Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-06-21

and that despite the most careful es
pionage of their taskmasters many OF
= these laborerS managed to secrete
, enough free gold to make themselves
rich.
| But, sorroWfuIIy observed the an
, Gent man, those good times are for
ever gone. The angry spirit of Nance
! Capac, our first Inca, has cursed the
mines, and never until he and Mama
Cello come again vii they yield up
their hidden treasures
The venerable native did not explain
why Nance had failed to place his
ban upon the mines Immediately upon
the subjugation of his race by the for
eign invaders.
The principal mining district does
not lie, however, in the neighborhood
of Orurillo, but further south, between
that town and the city of PunO.
The principal mining district does
not lie, however, in the neighbOrhOOd
Of Orurillo, but further south. between
that town and the city of Pune.
Learning that we wished to visit
that locality, Don Felipe generously
placed saddle horses at our disposal
and we rode off for a weeks stay.
Finding that time would not permit
of a thorough exploration of all the
mines we selected four, named re-
spectively Chflstobal, San Juan, Don
Carlos, and Victoria-the latter worked
by an English company-as fairly rep
resentative Of the whole. But we
were again doomed to disappointment;
for though quite scientifically Planned,
with extensive galleries, shafts, pits,
levels, and hosting machinery COM
plete, none of the four at all met our
expectations, SO far as yield was con-
cerned; and the ores, mostly taken to
PunO for treatment, seemed of very
poor quality and generally of a refract-
DRY nature.
We may have been purposeIy mis-
led, but one of the English foremen,
who looked like an honest fellow, told
us that he did not believe that a single
one of the forty-fve claims then being
worked paid per cent. on the capital
invested.
When asked what he supposed the
aggregate gross product of all to be in
gold and silver, monthly, he said that
he could not estimate it at more than
500, ZOO, while the working expenses
were very nearly as much, leaving
little OF nothing for profit.
The man spoke truly, [ think, be-
cause, for all he knew, we might have
.ba of I'M,
property, any piece of which, indeed,
we could have had for the mere cost
Of the plant.
Of the four mines named, the Vic
tOria was the most theoretically
worked; but one Of its proprietors, a
Mr. Jackson, Informed us that year by
year it became less and less profit
able. His company, he said, had
bought it on the strength Of it's ancient
reputation, hoping to come upon a new
lead of those rich deposits which ira
ditiOn said had, only half a century
earlier, yielded more than $1,O00,0OO.
He added that from this identical
mine, then called the Amyara, the un-
fortunate Inca, Atahualpa, was be-
Heved to have received 4 large portion
of the treasure with which he had con-
tracted to fill Il room as the price of
his life, which, nevertheless, was then
sacrificed by the ruthless PiZarrO.
The total number of men employed
in this mining region was at that
time, we were told, about 1900 and
the monthly aggregate Of wages about
$4,000, some Individual Workmen earn
ing as much as $50 per month and
others less than S15. In addition to
this expenditure was that caused by
the renewal and wear and tear of ma
chinery, transporting and reducing
ores, the keep of numberless mules
and dOnkeyS, and the other numerous
OUTLAWS incidental to the buSinesS-the
whole, as before remarked, very nearly
equaling the gross receipts.
After a thorough inspection Of these
representative mines and a careful eX-
animation of their various ores, we
no longer wondered that Peru,
formerly the greatest gold and silver
producing country on earth, had fallen
to a rank so low in this respect. And
her decadence has gone steadily on,
until at the present day her contribu-
ton of the precious metals to the
worlds stock has become quite insig-
nificant.
Yet there must be vast deposits of
treasure still undiscovered in her
mountain Businesses. Doubtless these
will come to light when required by
the needs of the world. We can hardly
believe with our centenarian tradition
alist that they will lie dormant until
that glorious day when Nance Capac
and Mama Cello shall come again!
On returning to Orurillo, our eXpe-
rience not seeming to justify the risk
of attempting deep mining, we set
about prospecting the country for al
luvial diggings, such as two Of our
party had worked in the early days OF
Californian and Australian discoveries
! Although our great friend, Senior
! Espinoza, told us that these, if ever
existing, had long ago been exhausted
we perSevered. making trips among
! the outlying mountain spurs and ad
jacent guIches, day after day, and
sinking numerous testing holes. But
after much labor and finding scarce
the "color," we began to think oul
host was right and that we were Ell
gagged in a hopeless task.
Blind luck, however, had not quite
fOrsaken us.
One morning, rather discouraged by