The Sunday Oregonian., October 04, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 54

8
. ....... - I (&$M I .- 1 m $x:k , t r;?
" BT FRANK O. CARPENTER.
LEVEN THOUSAND acres ot
Cmonds!
Hundreds of fields' of blue clay
tprinkled with jewels!
A mlchty farm where the brilliants lie
out under the sua and the dlamondlfer
ous earth is worked with steam har
row: These are some of the things you may
see any day here at Kiniberley. Last
year ttte crop from this vast diamond
farm amounted to jrc.000.Ouu. It was
equal to more than J1O0.0O0 for every
working- day the whole year through. It
was more than -JTO for every minute, or
ilium than 91 for every tick of the watch
through all the nilnntes of all the hours
of all the days of tliat year.
Mining the Bin'.
All the soil of this mtKhty farm has
ben taken out of the diamond pipes,
which I have described In a previous let
ter. There are five such pipes at Klm
heriev. and each contains a pudding of
this blue clay, sprinkled with white cur
rants of diamonds. The pipes rane from
fti feet to several times that 1n diameter.
Two of them, the Klmberley and the De
Beers, have already been excavated to a
depth of more than SrX feet, and the
three others, the Wesselton, the Bulfon
tein ana ins uuiouspan, are now Deins
mined at COO or more feet from the sur
face. In every pipe the blue rock has
been found continuous, and everywhere it
Is peppered with diamonds. How far
down the deposits go no one knows. In
the Klmberley they have been probed to
a depth of more than a half mile, so that
It Is no exaggeration to say that there
are hundreds of millions of dollars worth
of diamonds In sight.
As to the origin of the items, they are
uppoeed to be Toleanle. and Mr.
Oardlner Williams, who managed the
mines for years, believes that they
' were shot up by mud volcanoes. There
Is no doubt but that the pines were
formed by some convulsion of nature,
and that it ws at about the same time
that the Jt wels appeared.
The mlntnfr, as I have described, con
sists of blastlns; out and raisins; to the
surface the blue clay containing the dia
monds. On the Diamond Floors.
I have spent a part of this week In
Atn with th bmAnil am Vi flnM
or floors where it is left to weatlier, and
In folkxvlng it to the washing machines
where the Jewels are finally won. As the
rock comes to the surface It bears no
sign of toem. I have looked over several
thousand cars of It. but have not seen a
single brilliant Imbedded In the blue, and
I am told that the priceless stones are
seldom discovered, ' except when they
come out In the washing.
This blue ground Is as hard as rock. I
can Just scratch t with my knife. It is
so hard that you could drive a nail with
a chunk of It. and tt takes a heavy
Jiviiiiiii-i its 1 a n a i iu fttuuuu ta in-
- sted from the mtncs to the floors and
spread out there to a depth of one foot,
all over the surface. It lies out for
about a year, being plowed and har
rowed from time to time. If the weather
Is dry It Is sprinkled, and as a result
U so melts or softens that the diamonds
can be washed out of it.
Rvary one of these great mines has Its
.own fields for such rock-weathering.
There are at least f00 acres In all. Of
these. In the neighborhood of MOD acres
being to each pipe, and all are now
covered wtth this rock, containing dia
im'.ds. There are about 10.MO.AX car
losds lying out under the-sun, and I am
told that there is something like 13
(VO ax) worth of diamonds in theto.
Gnardlnft the Holds.
In looking over these fields one seldom
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FIRST
V 11 FT' 1 wm office boy to Presi
W Mont Abraham IJncoln, back in
Springfield. II!.. in 14 to 1." said Major
E. W. Mcintosh, Omaha, "there were no
baseball games for a boy to attend, and
atxnit the only scheme I ever got to work
on him was when I could play 'hooky
lone enough to go fishing.
" I guess I ww Just about the first of
fe boy Mr. Lincoln ever hai at least I
never heard of him having one before me.
But he was a mighty good 'boss' and I
thought I ran that office Just as much as
the of'lce noy of today thinks he U the
most Important member of the fl no la
ar.y big office in the country."
Major Mcintosh is an old soldier In
fact, is the last survivor of the very first
cirand Army Repuhlic post ever inaugurated-
Immediately after a charter had
heen drawn up and the charter members
signed their rames, bark in Decatur, 111.,
in Apr". 1- Mcintosh was the first maa
to sign. And he as the first man lnittat
tu Into the post.
