The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-06
THE BIGGEST GOLD MINE
Has Produced S33, 900, 900 that Might
Have Been Mined For So. 900. 900.
From the San FRANCISCO Examiner.

Have Been Mined For 100000.
From the san Francisco Examiner
George E. Weber, Jr, for the past
| seven years superintendent of the FL
| Callado gold mine, situated some 400
miles above the mouth of the Orinoco
river in southeastern Venezuela and thirty
miles inland, arrived in the city a few
| days ago and next week departs for the
South African gold fields as an expert for
the ROthschilds of London to examine into
and report upon the prospects in the
! TranSVaal
The story told by Mr. Weber about the
| discovery of FL Callado and its extra
ordinary gold output would seem like a
page from the ARA bian Nights if it had
not been fortified by facts. In 1868 some
Jamaica negroes hearing some stories
| about gold to be found on the big river on
the South American coast sailed over to
| the OrinoCO, assembled it, and stopped
near where some natives and Americans
were "plaCering." They worked inland
and soon acquired as much information
about placer diggings as the rest of the
miners, and gradually, when it became
known to them that the for
nation was quartz, cut their
way with machetes through
the mesquite and chaparral until they
found the groupings of ledge prolific in
gold. 1t was not more than forty feet
long and from eighteen TO twenty-four
inches wide, but was so rich in sparkling
gold that it assayed - to the pound
Much of this ore on the surface went up
into the thousands, but was worked in a
rude and imperfect way The Jamaicans
divided the territory among themselves
into numerous little companies, and when
the extraordinary yield of their work
went down to the traders on the river
they called the source from which it
came Ell Callado-the mysterious In that
way the camp became known to the rest
of the world.
The uneXampled prosperity of the
negroes brought trouble not only on them
| selves but on the authorities, and the pre-
! feet of the district finally compelled them
| to sell out their claims to a number of
| Corsican traders several hundred miles
| on the river below The COrsicanS were
men of superior intelligence, but knew
nothing about the mining business, and it
cost them when they took charge of the
mines 5000 ton to extract and work ore,
which in California or on the Comstock
would not cost more than So ton Not
withstanding this and the fact that in
1S60'62 all of the machinery to work the
mines came from Mexico, operated by
arastras, the rough methOd-which liter
| ally means dragged around in misery
the mines yielded enormously and up to
1870 produced Sl5, 600 900, the great bulk of
which was pure profit.
The phenomenal yield of the mine in
1875 attracted the attention of the Roths-
childs The great financiers sent the
| California expert Hamilton Smith who,
from 1868 to 1876, had been superintend-
ent of the North Bloomfield, to negotiate
for the purchase of the mine.
Mr.. Smith offered, on behalf of the
Rothschilds 81 600, 900 for the mine The
offer was refused, because the owners be-
lieved they could find another bonanza
lower down. The same year the offer
was refused the mine turned out s., 000-
600 in gold. In 1873 MIR Smith, after a
trip to London, came back and offered
$4,000, 600 for it, which was again re-
fused, and that year the mine turned out
5000 600, one half OF which was profit.
1t is said by gentlemen familiar with
mining operations that Mr. Smith made a
report after that to the effect that the
mine was petering out, and no further ne
gOtiations for the sale of the mine were
attempted, but certainly Mr. Smith made
a third and successful attempt to pur-
chase the property in 1888, paying for it a
round 5000, 900 The mine up to that
time had produced SIS, 900, 600. The Roth s.
childs incorporated the institution at
22, 100000 and the stock was placed ex-
clusively on the London Stock Exchange
and the Paris Bourse. In the intervening
ten years the mine has produced 81, 900,
600 How much of that yield has been
profit it is difficult to ascertain, but con-
sidering the fact that much improvement
was made on the old style of operating
the mine and the accessibility TO the ore
there necessarily accrued a large profit
to the owners. 1t was not like delving
below the earth's surface $500 or 1900
feet, like on the Comstock.
In the early days of the mine so rich
was the ore that the owners were COM
PEELED to resort to methods similar to
those in vogue in the Natal diamond
fields. IT is estimated by Mr.. Weber
that 1913 100000 were produced in the
limited area above described. of which
g, 000, 600 were stolen either by the ia
maican or native miners. They resorted
to pretty much the same tricks as those
of the native diggers in the South African
diamond fields. In portions of the quartz
the gold was pure virgin and the decom-
posed quartz had merely to be broken
away, and by simple manual operation
every one of the 200 or 300 men en-
plOyed could stow away two or three
ounces of the precious metal about his
person. In that manner millions were
carried away and given to the village and
river traders for rum, tobacco and such
other articles as are known to be desired
on the borders of civilization. When the
fact became known, the superintendent
hit upon the expedient of erecting a
searching room near the mouth of a shaft,
where every miner, whether a foreman or
a cross-cut miner had TO be searched.
Mining men in San Francisco say that
the product of the Comstock mines was
between $70,000,000 and SS0000,O 900. In
that estimate they say that the proportion
of gold and silver was SO per cent. Of the
former and 80 of the latter But in
the case Of El Collado il was all gold, and
in that respect exhibits the most remark
able contrast TO any mine known in re-
corded history.
Tho ore is a perfectly pure gold ore
carrying only one-haf of / per cen {.