The Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, UtahThe Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon, UtahLINK TO IMAGE
Chief-Justice Marshall described it as "God's greatest miracle in stone." And Henry Clay said it was "the bridge not made with hands, that spans a river, carries a highway, and makes two mountains one." On the rocky abutments are found carved the names of many persons. Among them is that of Washington. In his youth, laboriously cutting places for his hands and feet, he climbed up the face of one of the steep abutments and cut his name above all others, where for seventy years it stood unsurpassed in height. In 1818 a daring college student climbed from the foot to the top of the rock, thus outranking all others.
The Natural Bridge is composed of blue limestone; it is two hundred and fifteen feet high, ninety feet wide, and spans a chasm eighty-five feet across. A public highway lined with trees passes over the top. The bridge itself is all that remains of the roof of what once was a limestone cavern.
The southeastern part of Utah is overlaid with strata of red and yellow sandstone hundreds of feet deep. Ages ago this whole region was elevated and thereby was distorted by the internal forces which pushed it upward. Subsequently wonderful transformations were wrought. The flowing streams gradually bored through portions of the soft, uplifted sandstone, forming arches and digging deep canyons, while the air and rain rounded off the rugged parts into graceful shapes.
Wonderful as is the famous Natural Bridge of Virginia, the natural bridges of Utah are still more wonderful. In White Canyon of southeastern Utah are Edwin, Carolyn, and Augusta Bridges—magnificent structures of pink sandstonecarved in lines of classic symmetry and possessing gigantic proportions. At least half a dozen natural bridges in Utah surpass that of Virginia, not only in beauty and grandeur, but also in dimensions. They were discovered by cattlemen in 1895, but they did not become known to the outside world until 1909, when the region was explored by the Utah Archæological Expedition.
Witch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, UtahWitch Rocks, near Echo Canyon, UtahLINK TO IMAGE
Of these bridges the Edwin easily ranks first in graceful symmetry; its span is one hundred and ninety-four feet, its elevation one hundred and eight feet, its width thirty-five feet. Combining grace and massiveness, the Augusta stands pre-eminent. It rises in majestic proportions to the height of two hundred and twenty-two feet and has a span between abutments of two hundred and sixteen feet. The width ofthe road-bed is twenty-eight feet and the thickness of the arch at the keystone is forty-five feet. The height of the Carolyn Bridge is two hundred and five feet and the span one hundred and eighty-six feet.
All these bridges span canyons whose depths correspond to the height of the arched structures. In White Canyon, a few miles below Edwin Bridge, under its overhanging rock walls, are the ruins of numerous cliff-dwellings.
The largest natural bridge in the world yet discovered is the Nonnezoshi. It is in Nonnezoshiboko Canyon, Utah, not far from the place where the San Juan River enters the Colorado. This mammoth arch is more of a flying buttress spanning the canyon than a real bridge. Its height is three hundred and eight feet and its span two hundred and eighty-five feet.
To visit these bridges from the nearest railway station requires stage and horseback riding for upward of one hundred and twenty-five miles. The latter part of the journey is made over a faint trail through a rugged country; but the scenery amply repays one for the hardships endured.
The climatic changes during the ages have been such that this region is now almost inaccessible on account of the lack of water, except in the early spring when melting snows yield a temporary supply. Even the cattlemen pasturing their herds in that section keep them there but a few weeks during the year, so scarce is both water and vegetation.
In the main, natural bridges are the result of one or another of several causes. A limestone cavern may be partly destroyed by streams of water, leaving a portion of the cavern with its roof still in place; the part of the roof thus remaining becomes the arch of the bridge. A branch of the Southern Railway threads a natural tunnel near Anniston, Ala., and the tunnel is the remnant of an old limestone cavern.
In other cases a natural bridge is formed when bowlders,or a mass of rock, tumbling into a deep crevice is wedged and held in place. In still other instances a layer of hard or slowly weathering rock may rest upon a layer of rock which weathers rapidly. In such cases, if the rock layers form the face of a cliff, natural bridges, caverns, and overhangs are apt to result.
CHAPTER XVIIISTRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS—TABLE MOUNTAIN OF CALIFORNIA
There are many table mountains in different parts of the world, but the one which I am about to describe is interesting both from geological and financial stand-points. The so-called Table Mountain of California is a massive natural railway embankment or colossal Chinese wall, extending through several counties, but best studied in Tuolumne County.
