Newspaper Page Text
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J. C. HEARTSELL, Ed. and Pub.
VOL XII.
SEARCHING FOR DIAMONDS.
pbooess of unearthing gems in
SOUTH AFRICA.
Sorting the Precious Stones—Con¬
victs I>o Much of the Work—In¬
teresting Processes.
T is impossible lo speak of Kim¬
berly without speaking of the
diamond mines. They concentrate
around them almost the entire life
of Kimberley, and they illustrate
some of the most interesting questions
which are connected with the develop¬
ment of enterprise in South Africa. The
most logical way of seeing the process of
extraction, says a correspondent of the
Kansas City Star, is to begin under¬
ground and brave at once the slush aud
heat and drip of tho 800-foot level.
Here, while you splash, candle in hand,
in the darkness, through some two or
three miles of labyrinthine passage, you
have time to realize the work which is
being done by the thousands of natives
who are busy day and night throughout
a honeycombed depth of 1100 feet in
getting out the blue earth from its bed.
There is no roof. The whole mass of
the mine is diamondiforous, the rich
stuff descends apparently to limitless
depths, and all that has to be done is to
bring it to the surface in such a manner
that gallery shall still stand ou gallery
and allow of working without danger of
collapse.
Above, below, on every side you hear
the sound of pick and rock-drill, and
rolling trucks. Black figures glue them¬
selves against the walls to let you pass.
The conditions of the scene combine to
produce a vivid expression of labor.
The natives work together in gangs of
four, filling the trucks. Perspiration
pearls over their bodies in some of tho
hottest galleries, but they appear to labor
without distress. They work either by
time or task, as they please, their wages
remaining the same in either case; and
I was told that they often finish their
allotted number of trucks ia two-thirds
of the time which is allowed.
what they do and how easily they do it,
you can never doubt any more that tho
African native is able to work well when
he chooses.
! The pleasanter processes of diamond
mining begin wheu you follow tho con¬
tents of the truck up to the welcome day¬
light again and see the “blue’' as it is
familiarly called, laid out on the floors.
The “floors” aro simply fields fenced
round with high wire fences, where the
extracted rock is spread out in beds of a
certain thickness to pulverize under the
action of the air. The contents of the
trucks as they are emptied out run them¬
selves into long rows; the color of the
stuff is almost identical with tho gray
purplish hue of winter cabbages at home,
and at first sight the flat and wide
spreading floors might easily be mis¬
taken for Essex cabbage fields.
process of pulverization takes from four
to six months, according to the weather
and the condition of the rock, aud it is
assisted by operations ot watering and
rolling, which add to the agricultural
illusion. The average yield of every
load of blue is one caret of diamonds,
and as the average net profit on a caret
of diamonds is about twenty shillings,
the value of the 1,000,000 loads, which
I was told that I was looking at in the
extent of a couple of cabbage fields, is
not far from 1,000,000 pounds. As
as the blue is sufficiently pulverized, it
is taken to the washing machine, where,
by means of an ingenious system of
water flowing over revolving pans, the
lighter part of the earth is washed away,
while the heavier remains in the bottom
of the pans. By this process ninety
nice per cent, of the blue earth is got rid
of, and of 100 loads which go into the
washing machine only one is saved to
be sorted.
The remaining ninety-nine, after pass¬
ing through the various sieves and
stages of the washing machine, pour out
in a state of liquid mud at the bottom
the machine and are carted away
mechanical haulage, to be emptied on
the daily increasing hillocks of dia¬
mond tailings, which, if other
of the industry were to vanish,
well puzzle future geologists to
for their composition. The weight
diamonds keeps the precious stones
the most part with the heavy
that has been saved. It is, however,
well known that a considerable
of diamondiferous stuff escapes with the
tailings, and if any economical
of treating them could be discovered
the mounds of apparently water-worn
rock which dot the neighborhood
suddenly acquire a new value. So far
no practical use for this waste earth has
been discovered.
The one rich load to which the hun¬
dred raw loads have been reduced in
passing through the washing machine
was at one time sorted by hand. It is
now subjected to a further preliminary
of washing and sorting in a machine
known as the pulsator. Here
diamondiferous stuff is passed under
double water over pulsating screens, in which a
layer of leaden bullets has been
placed. The pulsating motion causes a
constant gentle shaking to be maintained,
and as the specific gravity of diamonds
is greater than that of lead, when the
specific gravity of much of the waste
pebbly material is less the effect is to
shake the diamonds to the bottom of the
shot, while the waste material remains
above it and is gradually washed over
the side of the screen by the running
water.
STRING PLACE, MURRAY COUNTY, GA. FEBRUARY 9, 1899.