"When J ttas a little boy, I lived across
rees diamonds, but the brilliants are
there and they must be carefully guard
ed. Think of fcS.OXMlOO being scattered
over the earth within easy reach of any
town of 3ft.0rt0 in the United States, and
you have the situation at Klmberley. You
would Imagine that the fields would be
raided and the stuff carried oft. It is not.
The fields are guarded day and night by
men who march around hem with guns
in their hands. .They have electric lights
which keep them bright from sunset to
sunrise, and they are surrounded by
high fences of barbed wire, the strands
being so close together that a man can
not crawl through, and so high that he
cannot easily climb over them. There,
are two of these fences around every
Held. They are about 20 or 30 feet apart,
and .the guards march between them. If
a thief could crawl over the first fence
he would be sure to be shot before he
got to the second, and so diamonds are
comporatievly safe.
Washing Out Diamonds.
This"' blue ground Is brought to the
fields In steel cars. There are 150 miles
of railroad track which run. from the
mines to the floors, and from them to
the crushing and washing machines,
which handle the earth, after its melting.
Over every cart rack is a steel cable, and
the thousands of cars are moved by the
steam engines of tbe five central plants.
I saw the process b washing out dia
monds at the De Beers mine. The rock
was carried there a distance of eight
miles by the cable. In reducing It. it
was divided Into two classes, one soft
and one hard. The hard rock was that
which had not been affected by the
weather; and It had to be crushed to a
powder before the diamonds could be
taken out. This was done In mighty
steel crushers which are so made that
they will grind up the rock, and at the
same time not Injure the still harder dia
monds within. After crushing, the coarser
places are crushed again, and at the end
it is all reduced to about the consistency
of the soft ground, made so ty the wea
ther. Both the soft and' the crusSed ground
are then washed to get rid of the waste,
and. as a result, out of every hundred
loads of the mixture" comes one load of
gravel containing the diamonds.
Diamonds Saved by Grease.
It used to be that all the gravel ob
tained 1n this way was sorted over by
men. Both natives and whites were em
ployed, but the chances for stealing were
great, and It was found that many small
stones were lost. Indeed, some of the
gravel which was sorted over In that
way years ago Is now being sorted again
and at a great profit.
Today the diamonds are saved by ta
bles covered with a grease just like
axle grease. The gravel Is run throu .
what is known as a pulsator, consist
ing of a series of Iron tables corruga
ted like a washboard. These tables
lie at a slight angle, and the machin
ery shakes them, so that they are al
ways moving as the gravel goes over
them. They are covered with this
grease, and by the shaking almost
every stone at -one time or another
comes In contact with the grease.
Now, It Is a curious thing that dia
monds will stick in this grease, and
that all the other stones will flow off
without catching. Every few hours
the tables are stopped" and the grease
Is scraped off. It Is found to contain
all the diamonds and also small bits
of Iron pyrites, garnets and pieces of
metal from the miners'' boots and the
copper fuses used in the blasting. It
is now put into a steel bucket which Is
perforated with holes, and this is sunk
Into boiling water. As the water
touches the grease It melts and goes
to the top and may be poured off.
the street from IJncoln." said Major Mc
intosh. "One day we were playing sol
dier. I was beating a tin pan for a drum
and was at the head of a company of
about half a dozen ragged little urchins,
when Mr. Lincoln looked over the fence
and said: 'Boys, train up right; we may
need you some day."
"At Christmas, which was only a little
ways away. Mr. Lincoln gave me a little
toy drum. I practiced on that drum from
morning until night- And years after
wards, when I was a young man and
President Lincoln Issued a call to arms.
I was the first man to take my stand in
frpnt of the old courthouse at Blooming
ton, 111., and I beat the roll which called
for volunteers. I didn't use the Lincoln
drum that day. but a new one that could
be heard all over town. I have the little
toy drum yet.
"I was just 10 years old when I did
my first work for Lincoln. That was to
whitewash his fence. He liked the work
so well that he took, me Into his office as
errand boy, and I remained with him two
years, until my father moved away from
Spring field.
