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The Process by Which the Sparkling Gems are Obtained—How the Value of Dia mond in the Rough is Judged. I Omaha Republican. In an interview with a Republican re porter J. G. Doolittle of Colorado Springs, who has spent many years in the diamond fields of Africa, said: “The process of min ing for diamonds is much different to the ideas the people of America have of mining. It is not carried on as similar work would probably be done in this coun try. They don't sink shafts and honey comb the bowels of the earth into long tunnels and little chambers. Diamond claims are most generally about 300 yards square, and every inch of the dirt in that space is dug up, carefully looked through and then carted away. ‘The richest stones are found in a bed of clay about 200 feet beow the sur ave, but the earth from the top down to the clay is studded more or less with clusters, consequently that is the reason miners excavate their entre claim instead of sinking shalts. ‘The industry is very expensive, therefore the men who do the digging make very little money out of it as compared to the diamond merchants and traders. They are the men who make the fortunes. In answer to a question he ad mitted that natives were hired to do the work, but as a general rule they are so in dolent and unreliable that operations pro ce very slowly, Does it get hot in the mines? Well, I should say, It would roast the life out of a white man.” When the fields near Kimberley, in Griqualand West, were first discovered, an attempt was made to work them with white men, but it soon proved disastrous, and the operators were compelled to employ native negroes, Zalus and Basutos. They stood the heat all right, but became such consum mate thieves that the duty owners lost considerable money through them for a long time at pret. They would conceal the stones about their person and at night carry them out. Finally a law was adopted and put into force compelling the diggers to work without clothing of any kind on them, this torn time proved to be of little benefit, an the Losses were puz zled to find some scheme that they could use that would prevent the robberies. It was discovered, after depriving the diggers of their clothing, that they could conceal stones between tier toes, keep them there all day and get away with them at night Now every man’s feet are carefully ex amined when he leaves the mines of an evening, and no more robberies are perpetrated.” When asked how miners judged the value of a diamond in the rough, Mr. Doolittle replied that every firm kept a supply of alim on Land, and all specimens are com pared with jumps of that material, and the closer stone resembles the color of alom the more valuable it is considered. The stones, however, always have a peculiar shape. They are either eight or ten-sided, run to a point, and one side of the point is invariably flat. Nowadays the product of these particular mines is sold at Kim berley, a town that has sprung up near there, where many Lon don merchants have located. A few diamond cutters have also opened shops there and do a good business. The market there is generally active, and min ers receive their own price, but that is regulated by the estomary opinion of those who claim to be judges, but the dia monnd cutter is the only man who can judge the real value of a stove. The miners goto the dealers with their products divided into two classes,and then they sell at 60 to 125 and as high as 160 shillings stone. The dealer who buys divides his purchases into four cisses, and generally puts the price upon the very best stones, 80 that he realizes about double what he paid. By the time she goes through the cutter’s hands, is mounte and priced on the mar ket, it has reached a figure six or eight times larger than the miner realized. Mr. Doolittle said that he was in Biapares when the uvreat Rhode stone was found, and a dealer there offered Mr. Rhovles £ 125,000 for a half interest in it, but he re fused to arcest the offer. The stone would not bring that amount now, but its owner has made a great deal of money off of it exhibiting it through Europe. The stone is said to be about the size of a hen's erg. Very often specimens that have every ap pearance of being diamond; of the first water prove to be entirely worthless and crumble to pieces in a very short time after being exposed to the air.
Newspaper Details
Boston Weekly Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Wed, Jan 05, 1887
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Charlie H.
USA 17 Jul 2026
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