The mountain is forty miles long, from five hundred to eight hundred feet high, and a quarter of a mile wide at the top. For the most part the top is bare of vegetation and quite level, though slanting slightly toward the south. In places at the base of its precipitous sides, and sometimes extending part way up, pine and other trees are found growing.
This gigantic wall, broken through in several places by flowing rivers, is nothing more nor less than a mighty stream of congealed basaltic lava called latite, which in prehistoric times, rushing down the western flank of the high Sierras, usurped the bed of an ancient river channel, drinking up the waters and piling up its molten mass bank high.
The bed of the stream being filled with lava, its waters not flowing through the gravel, were forced to find otherchannels. The action of the elements during subsequent ages has worn away in great part the banks of the pliocene river and eroded in places the solid slate rocks to the depth of two thousand feet, leaving this sinuous wall as a mute witness of the mighty forces of nature.
On account of the excessive hardness and durability of this kind of basalt, this monumental fortress will endure long after the corroding tooth of time shall have crumbled to dust the royal pyramids and their very memory shall have been lost in oblivion.
Some geologists think there were two volcanic streams of lava, one succeeding the other by an interval of thousands of years, the first covering the auriferous gravel and the second quenching the waters of a subsequent river which had forced a passageway through the first flow of lava.
Scores of tunnels have been run into the mountain to get at the gravel of this Pactolian river. Millions of dollars of gold have been extracted from its bed, and millions more await the tunnel, upraise, and drift of the adventurous miner.
Beginning at the top of the mountain and working downward, we find the order of materials as follows: A cap of basalt from sixty to three hundred feet thick, a bed of breccia of varying thickness, two hundred feet of conglomerate andesitic sand (volcanic ash of the miners), a bed of pipe-clay, and then auriferous gravel resting on a bedrock of slate. In tapping the ancient river-bed considerable water is encountered flowing through the gravel. To get rid of this water has been a problem of expense and annoyance to the miner.
To measure the time that has passed since this buried river rolled over golden sands staggers the intellect. It is estimated that from one hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand years must have elapsed.
This curiously formed mountain has been likened to a monolithian serpent. Where the Stanislaus River breaks abruptly through the mountain the eye gazes in wonder from the crest down two thousand feet to a seemingly tiny crowded stream below, rushing madly on its way to the sea.
Many interesting remains of animals have been found in the gravels under this mountain. In running a tunnel under Table Mountain some years ago, the miners came across a large mass of tallow weighing about one hundred and fifty pounds, and in proximity were the bones and tusks of a huge animal. Many bones and tusks of the mammoth and mastodon, not to mention the remains of other animals, have been found in the ancient river-bed. Probably some of these elephantine animals were sporting in the water and dashing it over themselves when the stream of lava, sweeping down, overwhelmed them, trying out the tallow and preserving their skeletons for the wonderment of civilized man.
At one place in the mountain the deep roar of a waterfall is heard. At another, where there is a deep break, is a series of passageways and caves where the outlaw Murietta had his hiding-place. In several places on the top of the mountain, by striking the foot down hard, a hollow, reverberating sound is heard. We give in his own words the account of an explorer's visit to the so-called Boston tunnel which runs beneath Table Mountain:
"Hearing of a celebrated petrified tree in the Boston tunnel, which runs under Table Mountain, I determined if possible to see it and procure some specimens. After considerable inquiry I found a miner who said he knew where the tree was; that the tunnel in which it was located had been abandoned many years ago; that no persons had entered it for years; that rocks were constantly falling, making it exceedingly dangerous to enter, and that very likely it was so clogged up with rocks that no one could get to thetree. When I had expressed my great desire to see this tree, and coaxed him, at length he promised to take me to the tunnel to see its condition, but said he would not promise to guide me into it.
"Having dressed ourselves in overalls and jumpers, with candles and geological hammers in hand we set out for our destination. On approaching the tunnel my guide at once began to throw stones into the bushes on either side of the entrance. When asked why he threw the stones, he replied that about the mouth of old tunnels rattlesnakes are wont to resort to get out of the burning sun.
"Not finding any rattlers, we proceeded down the incline to the mouth of the tunnel. Finding the mouth not obstructed, and lighting our candles, we entered. Sometimes crawling on our hands and knees over fallen rock with scarcely a foot of extra room above our heads, then stooping low, then walking upright, again crawling between huge masses of rock and earth, and crowding between slanting monoliths, we made our way through the mud and water dripping on us from the roof above.
