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THE HOUSE IN CHARTERHOUSE STREET
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drainage
system that is the Orange and Vaal Rivers had been deepening their
channels and leaving on various levels patches of boulders and pebbles
to mark the limits of their former courses. And these rivers left also
diamond-bearing alluvial gravels.
It
was there, in the summer of 1926, that diamonds were discovered,
resulting in one of the most dramatic human "rushes" in history. At
Elandsputte, which is near Lichten-burg, on August 20, 1926, under a
hot sun, 6500 diggers were massed, ten to twenty deep for two miles.
Some wore old clothes, some shorts. Some were athletes, some women. An
official read a proclamation, raised his hand, the Union Jack fluttered
down, and with a wild cry the line moved forward. It wavered and broke
into many separate units and after a few minutes the runners stopped
somewhere, knocked pegs into the ground to stake their claims.
Seven
months later at Grasfontein, not far from Elandsputte, 20,000 runners
rushed off to put the pegs in the precious ground. By 1927 there were
about 100,000 diggers in the fields around these two districts. The
working of alluvial gravel grew to considerable proportions. Now it was
Welverdiend, Bakers, Purfontein, district after district. Then in
Namaqualand came another extraordinary discovery: the Merensky diamond
finds in the oyster beds and terraces at what is called Alexander Bay.
That was in November, 1926. It was found that the gravel carrying
diamonds in that section (near the mouth of the Orange River)
invariably contained shells and valves of a large fossil oyster, so
that this particular oyster proved an indicator of diamonds. Within six
weeks diamonds valued at about $750,000 were found, one of them a stone
of 70 carats.
Diamonds were beginning to pour into the market in ever larger quantities. The great producers—there were four
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