THE CULLINAN DIAMOND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2389, 2 January 1909, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE CULLINAN DIAMOND.

* GREATEST GEM IN THE' WOULD.

Visit to tiie Mine wliicli Produced-it.

HOW THE MIGHTY STONE LOOKS. (By Frank G. Carpenter in the New Orleans “ Times-Democrat ”)

You have 'all heard of tho Cullinan diamond .which was recently presented by the Government of tiie Transvaal to King Edward VII, and which is now being cut in j\.mster<lcim.. Xt • is by several times the largest diamond ever found, -and its value is over a- million. 1 am writing these notes on the edge of the mine from Whoro it was taken. Prom where- I stand I can* look right down into it, or rather, over it, tor it covers eighty acres, the area of a good-sized farm. It -is known as the Premier Diamond Mine, -and is • by far tlio largest diamond mine in the world. On the hill, at the left, I can see the great gear with its crushing, washing, and pulsating machine. They arc fed by the caravan of oars which -aro now flying -up to if over that inclined roadway. , The mine itself is black with workmen. There aro 9900 of natives at work digging out tlio oro and loading it on cars./#Here men aro -blasting, there they %ifre laying railroads, and further over digging tunnels down into tho blue ground. There at one end of the mine are the offices where the managers direct tho work. Ihe\ consist of iron-roofed buildings woith under 2000 dollars, and seem strange headquarters for .a business which employs thousands of men, and has an output of millions a year. Further back arc tho compounds in which tlio native workers are kept -under guard, and just back of me -is the railioad station with its hotel and few stores, forming the town of Cullinan. THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DIAMOND MINE. I have already described the mighty diamond pipes of Kimberly from which, Ci/itil -lately, 9o -per cent, of the world's diamonds came. I have told you -liow eacli_ of them was made -by a volcano which bored its way out of the earth through the hardest of irock, and left there a deposit of -blue ground sprinkled with diamonds. Some of the Kimberly pipes have been tested half a mile downward, and they find that the diamonds -arc as thick at the bottom as they were at the top. This mine here is of the same formation, save that- the pip© is so largo that all the De Beer’s mines could be put inside •it and leav© room for several big diamond mines in addition. The Premier pipe is now well outlined. It is half' a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide.- Within it there is -nothing but this blue ground sprinkled with diamonds. Every yard of it contains precious stones. In 1906 more than 900,000 carats were taken from it, and during the- first six months of 1907 the output was more than a million carats. It is now only four years since tlio mines began to bo worked, and since then they have been producing diamonds at tho rate of a carat and a quarter per minute for every minute of the day and night, year in and year out. A carat and a quarter diamond makes a -mighty pretty engagement iriug. Cut and set this would be worth at least 100 dolilors. This mine has been turning out such a ring every minute. That gives you some idea of its value. The total output in money has been over 25,000,000 dollars, and within the past -year or so it lias been paying several millions in dividends. THE PREMIER V. THE DE BEERS. This Premier mine is comparatively new. The great pipes at Kimberley, which belong to the De Beers Company, have been worked for more than a generation, and'-until this mine was discovered it was believed that thev would always form tlio chief source of the world’s supply„of precious stones. For the past thirty years almost all our diamonds have come from them, and they still have values worth hundreds of. millions of dollars in sight. They have produced ■more preoious stones than all tho other mines of the world put together, and almost all the diamonds now worn -by man came from Kimberley or thereabouts. The product has sold for something like .600,009,000 dollars.. The Premier mine was discovered in 1902. As I have -said, it has already -produced o-ver 25,000,000 dollars, and its size is so enormous that it is bound to seriously the diamond -market of the future, foo (ax the mine has scarcely been touched. It is being worked almost on the surface, and~it is estimated that at the present rate it will take twenty years to get out the blue ground to a depth of 350 feet. When it is remembered that tho Kimborlcy pipe has been mined to a depth of more than 2500 feet, and that the De Beers •is. now. more than 2000 feet deep, and that neither show any diminution of the output of diamonds to the cartload of blue earth mined, the erior,'i no us possibilities of this mighty eighty-acro diamond pipe can be appreciated. I -understand that tho De Beers Company rather sneered at tho Pro-, mier mine until lately, and! that they claimed its diamonds did not compare with those of Kimberley in _ their brilliance. Nevertheless, within the past few months the two companies have entered into a working agreement by which the diamond output is so restricted '"is to not flood tho world with precious stones and thereby bring down the prices. A nvx at' .wn'T-T TifiE DIAMOND

