PRINCIPAL SOUTH AFRICAN MINES 301
those
days a conveyance from the station to the mine cost twelve dollars, but
the company has since built a spur to the railroad at Rayton Station,
5-1/2 miles off. It was known that there were diamonds in the Pretoria
district for years before the discovery of the Premier mine, and
properties were developed which did not pay; others were profitable,
but proved to be small mines. There are three such between Van der
Merwe and the Premier, viz.: the Schuller, the Montrose and the
Kaal-fontein. An article in the Queenstown " Representative," March 3,
1871, told of a 4-1/4 carat diamond found on a farm near
Pretoria, also of others found on the banks of the Elands river and
several other places. It was said that a government commission had been
sent out to examine and report. No general interest was awakened
apparently until 1897, at which time Mr. W. C. Schuller, the owner of
the property in that district, succeeded in interesting scientists in
the field. Mr. David Draper recognized some specimens shown to him in
April, 1897, as true diamond-bearing rock, and in September of that
year, he formally announced before a meeting of the Geological
Society, the discovery of a true diamondiferous pipe in the Transvaal.
He said it was enclosed by the Magaliesberg quartzite, a foundation
much older than the Karoo beds about the Kimberley pipes. He had
visited the locality with the owner in August and assured himself that
it was a true pipe. One diamond had been found, and others were
obtained on making a trial opening. Dr. Molengraf then visited the
place, and confirmed Mr. Draper's opinion. The subject, with specimens,
was then laid before the Volksraad at Pretoria.