THE SU3TDAT
leaving only the scraps of metal and
-Ihe " diamonds. The diamonds are
picked out and cleaned and sorted,
after which they are ready to be valued
for the market.
Sorting Diamonds.
I spent some time watching the dia
mond sorters pick out the precious
stones after the grease was poured off.
Each man had qn a table before him
a handful of diamonds of all shapes
and sixes, and he was picking them up
one by one with a pair of tweesersand
dropping them into a tin cup, which
cost. I venture, less than 5 cents. As
I watched one of these men he lifted
up a little white stone, saying: "This
is worth JSOO," and then showed me
another, not much larger, worth double
that sum. The manager afterward
poured out a pint of diamonds on the
table, showing me some that were
worth ISO a carat and others much
cheaper. He took, up a little scoop shov
el and with it threw the diamonds
back Into the cup, handling them as
though they were peas
Later on I visited the company's of
fices in Klmberley itself, and was
shown quarts of diamonds from the
various mines. T,he sorters can tell by
its shape and color from just which
pipe each diamond comes, and I was
shown specimens from every mine. I
had In my hand a little bundle' which
contained about a pint of small stones,
the value of which approximated half
a million dollars, and I was shown other
bundles containing brilliants as big as
the end of my finger. Some of these
rough stones had smooth edges and
they were 1 almost pebbles In shape.
Others appeared ready for setting, and
some were broken and chipped from
other stones. Many of the diamond!
contained flaws, but there were many
which were absolutely perfect. The
diamonds were of different colors.
Some were as yellow as topases, others
a light blue tint and others pure white.
Buying: Diamonds.
All the diamonds of the De Beers
Company now go to the diamond syn
dicate. This Is a sort of a trust which
contracts to take the whole profits of
the mines up to a certain point for Ave
years at a time. It agrees to take so
many milion dollars' worth of dia
monds every year at a fixed price, and
more If the. demand Justifies It. The
syndicate cannot take less than It
agrees, but may buy more at the same
price If the demand Increases. One
provision is that the De Beers Com
pany shall sell to no one else during
the term of the contract This syn-
OFFICE BOY
"I've always remembered one thing
Lincoln said to me. It was: 'Work hard,
be honest, never gamble, keep smiling and
you will succeed In life. The world has
no use for a grumbler, who always keeps
his head down and always sees the dark
side of life.'
- " 'If a cow kicks over a bucket of milk.
Just you milk the next cow, and keep on
smiling. Don't abuse the cow,' was an
other of Mr. Lincoln's sayings.
"Lincoln always looked like he ought
to have been arrested for running a bone
yard. And hia wife was as homely as
a mud fence In wet weather. He was al
ways Joking, and his wife never bad any
thing to say. In fact, ahe Ssed to think
his jokes were awful, and never could see
any fun or wit in anything he said.
"One day she got mighty mad at him
because he laughed when a funeral went
by. 'Who's dead?' she asked him. Why.
the man in the box. of course.' I beard
him answer. And then he laughed and
laughed. And Mrs. Lincoln got up, took
her sewing and went In the house.
"I went down to Washington one time
to see him. It was In the third year of
OREGOXIA PORTLAND.
dlcate is independent of the De Beers
Company, although many men belong
ing to that company are members of
the syndicate..
On account of this arangement it is
not an easy thing for a stranger to buy
a diamond in Klmberley, and anyone
who might purchase a rough stone of
a native would be in danger of prison.
The laws here provides that "he who
buys diamonds must first take out a
license, and that all diamonds bought
and sold must be shown to the govern
ment officials in order that they may
be valued for customs. In fact, every
man who takes a diamond out. of South
Africa must have a certificate showing
where he grot that diamond and that
he has a right to It.
During my stay I have bought a
rough stone of a few carats at a cost
of about $75 per carat. I have been
able to get It through a special intro
duction to the officers 'of the diamond
syndicate, and It was sold me at about
the same price that the diamond would
have cost at wholesale in London. I
the war, I believe. They were not going
to let me see him, but I-got a fellow to
tell him that hie office boy was down
there and wanted to see him. A few min
utes later the fellow came back and said
Mr. Lincoln said he didn't dare resist his
office boy In anything he wanted and so
I gol is to see him. And that night I
went aroundVto his home and took din
ner with him. I never saw him after that
day."'
x Omaha, Neb., Sept 23.
