37 6 W. H. HOBBS 



in the well-worn gravel of the bed of the creek, associated 

 with .garnets, gold, and platinum. Some were colorless but 

 others were bluish or slightly yellowish. Three of the stones, 

 which were sent to Mr. Kunz for examination, weighed respec- 

 tively -f|-, ^5, and -g 3 2- of a carat. 



In November 1893, a white diamond of 3-^f carats, weight was 

 brought to the writer in a collection of quartz pebbles, by Charles 

 Devine, a farmer of Oregon, Dane county, Wisconsin. The 

 stones had been found in October of the same year by a small 

 son while playing in a clay bank on the farm of Judson Devine, 

 in the town of Oregon, which is about twelve miles south of 

 Madison. 1 



The writer's interest having been aroused in the occurrence 

 of these stones, he began to investigate the Waukesha sensation 

 and after some correspondence learned that a yellow diamond of 

 over 15 carats weight was in the possession of Colonel S. B. 

 Boynton, a jeweler of Chicago. From Mr. Boynton was learned 

 the history of this stone, which was undoubtedly found as 

 reported, at Eagle, near Waukesha, Wisconsin. The stone was 

 brought to light in 1876 while digging a well on the farm then 

 owned by Thomas Deveraux. The diamond was noted as some- 

 thing peculiar, and was given to Mrs. Clarissa Wood, who, with 

 her husband, was a tenant on the property. Seven years later, 

 in November 1883, while still ignorant of the real nature of the 

 stone, she sold it to Mr. Boynton, at that time conducting a 

 jewelry, business in Milwaukee, for the sum of one dollar. 

 Colonel Boynton submitted the stone to competent examination 

 and learned that it was a diamond. Upon hearing of this Mrs. 

 Wood offered to repurchase the stone for $1.10, and upon his 

 refusal to accept this offer, brought suit against him to recover 

 the full value of the stone. After extensive litigation the case 

 was brought to the supreme court of the state, from which a 

 decision was handed down in favor of the defendant, on the 



1 Wm. H. Hobbs : On a recent Diamond Find in Wisconsin, and On the Probable 

 Source of this and other Wisconsin Diamonds, Am. Geol., Vol. XIV, 1894, pp. 31-35 '■> 

 see also, Diamanten von Wisconsin, Neues Jahrb. f. Mineral., 1896, II, p. 249. 



