THE CONTINENTAL GLACIERS OF THE "ICE AGE" 307 



ported in wholly different directions at the time of new ice inva- 

 sions. 



The diamonds of the drift. Of considerable popular, even if 

 not economic, interest are the diamonds which have been sown 

 in the drift after long and interrupted journey ings with the ice 

 from some unknown home far to the northward in the wilderness 

 of Canada. The first stone to be discovered was taken by work- 

 men from a well opening near the little town of Eagle in Wisconsin 

 in the year 1876. Its nature not being known, it remained where 

 it was found as a curiosity only, and it was not until 1883 that it 

 was taken to Milwaukee and sold to a jeweler equally ignorant 

 of its value, and for the merely nominal sum of one dollar. Later 

 recognized as a diamond of the unusual weight of sixteen carats, 



FIG. 333. Shapes and approximate natural sizes of some of the more important 

 .diamonds from the Great Lakes region of the United States. In order from left 

 to right these figures represent the Eagle diamond of sixteen carats, the Saukville 

 diamond of six and one half carats, the Milford diamond of six carats, the Oregon 

 diamond of four carats, and the Burlington diamond of a little over two carats. 



it was sold to the Tiffanys and became the cause of a long litiga- 

 tion which did not end until the Supreme Court of Wisconsin had 

 decided that the Milwaukee jeweler, and not the finder, was en- 

 titled to the price of the stone, since he had been ignorant of its 

 value at the time of purchase. 



An even larger diamond, of twenty-one carats weight, was found 

 at Kohls ville, and smaller ones at Oregon, Saukville, Burlington, 

 and Plum Creek in the state of Wisconsin ; at Dowagiac in Michi- 

 gan; at Milford in Ohio, and in Morgan and Brown counties in 

 Indiana. The appearance of some of the larger stones in their 

 natural size and shape may be seen in Fig. 333. 



While the number of the diamonds sown in the drift is undoubt- 

 edly large, their dispersion is such that it is little likely they 

 can be profitably recovered. The distribution of the localities at 

 which stones have thus far been found is set forth upon Fig. 334. 

 Obviously those that have been found are the ones of larger size, 



