Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10
THE REAL FL DORADO.
Wonderful Possibilities of the Almost
Forgotten Silver Mines Of
South America.
MOUNTAINS OF PRECIOUS METAL.
Leavings Of the Ancient Miners Often Prove
Richer Than the Fresh Ores Of
the Rocky Mountains.
MOUNTAINS OF PRECIOUS METAL.
A BOSTON YOUNG MANS ENTERPRISE.
Worlds Of Wealth Awaiting Proper Transportation
Facilities and NethOdk
,cozREspoxpENcE OF THE DISPATCH

49,
La PAz, BOLIVIA, s. A, July e.-From
time lmmemorisl the gold and silver mines
of Peru and Bolivia, both those modern re-
publics having been included in one prov
ince under the old Spanish regime have
been celebrated in history and tradition as
among the richest in the world. During the
last two centuries and a half, upward OF
$500, ,O0O, 600 worth have been taken from
Peru alone; while official data prove that
the single mountain of Potosi in Bolivia has
Welded in the years between its discovery in
1545 up to the beginning of 1864, the incon-
ceivable sum of $2,9O4, $780, 900 worth of
money.
The ores of Potosi, the Puno district,
Cerro del Pasco and other noted mines are
SO rich that a yield of 5000 worth per ton is
not uncommon, even with the primitive
methods now employed. Remembering that
miners of the United States find it profitable
to work mineral worth $40 per ton, one may
form some idea what these Andean treasure
houses might be made TO disclose at the
hands of wide-awake and experienced work.
men, aided by modern machinery.
BROKEN OUT WITH SILVER.
Perhaps the richest region on this hemi-
tosi itself, signifying "an eruption of
silver" And the mountain is we'll named,
for IL is broken out all over with precious
metal like well-defned case of smallpox.
More than 200 tunnels and openings have
been made in it, every one of which has pro-
duced gold, copper, iron, lead, tin, quick
silver, zinc, antimony or some other min
eral, but silver in greatest abundance.
Gold has been found in many places, but
r,fp hoin
much harder to get at by the processes In
vogue, while silver is so plentiful that the
people can afford to dispense with the more
precious but troublesome metal. To this
day big nuggets OF pure gold are occasion
ally picked up by some wandering pros
pector and these bring higher price when
sold as curios than the value OF the bullion.
Years ago Potosi received its greatest
boom by means of q stroke of lightning,
which detached a mass of solid gold from
some unknown cliff away up the mountain
side and dropped it at the feet of some
miners in the vale below. For long time
this mysterious nugget was the wonder of
the world; then it was sold at fabulous
price to the Royal Museum at Madrid,
where it may still be seen.
THE POSSIBILITIES.
Early in the seventeenth century the city
of Potosi boosted more than 100, 600 inhabi-
tants, but to-day it has scarcely $4,000. OF
late years its mines have been comparatively
neglected, so that the Outputof them all does
not exceed s., SOC, 900 year. Ii the spirit of
revolution ever remains laid" long enough
for capitalists to feel secure in investing
their money here, and il roads are construct
ed so that the products of interior Bolivia
may find an easy outlet to the sea and prop
er machinery for working the mines and in
hr- tho renaissance
NAV occur which will remind the world of
the FL Dorado of olden times.
Bolivia is also very rich in copper, tin,
iron and lead. The most valuable tin mines
in the world next to those of Borneo are said
to be those of Oruro, about midway between
La Paz the present capital, and Sucre, the
capital proper. In the mountains of Coro-
coro, near the northeastern edge eff Lake
Titicaca, copper is as abundant as silver at
Potosi.
At present the most prosperous mining
enterprise in Bolivia is a purely American
one, carried on exclusively by United States
money and machinery, and owned by Mr..
W. h. ChristF, young millionaire of Bos-
ton, Mass. His principal mines, of silver
lead ore, lie at the base of Sorato, the great
mountain near the southeastern shore OF
Lake Titacaca, which is one of the grandest
snow-clad giants of the Andean system.
GOOD CONCESS1ONSs
He has also some extensive smelling
works, and has been granted BY the Gov
ernment monopoly of the smelling busi-
ness in Bolivia for period Of Is years. He
is about to import a diamond drill from
Chicago, and the President has lately given
him the exclusive right to use such a ma
chine in this so-called Republic for the next
ten years. All this business, of which Mr..
Christy is the sole owner, goes under the
general name of "Empresa Titicaca" and
includes not only one of the most extensive
silver-lead mines known to man, and the
drill and smelling works above mentioned,
but several smaller silve. mines in the ad-
iacent regions and the only coal mine in
Bolivia. The latter, in q comparatively
treeless country, where the only fuel from
earliest times has been llama dung and a
species of fungus mine of good bituminous
coal is worth about as much as so many
Jumps of gold.
The way it came to be found was as fol-
lows: The Indians of these high attitudes
use llamas exclusively for beasts of burden
and the general cure-all among them fol-
auy injury or ailment to which the odd lit
tie animals are heirs has been petroleum for
external application. 1t is very expen-
sive remedy, however, for those poor In
dians the most inferior kerosene costing
not less than 81 so per gallon in La Paz and
goodness knows how much more in remoter
districts.
COAL AND PETROLEUM.
An Indian coming through the untraTeled
portion of the Sorato region one day, came
upon a pool of greasy mud, which smelled
SO like petroleum that he applied it to an
sillng llama, with the very best results. In
the course OF time the story spread, and In
diaus from far and near brought their AMI
mails until the place became a regular llama
sanitarium. Thus it reached the ears oI
Mr.. Christy's men. There intelligent pros
pectlng discovered the coal beds Aforesaid,
and Iatterly Mr.. August Stump. who il
general man OF business and manager OF the
Empresa Titicaca, has ound an oil we'll,
from which great things are expected to
flow in the near future.
One OF the first things Mr.. Christv did
after securing the monopoly OF the smelling
business or term of years, was to purchase
the accumulation of dumps, or "tailines''
from many of the old Spanish mines. more
than half a million tons of which were
piled up near the shore OF the lake. to be
used as a reserve for the smelters. At pres
ent the Sorato mines are providing a daily
output of 800 tons of silver-lead ores with
an average yield per ton of 81 per cent. lead
and 20 ounces silver, so says Mr.. Stuupf.
whom interviewed on the subject Follow.
ing the general rule of this country. the
ores increase in richness as depth is gained;
fortunately being so situated at the same
time as to be worked entirely by tunnels.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
The ore-bearinR district wherein Mr.