"When part way in, the guide hesitated and declared that we were taking our lives in our hands if we went farther; that the five-ton rock lying in front of our path had very recently fallen from the roof, probably a week before, possibly a day or only an hour before. Pointing to the roof with his candle he said: 'Do you see that piece of rock partly detached and ready to fall at any moment?'
"Acknowledging the threatening conditions, I urged: 'If not too dangerous, I do wish that we might go on until we find the tree.'
"Said he: 'If you promise not to strike any of these rocks with your hammer, we will venture a little farther.'
"You may be assured that I not only promised, but obeyed.
"At this juncture, I must confess, a peculiar sensation came over me when I thought of the possibility of being buried alive or crushed to death in this subterranean cavern, yet pride kept me from showing the white feather.
"The guide, going ahead and examining the walls and roof, called back to me in a low voice, saying, 'We are now safer.'
"Having traversed the main tunnel for a distance of upward of eight hundred feet, and carefully avoiding its branches, we finally came to the object of our search. This tree, four feet in diameter, of opalized wood, stands upright on the left side of the tunnel. The lava had burned off the bark and partly carbonized the outside part, and then the whole had subsequently taken the form of opal silica. There is a space of about four inches between the tree and the surrounding lava.
"By raising the candles above our heads we could look up the body of the tree some thirty feet. When we had broken off some choice specimens from the body of the tree with the hammer we left this subterranean world. On emerging from the tunnel the guide said: 'Thank God, we again see the sunlight.'
"To which I replied: 'Amen.'"
CHAPTER XIXSTRANGE ROCK FORMATIONS—GIBRALTAR
A huge projecting limestone rock, in form like a reclining lion, guards the entrance to the narrow water passage which separates Europe from Africa. This wonderful feature, the Rock of Gibraltar, extends directly southward from the mainland of Spain with which it is connected by a low,sandy isthmus. It is about three miles in length and in breadth varies from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile. Two depressions divide it into three summits, the highest of which is about fourteen hundred feet.
Let us visit the small city lying at its western base and then carefully examine this leviathan sentinel that seems to stand guard over the narrow strait. The special permission of the military commander to examine it or even to remain in the city must first be obtained; we are especially warned that cameras are forbidden and all negatives will be confiscated.
The north face we find to have an almost perpendicular height of twelve hundred feet; its east and west sides also display tremendous precipices. The south face is much lower and slopes toward the sea. Fortifications of massive walls and the best of modern guns protect the lower parts and also the seaward side of the city.
But what are those holes high up on the faces of the rock? They are portholes cut through the rock from interior chambers out of which cannon can be thrust and discharged at an invading enemy. We are curious to learn more about this interesting place, and on questioning our guide are told many remarkable stories.
The Rock of Gibraltar is honeycombed with caves, passageways, and chambers, some of which are natural and others artificial. We enter the largest of these natural caves, St. Michael's, and as we stand in the main hall, a spacious chamber two hundred feet in length and seventy feet in height, we are amazed at its beauty and grandeur. Colossal columns of stalactites seem to support its ornamental roof and all around are fantastic figures—foliage of many forms, beautiful statuettes, pillars, pendants, and shapes of picturesque beauty rivalling those of Mammoth Cave. St. Michael's Cave is eleven hundred feet above sea level and is connected by winding passages with four other caves of a similar character.
This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, GibraltarThis strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar, and the city nestling at its base, GibraltarLINK TO IMAGE
To six of the caves distinct names have been given. One of the caves is three hundred feet below sea level. About three miles of passageways, exclusive of many storage chambers, have been hewn so as to connect the different caves and natural passages, and so large have they been made that a wagon can be drawn through them. Within this rock are stored supplies of ammunition and sufficient provisions to last several years. In clambering about the rock we find cannon carefully concealed in scores of different places ready for use when needed.
In places the rock is overlaid with thin soil which produces a variety of vegetation. There are grassy glens, with trees, and luxuriant gardens surrounding pretty English cottages. During the rainy season wild flowers in great profusion spring up in all directions, but in the summer the rock presents a dry, barren aspect.
This strong and impregnable place is the Rock of Gibraltar and the city nestling at its base, Gibraltar. The city has a population of twenty-five thousand, of whom several thousand are soldiers forming the garrison. The garrison with their artillery, two pieces of which weigh one hundred tons each, reinforced with the strongest of fortifications, are thought to be capable of withstanding the combined hosts of Christendom.
Early in the eighth century the Moors, perceiving the strategic importance of the promontory, took possession of it and erected fortifications. During the succeeding nine hundred years the fortress was besieged no less than twelve times, and on several occasions was captured by invaders.
