The diamond fields of South Africa : part 1 (1868-1893)

The discovery of diamonds in South Africa occurred in early 1867 on the land of a poor Boer farmer, Daniel Jacobs, near the small isolated settlement of Hopetown on the Orange River in the Cape of Good Hope Colony. This region of South Africa, near the junction of the Orange and Vaal rivers, was one of several destinations for thousands of European settlers (mainly Dutch and English) who traveled from the coast toward the interior of the country to farm and raise livestock. No one thought the region might contain diamonds, or thought to search for any precious stones. Brazil had been the principal source of diamonds for at least 150 years.

Jacob’s son Erasmus collected pretty stones, including a shiny pebble, along the south bank of the Orange River that he and other children used in games. His mother noticed it and showed it to a neighboring farmer, Schalk van Niekerk, who was so intrigued by its appearance that he offered to buy it. The woman laughed at this idea and gave the pebble to him.

The farmer thought it might have some value and showed it to several individuals in Hopetown and nearby Colesberg, but found little interest. The civil commissioner in Colesberg, Lorenzo Boyes, examined the pebble and discovered that it could scratch glass. He then sent it to Dr. W.G. Atherstone, a physician and amateur geologist residing at Grahamstown who, based on its physical properties, pronounced it a diamond weighing 21.25 carats.

It was purchased for £500 by Sir Phillip Wodehouse, the governor of the Cape Colony, who was able to confirm its identity. This news was viewed with some skepticism, however. Most people at that time had never seen a diamond and only knew of them from books. They debated how and why diamonds occurred in South Africa.

This surprise discovery prompted Boer farmers along the rivers to look more carefully for “blink klippe” (bright stones). As news of the initial diamond discovery spread, small parties of prospectors rushed into the region to search for similar gems. Over the following months, additional diamonds continued to be found, and by 1869 these river diggings had yielded hundreds of diamonds (including the discovery of the 83.5 carat diamond known as the “Star of South Africa” at Sandfontein). Those involved in the search recognized that the presence of garnets was often a very good indicator of the proximity of alluvial diamonds. Much of the scientific effort during this time was directed toward finding the host rock in which the diamonds originally formed.

In 1870 diamonds were being found in some abundance on the Bultfontein farm (20 miles southeast of the river diggings) in what came to be called the “dry diggings” (later recognized as diamonds occurring in the upper weathered and decomposed sections of a volcanic pipe). These events started a rush of thousands of people (of all backgrounds and from a number of countries) to lay claim to sections of land to explore for diamonds over a large area of the Cape Colony, and within two decades, many rich deposits were found that would later become the famous diamond mines of South Africa.