Arizona citizen., 1875-08-21
Facts and Statistics.

q year produced $30, ,000,000 worth-near- d iy five times the amount obtained in
 the same year from Europe, Asia and
 Africa. The production of Piedmont
 in that year was greater than that of .anv other section of the eastern cOnti-
 nent, and was about $1, 100000 Aus
 tria was represented by about $1,000,- GOO, while Russia, Norway, Saxony,
 Spain, the HartZ Mountains and Dev-
 0nshire and Cornwall, in England, pro- duced the remainder. India has often
 been reported as destitute of silver, ] but we have statements from Sir Rod arick Mur2hiaoQ and ether travellers i that the kulu Valley is so rich in ore
 and metallic silver that it might be
 made to yield enormous revenues for
 ages to come What was once known
 as the silver country of the Vazurs in
 Kulu, comprises the mountainous cOun- l try lying between the Beas, Salnji and | PaFbuti rivers. The mines, although
 in the palmy days of India worked toI i a considerable extent, are now almOstI l forgotten, surely by the inhabitants of ! the region itself. The Manikarn mines
 in the same valley are known to be in-I calculably rich, but are now unwOrked The Indian authorities, and even the people themselves, lay every ObstacleI
 in the way of developing them for fear of impOverishing the country.
 h the first three centuries after the discovery of America, it has been com
 puted that 100000 tons of pure silver
 were exported from Peru and MeXicol alone. This would be sufficient tOI form a solid globe of silver one hun dred feet in diameter Considering theI rude manner of working ores at thatI day, this is no trife. The differenceI between mining in Peru and miningI
 in Mexico is only in the climate of theI silver regions. The POtOsi mine, which has yielded enormous quantities of sil- yer, Is at an elevation as great as that of the summit of Mt. Blanc, in re-
 zion of perpetual snow. The mines off
 Mexico are on the middle lands, whereI neither frost nor great heat is felt. The
 vast mineral wealth of Peru has been developed by the patient industry off the native Indians. They live almostI entirely on cocoa. Their wages perl week average about $1.50 ill our money
 A very romantic story is told of theI Salcado mine which has been lost forI
 a hundred years. Salcado was a youngI Spaniard who fell in love with and
 married an Indian girl, whereupOn sheI
 revealed to him the location of a silver mine of fabulous richness and as yeti unWorked. SalcadO, with the aid off
 his wife, found the mine, and makingI friends with the Indians, he cOmmenc-I led work upon it. In few years heI
 was enormously rich. The Spanish Governor learning of his prosperity, l ahc designing to secure the mine toI himself, caused @ charge of cOnspira- cy to be made agaist him, under which he was arrested, tried and condemned, | although the charge was entirely ficti- | tiOuS. When awaiting execution, he | promised the Governor, De LemOs, that if he would allow the proofs to be sent to Madrid and be inspected by the King, there should be paid to him a hundred pounds of silver every day until the vessel should go to Spain and return. As the voyage one way in those days consumed about sixteen months 1t is readily seen that the ran som offered was enormous. Salcado was executed. The avariciOus Govern or hastened to the mine, but the mine was gone. It has never been found The widow and her devoted Indians had determined that the murderer should never be rewarded for his crime, and they had flooded the mine and buried it in such a manner that discovery was impossible.
 The richest silver mine in the world probably is the POtcchi, or in our yer nacular, Potosi-the ChOllar-POtOsi be- ing named from it. It is near La Plata and was discovered in 1545. It has al ways been worked in a rude manner, but yet is said to have already produc- ed $250,00G,000 worth of the precious metal. For many years sixteen hun Jred Indians were employed in it, and being slaves, so cruelty were theyI worked that they decimated rapidly, and their places Immediately filled by others. At the present time two thou sand paid men are employed, and the mine yields well and shows no sign of 7 exhaustion. ,
 The total silver production in the T I world from the year 1860 to 1875, has a been estimated to be $1,025, ,000, 900, the United States producing One-tenth of 5he entire amount. The yield of Mex a leo is at present at the rate Inf $20,000,- I 900 annually. Peru is falling gradual V y behind, the yield for the year 1874 being but little over $3,000,6OO The mines of Chile and Bolivia are being 'apidly developed, and will soon fur 4 lish d material item in the annual pro luction. In 1867, Nevada proudly pointed to yield of $12,500,000 In 1869 the production was hardly half as = much. The production for the pres ,, mt year will probably exceed $25, ,0O0, | )00 The annual production of the Idaho mines is about $3,00O,00O, or as much as the famous mines of Peru. Colorado, in 1874, is estimated to have produced bullion to the amount of ] 51, 100000.
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