Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-10-24
TIE BIGGEST GOLD NINE.
SITUATED IN THE INTERIOR OF
VENEZUELA.

SITUATED IN THE INTERIOR OF
VENEZUELA.
IIas Produced S3s, ,OOO, 900 worth OF
Treasure That Might Have Been
Mined for "a, ,OOO,OOO --
EORGE E. WEBER, JR., for
l. the past seven years superin-
VI tendent of the Ell 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 q few
days ago, and next week departs for
the South African gold fields as an ex-
pert for the Rothschilds of London to
examine into and report upon the pros
poets in the Transvaal.
The story told by Mr. Webber about
the discovery of Ell Callado and its ex
traordinary gold output would seem
like n page from the arabian 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, as
cended it, and stopped near where some
natives and Americans were "placer-
ing" They worked inland and soon
acquired as much information about
placer diggings as the rest of the min
ers, and gradually, when it became
known to them that the formation was
quartz, cut their way with machetes
through the mesquite and chapparal
until they found the groupings of
ledge prolific with gold. 1t was not
more than forty feet long and from
eighteen to twenty-four inches wide,
but was 80 rich in sparkling gold that
it assayed 80 to the pound. Much Of
this ore on the surface went up into the
thousands, but was worked in q rude
and imperfect way. The Jamaicans di-
vided 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
themselves but on the authorities, and
the Prefect of the district finally COM
PEELED 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 n ton to extract and work ore,
which in California or on the Com
stock would not cost more than $6 q
ton. Notwithstanding this and the
fact that in 1S60-62 all of the machin-
cry tc work the mines came from Mex
leo, operated by arastras, the rough
method - which literally means
dragged around in misery"-the
| mines yielded enormously and up to
1870 produced SIS, 900, 900, the great
bulk of which was pure profit.
The phenomenal yield of the mine
| in 1876 attracted the attention of the
Rothschilds. The great financiers sent
the California expert, Hamilton Smith,
who from 1868 to 1876 had been super
intendent of the North Bloomfield, to
|
| Mr.. Smith offered, on behalf of the
Rothschilds, $4,000, 900 for the mine.
The offer was refused, because the
owners believed they could find an
other bonanza lower down. The same
year the offer was refused the mine
turned out SO, 900, 900 in gold. In 1878
Mr.. Smith, after q trip to London,
came back and offered 50, 200, 900 for
it. which WAS again refused, and that
year the mine turned out $1,000, 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 negotiations for the sale of the
mine were attempted, but certainly
Mr.. Smith made third and successful
attempt to purchase the property in
1888, paying for it a round So, 900, 900.
! The mine up to that time had pro-
duced S1s, 100000. The Rothschilds
Incorporated the institution at $40, 900,
900, and the stock was placed ex-
| clusively on the London Stock TX
change and the Paris Bourse. In the
intervening ten years the mine has
produced $7,O00,O0O. How much OF
that yield has been profit it is difficult
to ascertain, but considering the fact
that much improvement was made on
the old style of operating the mine
and the accessibility to the ore, there
necessarily accrued large profit to
the owners. It was not like delving
below the earth's surface $500 or 5000
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 1t is estimated by Mr.. Webbe1
that S33, 00O,O 900 were produced in the
limited area above described, of which
S7,OOO,O0O were stolen either by the
Jamaican or native miners. They re.
sorted to pretty much the same tricks
es those of the native diggers in the
South African diamond fields. Ii
portions of the quartz the gold was
pure virgin and the decomposed quartz
had merely to be broken away, and by
simple manual operation every one OF
the two or three hundred men EN-.
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 the shaft, where every miner,
saether foreman or a cross-cut miner,
had to be searched.
Mining men in San Francisco say
that the product of the Comstock mines
vas between so, 900, 900 and $50, 900, :