ORES AND MINERALS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GOLD. 



°6? 



obd 



and a product of metamorphic action, would seem to have been clearly 

 established prior to the discovery of the South African localities, which ap- 

 pear to be not only more prolific than any yet discovered, especially in stones 

 of large size, but to differ quite remarkably from all others, inasmuch as these 

 are associated with and sometimes enclosed in a rock, which, although of a 

 puzzling character, is generally admitted to be eruptive. But whether the 

 diamonds were originally formed in this rock, or only introduced into it from 



some other source, is as yet undecided. 



The diamond has not been found in sufficient quantity anywhere in North 

 America, whether in the Appalachian or the Californian gold-fields, to be of 

 much importance from an economical point of view. But from the methods 

 pursued in mining in the latter region, it will be easily understood that but 

 few of the diamonds actually contained in the detrital material washed 

 would be likely ever to be seen. Still, the number of localities where this 

 gem has been observed is considerable. The following is a list of those occur- 

 rences which have been brought to the notice of the members of the Geo- 

 logical Survey; these are mostly within the area surveyed by Mr. Goodyear, 

 and the larger part of the detailed information about them has been extracted 



from his notes. 



Mr. Goodyear says : " Mr. McConnell tells me that in the McConnell & Reed 

 claim, which is the next one west of the one I visited on the south side of 

 Webber Hill, he once found, in the sluices, a colorless and brilliant diamond. 

 This was at a time when they were not touching the bed-rock, but working 

 entirely above it, at a height of three or four feet. He says that the stone 

 had twenty-four faces, and was ' about the size of a small white bean.' He 

 also firmly believed that, previous to finding this one, he had thrown away 



one in 



the same claim i as large as the end of his thumb.' He also says that 



there had been one or two found in still another claim, on the south side of 

 Webber Hill, but farther west." 



Mr. Goodyear further remarks : " I saw here [at Dirty Flat, near Placer* 

 ville] to-day, in the possession of Mr. Robert Cruson, or rather of Mrs. 01m- 

 stead, his sister, a diamond measuring -$\ °f an mQ k ul maximum diameter, 

 from apex to apex of opposite solid angles. This diamond is said by Mr. 

 Cruson to have been found by Mr. Olmstcad in clearing up the sluices in 

 washing the gravel from the shaft connecting with the main Cruson tunnel 

 at Dirty Flat. It was found not less than six years ago, and probably ten or 

 twelve. It is a little longer in one direction than it is in another, and is a 





