364 EMIGRANT DIAMONDS IN AMERICA. 



"fan" of their distribution the nearer to the latter must the point be 

 located. 



It is by no means improbable that when the barren territory about 

 Hudson Bay is thoroughly explored a region for profitable diamond 

 mining may be revealed, but in the meantime we may be sure that 

 individual stones will occasionally be found in the new American homes 

 into which they were imported long before the days of tariffs and ports 

 of entry. Mother nature, not content with lavishing upon our favored 

 nation the boundless treasures locked up in her mountains, has robbed 

 the territory of our Canadian cousins of the rich soils which she has 

 unloaded upon our lake States, and of the diamonds with which she 

 has sowed them. 



The range of the present distribution of the diamonds, while per- 

 haps not limited exclusively to the "kettle moraine," will, as the 

 events have indicated, be in the main confined to it. This moraine, 

 wnth its numerous subordinate ranges marking halting places in the 

 final retreat of the ice, has now been located with sufficient accuracy 

 by the geologists of the United States Geological Surve}' and others, 

 approximately, as entered upon the accompanying map. Within the 



territory of the United States the large 

 number of observations of the rock scor- 

 ings makes it clear that the ice of each 

 lobe or glacier moved from the central 

 portion toward the marginal moraines, 

 which are here indicated b}^ dotted bands. 

 , f r> . r. . 1 In the wilderness of Canada the observa- 



Common forms of Quartz Crystals. 



tions have been rare, but the few data 

 which have been gleaned are there represented by arrows pointed in 

 the direction of ice movement. 



There is every encouragement for persons who reside in or near the 

 marginal moraines to search in them for the scattered jewels, which 

 may be easily identified and which have a large commercial as well as 

 scientific value. 



The Wisconsin geological and natural history survey is now interest- 

 ing itself in the problem of the diamonds, and has undertaken the task 

 of disseminating information bearing on the subject to the people who 

 reside near the " kettle moraine." With the cooperation of a number 

 of mineralogists who reside near this " diamond belt," it offers to make 

 examination of the supposed gem stones which may be collected. 



The success of this undertaking will depend upon securing the 

 cooperation of the people of the morainal belt. Wherever gravel 

 ridges have there been opened in cuts it would be advisable to look for 

 diamonds. Children in particular, because of their keen eyes and 

 abundant leisure, should be encouraged to search for the clear stones. 



The serious defect in this plan is that it trusts to inexperienced per- 

 sons to discover the buried diamonds, which in the "rough" areprob- 