A ZXafly Humorist's Apology.
Cleveland Leader.
If you've really missed the column aad are
fueling sort of sore
At Its absence, bat are glad to see1 It la Its
place once more.
We are glad for nothing's quite so grate
ful to a humorist
As the, thought that If he quit a day his
Jokeiets will be missed.
We were ill are yet. In fact; and we are
writing this In bsd.
Hot water bottle at car fest, and tea-bags
at our head;
A red-haired nurse Is by as, aad she dope
us bow and then
With bitter stuff, and take ear puis, and
flMs our fountain pen.
Then reads the stuff we write. Jump up,
and spill th ink
And die. "O. doctor, hurry I He's delirious,
I think."
OCTOBER 4j 190S.
bed to go to a half-doxen different of
ficials to secure the papers showing
that I owned it. anfi I have paid the
customs duty necessary to enable me
to get It out of Cape Colony.
Ten Thousand Xegro Miners.
During the year 1907 the mines of
the De Beers (lompany here kept some
thing like 80,000 negroes regularly em
ployed getting ouc the. blue and work
ing the floors and washing machines.
They had there, all told, more than
Se0 whites. On account of the hard
times in America, which has seriously
cut the' demand for diamonds, about
10.000 of the native miners have been
recently discharged and also over 1000
whites. There are still 10.000 native
miners at work, and this number will
be increased as the market Improves.
I have bad a good chance to see the
miners during my trips about Kimber
ley. They are Kafirs coming from the
various tribes of South Africa, the
company preferring to have its men
from as many different localities as
ANOTHER GOOD CURE FOR FRECKLES
THE woman who freckles easily and
dreads the Summer time Is to be
pitied.
Tan and sunburn are unsightly and
painful, but after a while they disappear;
but not so with' freckles. They will re
main thro-igh the Winter months, unless
something is done to remove them..
' This, as all know from experience, is
much easier said than done. They are as
stubborn to remove as to make a willful
child obey.
This following formula is said to be
one of the best to remove them: Lactic
acid four ounces: glycerine, two ounces;
rosewater, one ounce.
Apply this lotion to the face several
times during the day. Put a smell por
tion In a dish and dip a soft linen rag In
to it and apply.
All skins will not stand the same treat
ment, and while some may use this lo
tion 6V other face lotions with no ill ef
fect, others may suffer, from -a burning
sensation of the skin.
To prevent this burning it will be bet
possible in order to prevent strikes.
The men work well and are more ef
ficient than the. ordinary African labor.
They are big fellows, strong and mus
cular. In the mines they are bare to
the waist, although most of them wear
trousers and have shoes to protect
their feet from the rocks. Each gang
has a white overseer, but the laws pre
vent any mistreatment of the blacks
and they have a right to lay their com
plaints before a "protector of labor"
appointed by the government. The na
tives are never hired for less than
four months, although the company Is
glad to keep them as long as they will
work.
These 10.000 miners are practically
In prison from the time1 they begin
their Job until the end of it. They have
to c6ntract that they will stay inside
the compounds or great wall lnclosures
which constitute the native quarters of
each mine, and the company sees that
they keep this part of their agreement.
They do not go outside even when they
enter the mines, for every compound
ter to massage the face after using the
lotion with . this elderflower cream: Al
mond oil, three ounces: white wax, five
drachms; spermacetti, five drachms; lan
oline. one ounce; witch hazel, one ounce;
elderflower water, three ounces; oil of
bitter almonds, one drachm.
Massage the skin with this every night
and one will be well repaid for the little
trouble. The skin will become soft and
supple and a dainty white. If the skin
is inclined to be rough and dry, it will be
beneficial.
This cream is not only good to use aft
ter the freckle lotion, but on any dry ugly
skin. It will take away the roughness
and give the skin a delicate appearance.
Tots to Make Their Own Toys.
New Tork Press.
