It was decided that open pit mining would not work. The next problem was that the rock surrounding the mine began to fall into the pit & there was no stopping it. But it was discovered that the blue ground was worth digging into. Then the diggers ran into what they thought was bedrock, 70 feet down & thought no more diamond mining could be done. On its 4th birthday, July 16, 1875, the Kimberley Mine was flourishing. This was solved by Cecil Rhodes, then 21, who brought a steam-powered pump to the fields. Tells about the difficulties of open pit digging: the roads began to give way by the end of 1872 so machinery had to be used to haul up the pay dirt then they were troubled by water seepage. This area came to be known as the Kimberley mine, and the city of Kimberley sprang up there. Then in 1871 a second rush occurred at one of these farms, called Vooruitzigt, which had been owned by two Boer brothers named de Beer. But in 1870 diamonds were discovered at a number of farms in the Orange Free State, far from any rivers. The diggings paid off confirming the theory that diamonds were to be found on the banks of great, rushing rivers. By the end of 1869 ten thousand diggers had reached the Vaal & staked out claims along its banks for miles. The first diamond was found by a child in 1866 or 1867, and soon afterwards the rush was on. REPORTER AT LARGE about the history of diamond mining in and around Kimberley, South Africa.

Diamond rush in south africa