The diamondiferous gtutt is serveu"7nt»
these wet pans by meats of a cylindrical
sieve, which distributes the finest from
one end and the coarsest from the other,
with regulated gradations between, ou o!
the same principle as the main sieve
an ordinary flour mill. The whole pro*
cess of mechanical sorting is based upon
the relative weight of the diamond t»
other stones of the same size difference ataon|
which it is found, and if the
were as great as the difference betweeff
the weight of gold and the mineral sub!
stances from which it is divided by
washing there would be little waste au5
much less hand labor. As it is, many
stones, such as garnets and others, of nd
value, of which the specific gravity found in is
equal to that of diamonds, are
the diamondiferous earth. These, of
course, pass in the pulsator through the
bed, and when all has been done that
can be done by mechanical processes the
materiul which is taken from the machiuo
has still to be subjected to the hand slow, un¬
certain and costly process of sort¬
ing, with all its temptations to dis¬
honesty.
In the sorting-room the first thiog
which strikes you with surprise is to
perceive that native couvicts are busy at
the sorting-tables. Almost all the sen¬
tences at the convict station are inflicted
for theft, and the handling of uncounted
diamonds seems the last work upon
which it would be desirable to employ
convicted thieves. However, as a mat¬
ter of fact, it is found that the greater
hold which it is possible to have over
a convict and the greater difficulty
which they experience in being able to
keep or dispose of stolen diamonds in
prison makes them really safer to em¬
ploy than the average free colored la¬
borer. They are trusted only with the
smaller grained stuff, in which the
smaller diamonds are found. More than
this, after you have stood for some time
by one of tho tables, where four men are
employed, you probably become aware
of au indefinite sensation of discomfort,
and raising your head you perceive that
a white man, whose business it is to
watch the proceedings of every one be¬
low, is seated upon a beam overhead.
, 1 „ i ^° one employed , can be sure at any mo
meat that the eye of a watcher is not
upon him.
The larger grained stuff is all sorted
by trusted white men. The mass of
pebbles which the distribution of the
cylindrical sieve has already sorted ac¬
cording to size is carried into this room
in hand-sieves and thrown in wet heaps
upon their respective tables, where every
sorter is provided with a flat metal slice
and' a little covered tin pannikin, into
which each diamond as it is found is
dropped. With the metal slice a small
portion of the mass is scattered rapidiy
over the table, inspected and swept over
the side. The rapidity with which a
sorter is able to detect a diamond or de¬
cide upon the absence of any in the por¬
tion scattered is astonishing to the
amateur beholder, who can scarcely be¬
lief that there has been time to look be
fore the refuse has beeu swept off the
board. Doubtless valuable stones are
sometimes missed, and a percentage of
loss mu3t be reckoned with. In order
to guard against it especially in the
larger grained stuff, the whole refuse of
the sorting is carried out and spread
upon sacks in the yard, where men are
employed to sort it a second time. The
quantity of recovered diamonds is suffi¬
cient to justify the precaution, but it is
not very great. The diamonds from the
sorting-room are made into parcels twice
a day and sent under armed escort to the
office, where they are again sorted for
commercial purposes by practiced
valuers.
It is in this office that the great
variety as well as beauty of the stones
can be appreciated. There are speci¬
mens cut and uncut of every kind and
color. After the white diamond the
yellow is the most frequent, but there
are also stones of green and purple, pink,
blue and almost black shades, in which
brilliancy and color appear to combine
for their very highest expression. Here
the industry is lost sight of and the gem
value of the diamonds asserts itself.
WISE WORDS.
The manner of giving is the gift.
Gifts should be a matter of inspiration
and not of calculation.
Experience is the most costly and the
most indispensable thing.
A man requires a vast amount of space
m proportion to his size.
Fast days provide themselves; the
feast must be provided for.
Inclination enforced to meet opposi¬
tion becomes determination.
It is always in the purchase of some¬
thing else that one economizes.
The faithful disciple of the prophet
will respect the crumbs on his beard.
Those who most loudly proclaim their
doubts are those most ready to believe.
Absurdities which please our self love
are as readily accepted as truths that of¬
fend our vanity are doubted or denied.
There is nothing which man is bom
into the world so destitute of as habit,
or which he so amply &ad so soon ac¬
quires.
One would extend his follies to others
in order to convince himself that there
is nothing extraordinary in his practice
of them.
It is perhaps inevitable that the human
builder of plans and sounder of purposes
should measure the infinite with a fcwe
foot rule.—Judge.
“TELL THE TRUTH.”
«. Mfsiassx. W. M. CASS- i. H. KINli.
Southern Stone & Monumental Co., -
MANCWACTt/KJRR'i OK
*
Marble and Granite
Statuary, Monuments. Headstones, Crosses and
Building Stone.
Coping, Iron Policing, l.awn Furniture, Etc.
