1853...California. The first diamond is discovered in the Cherokee district of Butte County. California deposits are likened to the diamantiferous gravel of Brazil. More diamonds are found, in five more counties: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Nevada, and Trinity. It ain't only gold what's in them thar hills.

1869...Idaho. Some small diamonds have been found in the placer diggings of Idaho. They're found under the same conditions as those found in California ...picked up by gold miners. A stir is created in the local papers. References are made as the abundant yield of Idaho diamonds. Out of curiosity, how many of you out there thought Idaho was only potato country?

1883...Montana. An octahedral diamond is found at a placer claim at Nelson Hill, near Deer Lodge County, Montana. It's brought to New York, submitted to a diamond expert, and pronounced real.

1884...Wisconsin. A Milwaukee jeweler buys a stone from a lady for $1.00. He tells her it's a topaz. It's said it was found while digging a well on her husband's property. Turns out it's a diamond, the first ever found in Wisconsin, and is therefore valued at quite a high price. Did this jeweler take the lady for a ride? I don't know. Once word got out, she sold her property at an inflated rate, so she made out okay.

1888...Cincinnati. A laborer is attending to a boulder-crushing machine and he finds a diamond weighing over 80 carats. A theory floats around that the stone might be one lost by a Mrs. Clark in 1806. Who know? Who cares? 80 carats! It's the lottery of 1888. Only thing is...they don't say whether it was a rough or cut stone. I think we're talking cut. But don't go rushing off to Ohio yet with your mining tools. Wait till I get some more info. I'll be sending you all a card...from Ohio, of course. :)

1888 again...Kentucky. There's an account of a diamond coming out of Russell County. It weighs a little over 0.43 carats. It's an octahedron. It's lustrous, nearly white, with a tinge of yellow. It was found in a gravelly field on top of a hill. A theory is advanced. Diamonds may have been formed in the peridotite of Kentucky. Ahh...for the sweet smell of blue grass country.

Arizona...don't know the year. A man called J.D. Yerrington of New York city owns a brown diamond. It weighs 1 carat. When cut, it will yield a 1/2 carat gem. It was found near Philadelphos, Arizona.

The time...many years ago. Sorry, that's the closest I can get. Koko Creek, in Eastern Tennessee...at the headquarters of the Tellico River. We're on the bench lands of the Smokey or Unaka Mountains. Three diamond crystals are found. This points to an extension of the diamond-belt of North Carolina.

There's more. It seems almost endless. There are diamonds found in Georgia--in Bangor, Maine--in North Carolina. The largest diamond ever found in America is supposed to be the Dewey Diamond, found in Manchester, Virginia, in 1855...found by a laborer while paving a street near Richmond. It's original weight was 23 3/4 carats. After cutting...11 11/16 carats. It's not very valuable. It's off color...it's imperfect. But so what? Corn and hay and beef and potatoes, and alfalfa and tobacco and chickens ain't our only resources folks. No sirree! There's diamonds out there...just for the pickin'.