At the Cullinan diamond mine on the 25th of January 1905, an event that will go down in history occurred with the finding of the Cullinan diamond by Fred Wells. It was in the late afternoon that Fred on his afternoon inspection closed by the newly installed number two gear saw something reflecting in the Sun.
The small town of Cullinan only 40 kilometers from Pretoria is famous for none other than the Cullinan diamond. The Cullinan 3106 carats were found on this mine in 1905 with the two largest stones cut from the Cullinan the greater and lesser stars of Africa forming part.
The source of these stones becomes somewhat compelling. The diamond crystallized into diamonds 200 kilometers underground and with volcanic eruptions these diamonds were brought closer to the surface. The Cullinan is in fact a collection of diamonds cut from one.
Speculations on Cullinan Diamond
In some accounts, it is said that it was first noticed by a black worker who pointed it out to Wells, who actually saw the diamond first and is now lost in history. But it was Fred who climbed down the sidewall of the open pit and extracted the object with his penknife.
It was an enormous diamond. Fred took the diamond to the mining officer where legend has it that it was discounted as a diamond and thrown out of a window.
Fred recovered the Cullinan diamond and on further examination, it was found to be a diamond of the purest gem quality and a weigh 3106 metric carats. The chairman of the mine at his home in Johannesburg was informed. Legend has it that in the house that afternoon some of the junior sorters held a game of catches with the diamond.
Being the twenty-fifth in January and because a large number of cotton on the mine was even managed by a Scotsman, a burned supper being the traditional celebration of the famous Scottish sport was held in the boarding house of the hotel.
Shortly after the diamond was found, Fred Wells went to the family home of the Prince to bring one of the princes to the mine to view the diamond.
The farm on which the mine was established was previously owned by the princely family. The next day Thomas Cullinan made his way to the mine and the diamond was photographed.
First handed to William McCarty who was the general manager by Fred Wells and then handed to Thomas Cullinan by McCarty.
The diamond weighed 3106 metric carats and measured four by two and a half by two inches and it was impossible for anyone to close their hand around the diamond, it was by far the biggest gem-quality diamond ever found and remained so until the present day.
With no other diamond found remotely close to the size of this massive diamond, the diamond soon found its way to London.
The workforce in Cullinan mine
Many soldiers who remained in South Africa joined the growing workforce of the premier mine. First, the second-generation south Africans also join the mine. Most of these came from Kimberly.
As the workforce grew tense corrugated houses and rondavels with mud walls and touch cruises became the usual accommodation of years in January of 1900. And for a second washing plan designated number two gear and consistent of air to retrieve.
Production reached nearly 750,000 carriers which realized nearly eight hundred and sixty thousand pounds. Both numbers one and two gears were the men in carriers which were valued at nearly 1 million pounds in 1907. Number 3 gear was built and designed by an engineer called McClellan.
It was built in Europe and shipped to South Africa. It was by far the largest on Washington’s list. In the world with automatic through the capital with at least 8,000 lords a day. This gear as well as another gear called number for gear would request numbers one and two years they would stay in operation until the mine closed in 1932.
General offices were booked close to number one gear. He’s burned down in 1960 and new offices were built up called the phoenix bones with number three gear. Now in full production the amount of ground extraction from the pit in 1908 with over six million tons.
To its full extent, the mine was getting deeper and deeper. When production commenced on the premiere mine in 1903 there was very little locally ever available. The mine solved the problem by building compounds and hiring migrant labor from all over.
Different ethnic groups were separated in the compounds due to inter-tribal fighting. They were also kept separated in the workplace and had different working times.
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The compounds were situated on the southeastern side of the pit and the workers had to walk around the top of the organ pit to their place of work. The ones that worked in the pit would travel down the haulage where there is the workplace.
There were over 4,000 workers in each shift. Every day these halls will be charged with explosives and blasted. Any ground too big to be loaded was broken by hand. The average amount of ground broken each shift was 8 tons. Ten tons of ground was loaded by each worker per shift into cocoa pods. These loaded core coupons were crushed by hand to an unsettling station at the bottom of the haulage and coupled with an endless hole.
The diamond was unbelievably being sent there by Parcel Post where it remained until the Transvaal government bought the stone and presented it to King Edward on the 9th of November 1909. The well-known firm of Joseph Asha of Amsterdam was chosen to cut the diamond.
The diamond was carried by Abram Asha to Amsterdam in the pocket of his court at the same time a decoy parcel of a replica diamond was sent. An armed guard on a British frigate, a special table, and tools were made for the Cleveland of the stone and after inspection by the Asha family, the stone was locked in the strong room overnight in a room.
After cutting the diamond into many smaller and 9 major stones, the two largest were gifted as the crown jewels. The remaining was given to another king.
One was taken by Edward and the other six were taken by people of South Africa and in 1910 it was presented to Queen Mary. The largest one is a 530 colored pair of shared diamonds which at that time was the largest cut expensive diamond in the world. It is known as Cullinan.