1116 MARKET ST. t : t CHATTANOOGA TENS.
F. R. Bates General Ageut, lhnin, Georgia.
V. W. WOODRUFF. ESTABLISHED 1865. W. E. QI8BIN&
W. W. WOODRUFF & GO.
176 & 178 Cay Street, KNOXVILLE, TENN.
HARDWARE.
Cutlery, Mule Shoes, Axes, Ac., Nalls, &o. Locks, Hinges, Tools, Horae and
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
Genuine Oliver Chilled Plows, Syracuse Hillside Plows,
Brown's Double Mowers, Shovel Plows, Shellers, Cider Mills, Forks, Straw Cut¬
ters, Lawn Corn Hay Scythes,
Cradle and Snaths, Barbed Wire, Ac., Ac.
CONTRACTORS' SUPPLIES.
Mattocks, Dynamite, Scrapers, Blasting Powder, Sledge and Steel, Drill Iron,8hovels, Hammers, Black¬ Picks,
smith Tools, wheelbarrows, Ac.
AMMUNITION, SPORTING GOODS.
§hot Parker’s Guns, Shot Winchester Guns, Remington, and Colt’s Baker Rifles, and English Loaded
hells, ishlng Rifle Rods, Powder, Ac. Shot, Lead, Fish Hooks and Lines,
SPECIALTIES.
Sash, Clroular Doors Saws, and Window Blinds, Glass, Rubber Fire-proof and Leather Safes, Belting, Wire
Soreen Doors and Window Frames, Paper Bags, Ao.
EVERYTHING ON WHEELS.
oun
for arts.
Send Catalogue and prices.
Special attention given to orders by mall. We respeot
f ully solicit your patronage.
W. W. WOODRUFF & GO.
; ;76 & 178 Gay Street, KNOXVILLE, TENN.
' ) Vj ; SAWMILLS Capacity. Zj r <
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CD CD -i! n Prices. u o o
R -2 *0 N z
i he i r S? </> (U u Q, < } ( W a ' 1 ° UJ % ^ !— <L> o BOILERS *8 I L5 K I m ^ Z 02 z LU . j '"-a k Ci Highest * Ed bJO o WEHAVF tri g o Y Lowest ^ 5 o ^ ^ 5 S c •- 7= Cl C y >.ll O J, H Q, *ST
NO HOPE OF RESCUE.
Horrible Fate of One Hundred and
Thirty Entombed Miners.
A special cablegram of Wednesday from
Vienna, Austria, says: All hope of res¬
cuing alive the men entombed by the ex¬
plosion of the fire-damp in the Fofthscritt
mine, Dux-Dux, Bohemia, has been aban¬
doned. An investigation of the list of
employes lost their reveals the fact that 130 men
lives in the disaster, as it is
generally conceded that those who were
not killed by the explosion must have
been suffocated by the after-damp.
The mine is being cleared of wreckage
as rapidly as possible, but the work is
necessarily made slow. Every effort will be
to recover the bodies of the dead.
Many heartrending scenes were witnessed it
about the mouth of the shaft when was
announced the shadow by the mine officials, beyond
of a doubt, that every man
in the mine was dead. No explanation
is made as to how the explosion occurred.
AWAITING ORDERS.
A War Vessels, with Sleani Up, Ready
to Sail for Hawaii.
A Sun Francisco special says: A dis¬
patch fiom jMiire is’and Tuesday after
noon says the Hanger aud Adams
are now lying in the stream, steam
up, both havii g their complements
of men, stores aid ammunition
aboard and ready to proceed to sea,
only awaiting orders from Washington.
Ti e Moi.t-rey arrived during the inorn
nig aud will be ready to go into commis¬
sion in two days. Men are swarming on
her to push her to completion. The old
m nitor Comanche will be ready f; r use
inside of a week, A full force of men
are working on her.
SI.OO a Year in Advance,
NO. 19.
DALTON, GEORGIA.
SELLING OUT AT COST.
Will sell all kinds of Furniture, consisting of Bed Room Suite,
Parlor Suits, Rocking Chairs, Bedsteads, Spring and Sofas, In faot
everything kept in a first-class Furniture Honse at cost. We an
offering Goods at cost in order to reduce our stock by the first of
the year, expecting to make some changes in onr business.
CARPETS
Cheaper than ever, although they are advancing every day.
Cherokee Furniture Co.
EVERY MAN HIS OWN
DOCTOR.
By J. HAMILTON AYERS, M. D.
A Valuable Book
of 600pages, illus¬
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knowledge of how
to treat and cure
disease, prolong
life and promote
happiness.
Sent by mall, post¬
paid, on receipt of
Price, 60 c,
Address all orders to
Atlanta Finishing House,
116 Loyd Street,
ATLANTA, GA.
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Ripans Tabules contain nothing injurious to the most delicate constitu
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druggists. A trial bottle sent by mail on receipt of 15 cents. Address
THE RIPANS GWEMICAL CO., 10 Spruce Street, New York.