~. ICING. , ; i During my stay here I-Jiavo met Mr. T. M. Cullinan, the man wha discovered this mighty diamond pipe and from whom the 'Cullinan diamond is named. Five years ago he 'had only n few thousand dollars, hut he is now worth ten or fifteen million, and lie might ibe called the world’s diamond lcink. ? He is the chairman of the company which owns the mine and he still spends much of his time at the works. Mr. Cullinan looks more like a miner than a millionaire. He is a well-built man of fifty-five years of a"o ,and is the picture of health. I-fe has a dark complexion and dark : hair* and . eyes. His forehead;’ is •broad, his hose."straight; and Ins lower jaw' heavy,, showing determinationand grit. " I' understand that lie started life poor 'and. that some of his first money was made as a bi'ickjayoi .

As ho got,a little ahead he became a contractor; and as such liad a series oi lips and downs which loft linn at the age of forty worth perhaps 60,000 dollars. I asked him how ho made his great strike. He. replied : “Diamonds have been long known to exist in this region. They were discovered here years ago, and one alluvial claim had been pegged out and floated at a capitalisation of £150,000,000, only a short distance from whore tlio Premier mine is. About four years, ago I was looking up this valley, prospecting for chaiiiiontls. I found several leac-s \\ ith good indications, and they all seemed to go towards this point. “The property then belonged to a Dutchman who had something like 1500 acres of land. He was J t for stock raising and was renting out small patches to the natives about. Ho knew of the possibilities of diamonds being found in the land, ami lie made his. price accordingly. Ho refused to sell except as a whole, and that for a lump sum of £52,00U, or about 260,000d01. in American money. I hud prospected enough to know that tho ground contained diamonds, and I had no doubt but that the mine could bo floated to pay a good profit on tho abovo price. 1 therefore put in my own money and induced others to join me; AVe then bought tlic farm, and -the result- is tlio Premier. "’ “Had you -any idea of the- enormous possibilities, of tlio property?” I asked. “No. My wildest- dream did not reach tho conceptions of tills biggest diamond mine of the world anti ol the discovery of tho largest- diamond ever known. " I thought there might bo a diamond pipe somewhere upon tlio farm,, and I was pretty suro that the land contained enough alluvial diamonds to give us our money back, even if no pipe were discovered.” “AA’hat- was your original capital?” “It was just the same that ii is today; namely, £BO,OOO. Of this we paid £52,000 to Prinsloo, the Dutchman who owned the land, and used the balance as a working capital.” “And what became of the Dutchman?” “He is still living in a little mud hut not far from hero,” replied Air. Cullinan. “Ho made a good bargain in selling his farm. Ho paid only £-500 for it, and he got £-52.000. He refused to give me ail option on the property at £150,000, allowing me three months to prospect to see whether I would take it- or not. He afterwards sold another farm which cost him less than this for £IOO,OOO. so that altogether he realised about 800,000dol. of your money for his lands. Nevertheless, notwithstanding his wealth, he still sticks to his mud hut.” THE PREMIER MINE.

| I asked Air. Cullinan to tell me something about the Premier mine. He replied : i . “It is s-6 big that wo really cannot say just how big it is. The’pipe has an area of about eighty acres. It is shaped somewhat like a pear, and the walls are almost vertical. Wo. have already sunk diamond drills to a depth of a thousand feet, and have ; found diamonds in tho blue all ihe way down. AVe do not know how how much farther the pipe extends, but probably/to a great depth. ! “How about the quality of your j diamonds?” 1 ‘‘lt is good, and it improves rs we .go down. The diamonds of the J're- ; mier mine aro unusually large. The great Cullinan weighs over three , thousand carats, and wo have discovered a number of three or four hun- , Tired.carats‘each. AVe found one the other day, which looked to me as though it had been chipped off the Cullinan.” r “AA T ill you not soon flood the world with diamonds if you keep on at this rato?” “I think not. AVhenover times are good the demand increases, and tho • people wdio buy such things are more numerous every year. The Japanese are now coining into the market, and within recent years you Americans have been buying more- than ever before. There is a temporary slump at present on account of "the (mrcl times, but that will pass away, and you will want more than ever.” “Do you not- think it would pay to cheapen the prices?” N , “No. I think the high prices aro to a large extent the cause of the demand. Make, diamonds as cheap as glass, and no one would wear them.” FINDING THE CULLINAN. During my stay here I have seen models of the- Cullinan diamond made of crystal, and have talked with Air. Cullinan about it, and also with the miner who discovered it. The diamond is just about as big as my fist. It is almost the size of a glass tumbler, and it weighs over one and onethird pound. It is about four inches long, two and one-half inches thick, and about two inches wide. If you can imagine a chunk of glass of irregular shape weighing about twenty ounces you may have some idea of the size and shape of this, tho greatest of all diamonds. The stone was discovered by Air. F. ■ AVcils, the mine overseer of the- Premier. ’* He was' superintending the work as I walked through Die diggings to-day. I asked him some questions as to his great find. Said he:

“We discovered the Cullinan diamond on the 25th of January. 1904. I had a gang of '.natives working not far. from' the centre' of the pipe. Y\ r e had gone down to a depth of about five feet from the; surface, and had been taking out good stuff all day. The sun was just setting, and we were about to knock off when I saw .something;'white and sparkling lying ou a slope of the blue. Tlie rays of the sgttyig- sun ' caught it, and _it looked like fire. I took dip. a pick and rushed to the spot. The earth was already loose about- the stone, and in a short time-it was in my hand:' It was so big that P was dazed 'at my -discovery. I ran with it across the mine to The office, burst into the manager’s room, and laid - down the stone before Mr. MciTardy arid Mr. Cullinan; They were as much astonished as myself. We Then

weighed it, and the next day the word was sent- out that the’, biggest diamond of the world had been found.” ‘ A COSTLY A JAIL PACKAGE.

It is interesting to know how this great diamond got to London. Think of- tho resrmnsibility of carrying something "as nig" as"“your" fist,' -so "small" that you eould put it in your coat pocket and -weighing little over a ■pound, worth a million dollars or so, from Pretoria, South Africa, to London. It would bo a brave man who would risk it without a guard, arid if a thief could -get hold of it it might be easily smuggled away. Nevertheless, the diamond got to London and that without guards of any kind, save those of Hie ” Majesty's mails. it was put up as a package, registered and sent by parcel post, i asked Air. Cullinan if lie whs not afraid to risk so much, iu that way. He replied ; “I don’t- know ol anything that could be safer. No one Jkncw. what was in .the package, and it was carried with less damage by mail than had it been guarded by soldiers.” I understand, however, that the stone was insured for two million dollars, although the Government- received less than thirty cents for carrying it, and the maximum amount which could have been rccovcd from it -in case of loss was less than ten, dollars. At tne same Trine a dummy parcel supposed to contain the diamond is said to have been ostentatiously taken to Cape Town and thence to Southampton, while the real treasure lay as an ordinary ‘parcel in the mails. A' ROYAL PRESENT.

Just how punch the Cullinan diaimond is worth no one knows. Nothing like it has ever been discovered and there is no standard oi comparison. It may be worth one. million dollars or it may be- worth two miilim or more. According to the laws of the Transvaal, 60 per cent, oi all -diamonds go to tho State, and the Government hero had their 60 per cent, interest -in it. It purchased the balance of the mine owners, and then made a present of the diamond to the King of England. This was on tho occasion of His Majesty’s birthday last November. After the presentation the diamond was given over to the authorities at Scotland Yard and it has since been taken to Holland to be cut. It i* now in the hands of the great dia-mond-cutting establishment or Asseher and Co., who employ five or six hundred men in their lactones at Amsterdam, and who are noted for fine workmanship. It was this company which cut the Excelsior stone, tlio largest diamond in the world before tho discovery of tlio Cullinan, and it lias handled the best' of the uncut stones discovered m Africa during tho past fifteen years. THE' GREAT DIAMOND SPLIT. I am told here that the great diamond lias already been splitoand that one of the pieces, which wik be cut and polished, weighs 1060 carats. This will be made up into a pear-shaped brilliant, and it will be be by far the largest diamond m the world. It will take more than a year to cut'and polish the stone, and it is not yet known, just- how many diamonds will be made from it. Ihe -diamond is kept at night m a special safe in the vaults of the factory, and [q o-uarded bv the Dutch police. Ihe vaults have "walls of cement and iron three-fourths of a,yard-thick and the door is an eight-inch plate of steel, with nine concealed locks. ihe diamond is taken from the safe every morning bv the head of the firm. He i s armed with a revolver and accompanied by ten members oi his stair, who leave him while lie secretly unlocks the door. The stone is then carried to the work-room, wlncn was especially built for the purpose and is <riven over to a special list, ; 1 eon Koe, who does the cutting and polishing. He is locked in ihe room with the diamond and is not allowed to (r o out. even for his moa-.s. Ihe polishing >' being done on a pdite sixteen inches in diameter, which ifour inches wider than that used lor ordinary stones.. The plate runs at a rate of 2400 revolutions per minute, and the polishing is perlormed nv a paste of crushed diamonds and oil. '