At length it became a possession of Spain, and so strongly was it fortified by the Spanish that it was thought to be impregnable. During the War of the Spanish Succession,however, the combined forces of England and Holland laid siege to it, and after a stubborn resistance the garrison was forced to surrender. Forthwith the English took possession in the name of Queen Anne and, strengthening the fortifications, have held the fortress ever since.
Spain was greatly mortified by the loss of this stronghold which she deemed rightly belonged to her. Several times during the ensuing seventy-five years, single-handed, she laid siege to the citadel in the endeavor to win it back, but each time she signally failed.
A seemingly auspicious time arrived in 1779 when she secured the co-operation of France. For the succeeding four years a relentless siege was laid to the fortress by the combined land and naval forces of Spain and France. Both nations summoned to their aid their ablest generals and admirals, using every conceivable device and strategy to capture the fortress, but all in vain.
During the first years of this siege the supreme command of both land and naval forces rested with the Spanish, but, having met with failure after failure, they were ready at length to give way to the French, who promised to capture the stronghold by constructing a powerful fleet of battering-ships, enabling them to fight at close range, so that gun to gun and man to man should decide the contest.
The French engineer who prepared the armament cut down the huge bulwarks of the sides of ten of the Spanish battle-ships and proceeded to reconstruct them within and without. The reconstructed ships were much like theMerrimac, that did such destructive work in our Civil War, except that they were not armored with iron. Triple beams of heavy oak with layers of sand and cork between them were used for encasing these huge hulks. For protecting the crews heavy timbers covered with rope and hides were used.
On September 12, 1782, fifty line-of-battle ships flyingflags, together with a fleet of smaller vessels, lined up before the town. This formidable fleet was supported on land by an army of forty thousand men reinforced with batteries of the heaviest ordnance stretched along the shore. To oppose these the English commander, General Eliott, had ninety-six pieces of artillery and seven thousand men. So confident was the enemy of success that the triple-armored battering-ships moved boldly up to within half-gunshot range.
At a signal the English opened fire, which was instantly answered by the floating batteries and the whole shore line; four hundred guns were then playing on the beleaguered town. Soon death and destruction were made evident on both sides. There seemed to be but one thing for the English to do to save themselves, and that was to set fire to the enemy's ships. Accordingly, furnaces were placed beside the batteries in which heavy cannon balls were made white-hot. The guns, shotted with these glowing balls, were then turned on the ships. The enemy attempted to guard against the hot shot by continually pumping water into the layer of sand between the wooden sheathing of the ships, and for a time succeeded in extinguishing the fires.
It was not long though before the admiral's ship caught fire, and as night drew on, the flames, indicating the position of the Spanish line, furnished a mark for the English guns. At midnight ten of the besieging ships were on fire. Rockets were thrown up and distress signals hoisted to summon aid from their consorts.
The flames mounted higher and higher, illuminating sky, sea, and rock. The shrieks of the wounded and dying filled the midnight air. When it was found that the ships could not be saved, all discipline was lost and a panic ensued. Hundreds perished miserably, while hundreds of others threw themselves into the sea. Seeing the terribledestruction wrought by firing hot balls, General Eliott ordered his men to man the boats in order to save their foes from drowning and burning.
With the greatest heroism they scoured the sea, and, mounting the burning vessels, dragged from the decks men deserted by their own people. While performing these humanitarian acts several of the English perished by explosions. Three hundred and fifty-seven of the enemy were saved from a horrible death. The following morning disclosed a sea covered with wrecks. A few days more of feeble bombardment ensued; then a treaty of peace was signed.
From a strategic stand-point, the Rock of Gibraltar is easily Great Britain's most important stronghold, because it guards the trade route to her most important possession—British India. Practically all her commerce with her Indian colonies passes through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. With either one in the possession of an enemy, British commerce would not only suffer heavy losses, but it might be destroyed altogether. So necessary is the command of the Strait of Gibraltar to Great Britain, that to lose the Rock might also mean the loss of British India.
At the present time Great Britain is continually adding to the defences by building new fortifications and replacing the older guns with the latest patterns.
In ancient times the name Calpe was applied to the rock of Gibraltar and Abyla to the eminence in Africa on the opposite side of the strait, and both of these eminences formed the renowned Pillars of Hercules. For centuries no ships navigating the Mediterranean dared sail beyond these pillars.