One of the many quiet charities In
which Mrs. Ogden Mills interests herself
promises to have a great many imita
tions, for it seems to have all the ele
ments of success. She is the principal
backer of a vacation school project In
tended to teach the children of the poor
has a tunnel from It into the works,
and they march down under guards to
where they dig and blast out the blue
clay far below the surface. Those who
work above ground are not allowed to
mix with the men who 'work under- j
ground: and every effort is made to j
prevent them stealing the diamonds and ,
smuggling them to their fellows. ;
Take, for instance, the Dutoltspan j
Compound, which I visited today. It
contains about seven acres and looks
for all the world like a great racing
park walled with stables. Right in.
the center of it is a platform which I
might be compared to the grand stand, ,
and all around the walls are rooms
about 20 feet wide and 30 feet deep
which correspond to the stalls In which
the race horses are kept. The grand
stand is the public bath where the
black boys come, when fresh from the
mines, and wash themselves right out
in the open. They stand In the sun
light as naked as Adam before Eve
gave him that apple, and the water
sparkles like diamonds as It pours
down in a shower over them.
I took a look at the rooms where the
men live. They are walled with bunks
and about SO natives sleep in each
room. While at rest, or loafing about
in the court, they take off their clothes
and frequently have nothing but blan-
kets about them.
The men buy their own provisions
and do their own cooking. There are
storehouses Inside the compound which
furnish groceries, and butcher shops
where meat is sold lower than any-,
where else in (South Africa. Connected
with the buildings are the offices of
the managers of the compound, a hos
pital for the sick and rooms for the
guards. '
The Natives are carefully watched
to prevent them stealing the dla-j
monds while they are working. Their
rooms in the compound are built
against a wall, around which are
marching guards, with guns In their
hands. One hundred feet beyond this
wall there is a tight fence of galvan
ized iron about 14 feet high, and out
side that are other guards, so that it Is
impossible to throw diamonds over the
fence to confederates outside.
The greatest care is taken by . the De
Beers Company to prevent diamond
smuggling. No man Is allowed to leave
the mine until several days after the
completion ' of his contract. During
this time he is stripped naked and put
into a room so warm that he wljl not
catch cold. He is kept there for sev-l
eral days and watched all the tlme.j
Every bit of his person is then gone,
over by the diamond detectives to see
that he has no precious stones con-
cealed anywhere in It. His toes, ears.i
teeth, gums and hair are examined,
and if he has any sores on his body,
they are probed. While the examining,
goes on the natives have mittens of.
sole leather upon their hands. These w
are so stiff that they could not pick
up a diamond if one lay on the floor
before them.
At the same time the miners are pald
for being honest. Every man receives
$1.25 per carat for the diamonds he
discovers and hands over to the over
seer. The other day a negro dug out a!
gem as big as a walnut. It weighed,
more than 100 carats, and he received
a premium of $150 for it
It used to be that many diamonds
were swallowed. About ten years agr
one as big as a chestnut was thus dis
posed of, and, the negro kept it for
more than a week. In 1895 about $4000
worth of stones were lost In a miner's
stomach and afterward discovered, and
the same practice would go on today
were it not for the Imprisonment in a
naked state and the medical and die
tary treatment which all must gol
through before they are allowed to de
part. AS to other smuggllnig methods,
gems have been found in boot heels,
in hollow canes, and In dinner pails
with false bottoms. The miners fre
quently make gashes In their person
and try to carry away the brlllants un
der the skin. They put them In their t
hollow teeth, under their toes and in
every conceivable place. The guardl
grows more rigid from year to year,
and the detectives have become so ex
pert that they know Just exactly which
places to search.
Klmberley, Africa.
to make their own toys. Something of
the sort has been done in England, and
perhaps Mrs. Mills borrowed the basic
Idea from that source..; But she has en
larged on the original theory and the
school she is to found will" be a muca
more ambitious Institution than Its Brit
ish prototype. The youngsters who at
tend Mrs. Mills' school will be taught to
make not only their own playthings, but
their own ornaments. Mrs. Mills right
ly holds that there must be something
beyond prosaically useful things In every
child's life, to Insure happiness. She does
not agree with the conventional founders
of charitable Institutions who think the
plainest of dress goods good enough for
orphans, nor does she believe poor ehil-'
dren ought to prostrate themselves in
gratitude merely for being taught to
cook, sweep and sew. But she Is con
vinced that If children make their own
toys they will appreciate them and that
the same rule applies to the simple
adornments, without which no young
ster's life can be rounded out. '
i