DIAMOND WORTH MILLIONS

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 60, 4 November 1912, Page 5

DIAMOND WORTH MILLIONS

BIG SEARCH IN ARIZONA

A syndicate of noted scientists and financiers, including three or four British representatives, are now engaged in what is perhaps the most wonderful mining venture ever recorded. The object of their quest is an enormous meteor which struck the earth ages ago, and is believed to be practically a solid diamond worth untold millions of pounds. The scene of this amazing mining operation is Meteor Mountain, in the heart of the Arizona desert, in the southern part of the United States, about ten miles from Canyon Diablo, on the Santa Fe Railway. Viewed from a distance, Meteor Mountain is very little different from the countless other “buttes” that rear their heads from the shifting sands of the dreary desert waste, but on climbing its sides, thickly strewn with meteoric fragments, the explorer quickly real ses that he is standing upon the threshold of one of the world’s greatest scientific mysteries. The top is hollowed out into a huge howl-shaped depression about 600 ft. deep and perhaps a mile across, much like a volcanic crater, Tint there are no signs anywhere of even ancient volcanic activity.

For many years Meteor Mountain has been the subject of Indian tradition. To this day the Mold tribe relate a legend of a blazing star which fell ages ago, when the oldest of the ancient cliff dwellings was new. The legend tells how the Molds had offended the Great Spirit, and the blazing star had come as a warning, lighting up the earth for hundreds of miles around and spreading terror throughout the repentent tribes. Since then the Molds have followed the path of rectitude, and are still known to the white ipvader as “good Indian.” Although this legend was often told, the spot where the meteor fell attracted no attention until a wandering ranchman, who had lost his way, stopped to rest at the foot of Meteor Mountain, and idly picked up a meteoric fragment. He was an educated man, and quickly discovered that imbedded in the iron matrix were a number of hard black diamonds. All around him, too, he found the ground strewn with similar fragments, evidently broken from the main body by the tremendous shock when the meteor struck the earth. The ranchman, whose name is Charles H. Langley, took a collide of the fragments back to camp with him, and later sent them to an eminent English scientist.

Upon receipt of the latter’s report Another visit was paid to Metebp Mountain to search for meteorites in the, hope of d’seovering more black diamonds. The sides of the mountain and the desert for some distance arounid were thoroughly prospected, and enough gem-carrying specimens were found to indicate that the main body of the meteor must have been heavily laden with the valuable' carbon.

The theory of the scientific members of the; syndicate that the main body of the meteor may prove to be one huge diamond is based both upon the finding of gems in the scattered fragments and on the opinion of Sir William Crookes that the bottomless bores, known as “diamond pipes,” in which these gems are usually found are the result of falling meteors. Taking into consideration the size of the meteor and the tremendous force with which it fell, the synckcate’s engineer estimates that it ought to be found at a depth of about 2500 ft, If this estimate is correct, the recovery of the mammoth diamond should be a matter of only a few months now, with barely a thousand feet more to dig. The syndicate has already sunk a shaft to a depth of 1500 ft. in the bottom of the crater.