CHAPTER XXTHE BAKU OIL FIELDS
Crossing the Black Sea, we leave the steamer at Batum and take the train for Baku, the commercial centre of the greatest oil field in the world—a region where the supply of petroleum and natural gas seems almost inexhaustible. Immense subterranean oil reservoirs underlie this entire region and extend eastward under the Caspian Sea and beyond to the Balkan hills.
Not only do oil and gas exude from the ground, but, as in the California fields, they come up through the sea-bottom; the oil floats on the surface of the water and the gas, pure as that used in our cities, passes off into the air. In several places gas which bubbles up through the sea-water may be ignited; then for a long distance the sea seems to be aflame. In many places on the land a fire for lighting or heating purposes is made by thrusting a pipe down into the ground and igniting the gas which rises in the tube.
The waters of the Caspian Sea along the Baku shore are usually fine for bathing, but if the wind blows inland for a while the oil floating on its surface accumulates, forming a black scum on the top, putting an end to the bathers' sport until an offshore wind sets in.
Ten miles from Baku, once upon a time, there was a temple over a cleft in the rocks from which gas arises. The gas was kept burning, tended by Parsee priests, for more than two thousand years and until the advent of the modern oil well. This flame was a special object of adoration by the fire-worshippers who were the followers of Zoroaster, and many went there to pay homage to it.
In this region one may travel for miles and miles without seeing a tree, shrub, or blade of grass. The landscape consists of a rolling surface of rocks and sand. It is barren, dry, and destitute of all objects of interest. Sometimes for six months or more not a drop of rain falls to lay the dust. If we go into the section where oil-wells are sunk, a slight relief to the view is afforded by the mounds of sand marking the sites of oil wells, derricks, the inky petroleum lakes, and the huge iron reservoirs. But all around is dry and dusty save where the oil has mingled with the earth; there the surroundings are not only unpleasant to sight and smell but ruinous to peace of mind as well.
For twenty-five centuries this region has been famous for its petroleum, and for upward of a thousand years the surrounding peoples have had recourse to these springs to obtain supplies of oil for medicinal and domestic purposes. Herodotus has given an interesting description of them. Even in the early part of the twelfth century petroleum was an important article of export from Baku. Crude petroleum was used to anoint camels for mange. In the first part of the eighteenth century Peter the Great annexed Baku to Russia. After his death it was ceded back to Persia; but in 1801 it was again annexed to Russia.
To-day Baku is one of the important commercial cities of the Russian Empire. Its shipping is immense and to further its commerce there are magnificent docks. The city is built on the shores of a large bay, sheltered from adverse winds by an island that acts as a breakwater. The water-front has an anchorage for thousands of vessels. One may walk along the strand for eight miles and find ships lined up in front of the city the entire distance.
The Caspian is filled with various kinds of fish, and while bathing one might reasonably have the impression that he was swimming in an aquarium. In fact, this place is an idealone for an Izaak Walton. On the islands beyond the peninsula, projecting out from the Baku section, petroleum gas has flamed for centuries, lighting the heavens at night with a lurid glare that is visible far out at sea.
In Baku Bay, between two peninsulas, there was a spot, now commercialized into a producing oil well, where the gas came to the surface with sufficient force to upset small boats. Many of the oil wells are spouters for a long time after they are first bored, and when they cease to spout they can frequently be made to renew their activity by deeper boring.
Wells have been pumped for years without the level of the oil being lowered in the slightest. Some of the wells which have caught fire accidentally have burned for years, sending up their pillars of fire to a great height. In a few instances the richest wells have made the owners practically bankrupt by overwhelming the buildings on adjoining property with sand and petroleum, spreading ruin far and wide before the flow could be checked.
A majority of the great oil wells are about ten miles from Baku, and a dozen pipe-lines convey the petroleum from them to Black Town, a suburb of Baku, where it is stored and refined. From one well alone the escaping oil would have brought more than five million dollars had it been saved.
Seemingly the crust of the earth for hundreds of miles around acts like a huge gasometer pressing down on the pent-up gases with its weight. Since the Caspian Sea is eighty feet below sea level, it is probable that the land bordering the sea has sunk since the gases and oil were formed. And this would, in part at least, account for the enormous pressure.
The spouting oil wells are called fountains. Some of them have yielded two million gallons each day for months,sending up jets three or four hundred feet high with a roar that could be heard several miles away. Great difficulty was found at first in stopping the flow when necessary by capping or gagging the wells, but after a time a sliding valve-cap was invented, capable of checking the flow of the most violent well. In order to prevent the enormous pressure from bursting the pipe and tearing up the ground, as soon as the pipe has been sunk part way the earth is excavated around it and the excavation is filled with cement.
