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UNITED STATES, CANADA AND MEXICO 23
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plank
trough set with a steep pitch. An iron grating at its lower end closes
it so as to form an obtuse angle. The detritus from the gold-bearing
streams is shovelled into this box, and a second operator stirs it with
a shovel under a small stream of water. The coarser gravel is thrown
out, and the gold, and such small gravel as may possess a superior
gravity, do not pass off with the current. It was thus that this
diamond was detained. In April, 1887, Lewis M. Parker, a tenant of
Daniel Light, found a diamond on his farm, situated three-quarters of
a mile northeast of Morrow's Station, Clayton County. The stone
afterwards came into the possession of W. W. Scott, of Atlanta, who
sent it to me for examination. It proved to be an octahedral crystal
weighing 4 1/12 carats (12.672 grains), 2/5 of an inch long and 1/4 of
an inch wide (9 x iox 7 millimeters), is slightly yellow and has one
small black inclusion. It would afford a stone from 1 1/2 to 2 carats
in weight. Its specific gravity is 3.527. Its surface is curiously
marked with long, shallow pittings. L. O. Stevens, of Atlanta, Ga., has
communicated to the writer that a negro called on him during the past
year with a 2-carat diamond, defective and of very poor color, which he
had found in his garden a few miles from Atlanta. He showed no desire
to sell the stone or loan it for examination.
A book by Dr. M. F. Stephenson1 records
some of the exaggerated accounts of Georgia diamonds that have been
given in good faith, but upon mere hearsay evidence, and often after
years have passed. Although diamonds have been found in Georgia, and
the smaller ones mentioned are doubtless genuine, yet it is certain
that in some instances Dr. Stephenson was unable to discriminate
between a paste imitation and a genuine stone, and his enthusiasm may
have overreached his judgment in other cases. The large specimens
described were evidently quartz crystals and not diamonds. This is
almost certain as to the one mentioned which was used for a marker in a
game of marbles and bore considerable concussion, as a diamond could
not withstand this concussion without cleaving, whereas a rolled
quartz pebble would bear a good deal of such treatment. It is possible
that quartz crystals without any prismatic faces, like those found in
Arizona (hexag-
1 Geology and Mineralogy of Georgia, Atlanta, 1871.
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