boots Hum! Spring
cleaning-ihat's the paint and tar
-Sis0nco. But what's this extra
$4,000 forf"
salt. papa. The boys love their
l pinch OF salt. and"
salt. Just salt Why. mamma.
do yos realize that our little house
hold Is costing US In stores. s74.-
onpo0 a yearf'
Hut the Transyaal. ike South
Africa In general. Is as varied 10
respect 10 treasure houses as was
ancient Delphi. with its "treasur-
! les" In the Pretoria region. and
also near Rnsienburg and In the
-Bushveld Complex. there are appar-
entity unlimited Iron resources. while
the last named region promises to
yield one ~ the greatest platinum
deposits In the world. The Trans
vaars annual production values in
gold. silver. platinum. and the base
metals total something like $1,000
/ cOo.
Diamonds May Be Anywhere.
And then there are the eyer-crop-
| pInE-up dlamonds-one might al
most say. those lrrepressible South
African diamonds. Really. one never
knows where they will turn up next.
Here Is the Transyaal's famous
Premier mine. an even larger era
| ter than rs defnnct forerunner at
Kimberley. In about a quarter OF
/ century the Premier has produced
some 6is tons OF diamonds. includ-
ing the famous Cullinan. It's long
est dimension was Az inches. Its
shortest was inches. and IL was
cut into nine large stones and
scores of smaller onrs.
Blasting hour az the Premier. es
heheld from the crater's edge. is
striking sight. At the given moment
a red dag fiutters. a bell clangs,
and antlike mullItudes OF workmen
are seen scurrying for shelter.
/ There ensues yeritable barTage
~ some 2.0oo dynamite charges,
1 hurilug successive masses OF blue
earth In air: then the explosions
/ die down. the workers reappear TO
load the debris on trucks that as
cend to the crushing plant. and the
days big diamond offensive" is
over.