Landing-place for commerce on the Caspian SeaLanding-place for commerce on the Caspian SeaLINK TO IMAGE
It is said that one of these gushers threw up in a day more oil than is produced by all the wells in the United States. One well spouted oil for months before it could be gagged, and in the meantime flooded the surrounding country. Millions of gallons were burned to get rid of it and millions more were diverted into the Caspian Sea. Two wells arereported to have thrown up in less than a month thirty million gallons each.
At first sand is thrown out with the oil, and frequently it is ejected with such force that a plate of iron three inches thick struck by the stream is worn through in less than a day by this liquid sand blast. When the wells cease spouting and it is not deemed advisable to bore deeper, pumping is employed. Generally the oil coming from the wells is conducted into large, carefully tamped excavations in the ground forming ponds or lakes. In these huge reservoirs the sand and heavier parts soon sink, making the bottom impervious. After the settling the petroleum is either pumped into large iron tanks or sent directly to the refinery by pipe-lines.
Since petroleum is vastly cheaper than coal, the steamers plying on the Caspian Sea and the locomotives of many of the Russian railroads use oil for fuel. At one time so great was the accumulation of petroleum that it sold at the wells for a few cents a ton. A fleet of tank-steamers conveys the oil products to the interior of Russia by the Caspian Sea and Volga River route.
The crude petroleum of Baku yields a lower percentage of kerosene than the American wells, but it contains more lubricating oil. Millions of gallons of lubricating oil are shipped from Baku each year to all parts of Europe. On the opposite side of the Caspian there are great cliffs of mineral wax such as is obtained from petroleum and used extensively in the manufacture of paraffin candles.
More than two hundred different products are made from petroleum, among the chief of which are kerosene, lubricating oil, benzine, gasoline, vaseline, and paraffin.
CHAPTER XXITHE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS
Many of the great treasure fields of the world have been discovered by chance rather than careful search.
The diamonds of the Deccan, India, were trodden under foot for ages before they were recognized as diamonds. In Brazil the gold placer miners threw away the glassy pebbles as worthless and the black slaves used them as counters in their card games. A visitor who was acquainted with the diamond fields of India happened one day to notice the shining stones which two men were using in a card game at a public-house. The brilliancy of the pebbles piqued his curiosity. Having secured some, he tested them and found them to be diamonds of the first water. Yet so great was the prejudice against the Brazilian diamonds at first that for years many were secretly shipped to India and thence sent to the diamond market as Indian diamonds.
A trivial circumstance often leads to a marvellous change in the conditions of men, communities, and nations. The playful act of a Boer lad picking up a shining pebble on the banks of the Orange River served as a beacon to lure persons to search for the most precious and hardest of gems, the diamond, and thereby transformed South Africa.
It was the beginning of an industry that has already added more than four hundred million dollars' worth of wealth to the world and which now yields annually twenty million dollars' worth of diamonds. The history of the South African diamond mines is a fascinating story from start to finish.
A Boer farmer named Jacobs had made his home on thebanks of the Orange River not far from Hopetown. Here, living in a squalid hovel, he eked out a precarious existence by hunting and grazing. His chief income was from the flocks of sheep and goats that grazed on the scanty herbage of the veld. Black servants were the shepherds, and the children, having no work to employ their time, were free to roam over karoo, and veld, and along the river.
What children are not attracted by pebbly streams? Wading in the water and skating flat stones on its surface was a joyous pastime for them. The banks of the river were strewn with stones of various colors and sizes such as would naturally attract the eyes of children.
There were rich red garnets, variegated jaspers, chalcedonies and agates of many hues mingled with rock-crystals. The children would fill their pockets with these colored pebbles and carry them home to use in play.
One day the farmer's wife noticed an unusually brilliant pebble among the other stones that were being tossed about by the children. Soon after she told one of her neighbors that the children had found a curious glassy stone that sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. On his expressing a desire to see the stone, it was brought to him covered with dirt. He was attracted by its brilliance and, probably surmising that it was more valuable than common quartz crystal, offered to purchase it. The good-wife scorned the idea of taking money for a smooth stone, and told him laughingly that he was welcome to it.
The stone was sent by post to Grahamtown to ascertain whether or not it was of value. To the astonishment of all concerned it was pronounced a genuine diamond and was sold for twenty-five hundred dollars. A search was forthwith made in the locality for other stones, but none was found. Ten months later a second diamond was found thirty miles away on the bank of the same river. Thenquite a number of fine diamonds were found by prospectors along the Vaal River.
In 1869 a black shepherd boy found a magnificent white diamond which was purchased for five hundred sheep, ten oxen, and a horse. The purchaser sold the gem for fifty-five thousand dollars, and it was subsequently resold for one hundred thousand dollars. This superb gem became famous as the star of South Africa.
Although a few skeptics said these stones might have been brought from the far interior in the crops of ostriches, yet this last great find served to attract public notice, and soon thousands of prospectors came to seek the coveted gems. Even the stolid Boer caught the excitement, and trekked long distances with wife and children to reach the captivating fields.
It was a motley throng, like a mighty stream, which poured into the valley of the Vaal. Men came hurrying in all sorts of ways, afoot, on horseback, and in heavy, creaking ox-wagons. For miles and miles men were quickly at work sinking holes into the ground; camp-fires were flaming; teamsters were inspanning and outspanning their oxen, and wagons were creaking. These, with raucous voices shouting in a babel of languages, made a pandemonium exciting enough for the most adventurous.
As far as the eye could reach along the banks of the Vaal were seen hives of busy, hopeful men who believed that untold riches were almost within their grasp. The hardest of work was but a pastime, for if they did not find diamonds to-day, would they not to-morrow? Did not their neighbors find them? The next shovelful of earth might contain a precious gem. They could hardly afford time to eat or sleep. Flashing eyes and elastic steps marked the success of some, while others repressed their feelings and kept their own counsel regarding the extent of their finds.
So great did the crowd become that it was necessary to limit claims, and at an informal meeting of the prospectors, a digging committee was formed to make regulations controlling the working of the digging. Thirty feet square was thought to be a reasonable claim for one person. Some sought the river's banks to prospect, others the kopjes or hills. Some pinned their faith to light-colored ground, others to dark. Fancy rather than reason dictated the choice.
The manner of working a claim was simple. The earth was thrown into a cradle having a bottom of perforated zinc or of wire mesh. The cradle was then rapidly rocked to and fro as water was poured in upon the earth. The finer part was washed through the mesh and the worthless stones were thrown out by hand. The residue was then removed to a suitable place and carefully examined.
Each person most vigilantly scrutinized his hoard, fearing that in an unguarded moment a fortune might slip through his hands and be lost. Even the stranger passing along was hardly given a glance, so eager was each individual in searching for the precious pebble.
There is an entrancing interest in diamond mining far exceeding that of gold, for at any moment one is likely to come across a princely fortune. The miner is ever hopeful. Communing with himself, he says: "To-morrow I may be made independent by a lucky find." And for a time it was merely luck, for so irregularly distributed were the diamonds that no knowledge was gained as to where they were most likely to be found.
While miners were strenuously working along the rivers, far more wonderful diamond regions were soon to be unfolded; regions rich beyond the loftiest nights of the imagination and equal to the fabled valley of Sindbad the Sailor.
A thrifty Dutch vrau owned a farm, on a volcanic plateau extending for miles into the rocky kopjes. Her overseer,learning that garnets are often found associated with diamonds, and noticing some garnets in one of the small streams that coursed through the valley, concluded to do a little prospecting on his own account. Sinking a hole a few feet in depth and sifting the sand and gravel through a common sieve, he came across a diamond weighing fifty carats—nearly half an ounce.
This find caused a rush to the farm to secure claims, and the widow, with an eye to business, charged a monthly license of ten dollars. Soon this discovery was eclipsed by a more remarkable one at Dutoitspan[4]in 1870. Although a fair supply of diamonds was found near the surface, these diggings seemed to give out as they reached hard limestone.
When nearly all of the prospectors had left the field, having become discouraged, one more sanguine than the others determined to find out what was beneath this limestone covering. Sinking a shaft, he found that the limestone grew so soft and friable that it could be easily dug out with a pick. When he had penetrated the limestone covering he came in contact with a hard layer somewhat of the nature of clay. This he proceeded to break up and sift. During the sifting process he observed many sparkling gems. The problem had been partly solved at least. Diamonds were to be found in greater abundance below than above the limestone covering. On learning of the changed condition of affairs the deserting miners hastened back to the diggings in double-quick time.
Early in 1871 diamonds were found at Bultfontein[5]and on the De Beers farm, two miles from Dutoitspan. Fivemonths later another bed of diamonds was found on the same farm, lying on a sloping kopje, one mile from the first location. This kopje, named Colesberg Kopje, became afterward the famous Kimberley mine. The district was immediately divided into claims and taken by prospectors.
The climate of this section is exceedingly trying. A blazing sun, clouds of suffocating dust, and a scanty supply of muddy water are the conditions of the region; it therefore required remarkable physical endurance and an indomitable will to achieve results. Sometimes terrific thunder-storms with torrents of rain would sweep through the valley. At other times great hail-storms would drive both man and beast to the nearest shelter. Wind-storms frequently drove blinding clouds of dust that penetrated everything.
Very quickly a city of tents sprang up at Kimberley to be superseded later by substantial buildings of wood, of brick and iron, and well-constructed streets. Water was pumped from the Vaal River through a main sixteen miles in length. It was then raised in three lifts by powerful engines to a large reservoir five hundred feet above the river.
The introduction of an abundant supply of good water wrought a wonderful transformation. Outside the business section the desert was made to blossom with flowers in gardens surrounding the hitherto bleak homes. Lawns were laid out and vines and trees planted about the houses, making the dusty, wind-swept expanse a thing of beauty and comfort.
At length prospectors learned that the diamond-bearing earth was confined chiefly to several oval-shaped funnels, ranging in area from ten to twenty acres, and that outside these few diamonds were to be found.
Now these huge funnels, or pipes, are nothing more or less than extinct volcanic craters. The walls, or casings, of these pipes are chiefly of shale and basalt filled with hardearth, yellow near the surface and bluish deeper down. The latter is called "blue-stuff" and is very prolific in diamonds. The diamonds found outside the rim wall must have been washed out of the craters or perhaps were thrown out by the eruption.
At first it was customary to pulverize the blue-stuff at once, but experience showed that a more satisfactory way to work it was to expose it for several months to the action of the weather. By this process it readily crumbled.
Various devices were used by the different miners to raise the earth out of their claims. Some used windlasses; others carried the earth up in buckets and tubs, some even by climbing ladders. Surrounding the funnels were carts, wheelbarrows, etc., for carrying away the material to the depositing grounds, where it was dried, pulverized, and sifted.
Many of the miners found it desirable to employ the native Kafirs to work in the pits, since neither the scorching sun nor clouds of dust seemed to trouble them.
The deeper the pits were sunk the greater the difficulty became in raising the blue-stuff. To add to the difficulties the rim wall of shale and basalt began to fall in, and the rain made the claims muddy and slippery or filled them with water. At a still greater depth water began to seep through the shale wall, and great masses of the rim occasionally fell in endangering life and almost precluding further mining unless concerted action were taken. So, in order to effect more economical methods of working, a consolidation of claims began to take place.
At the Kimberley mine a double platform with staging was built around the pit, and a series of wires running from the different claims served as trackways on which buckets of the blue-stuff were drawn up by means of ropes and windlasses located on these platforms.
When still greater depth had been reached and much ofthe rim wall had been precipitated into the pit and rain and seepage water had made the pits mud holes, two remarkable persons who were interested in the mines took a leading part in solving the difficulties. These persons were Cecil John Rhodes and Barnett Isaacs, better known as "Barney Barnato." Rhodes owned stock in the De Beers and Barnato in the Kimberley mine. At first they were sharp rivals in gaining control, but later they got together and consolidated interests.
Cecil Rhodes was an English college student. He had lost his health and had come to South Africa at the invitation of his brother, who was interested in the diamond mines. Roughly dressed, his clothes covered with dust, this shy, pale student, week in and week out, might be seen looking after the Kafirs who worked his brother's claim.
Barney Barnato, a young Hebrew of keen foresight, likewise had a brother in South Africa. The latter, who was engaged in diamond buying, urged Barney to come at once to this famous region, setting forth the wonderful opportunities offered for business. Barnato forthwith packed his few belongings and took the next steamer for Cape Town. He was only twenty years old and was bubbling over with good-natured energy; but he was quick to perceive and quick to act.
Although he had but a few dollars with which to start in business, yet by indomitable energy and shrewd management he soon acquired sufficient money to buy a few small claims in the famous Kimberley mine. To these claims he constantly added others until he became one of the leading stockholders in the mine.
When the rival mines began to undersell each other and diamonds were being sold for but little more than the cost of production, Rhodes conceived the plan of consolidating all the mines, thereby forming a monopoly to keep up theprices. By masterly skill he brought this about, purchasing some shares outright, and giving shares in the new company as payment for others. To make the purchases he negotiated a loan of several million dollars through the Rothschilds, the famous bankers of London.