The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-20
GOLD IN THE ANDES
UNTOLD WEALTH DISCOVERED BY A
MINING ENGINEER IN ERU
Yellow Metal. Diamonds, Rubies, Sap
phfres and Emeralds G~nIore-New
Workers to Investigate.

of this city, will. within a few days, leave
here for South America in order to investi-
! gate reports of gold, precious stones and
coral that have recently been brought to
their notice. The investigating committee
will be led by ]. A. Corault. of No. 40 East
Twelfth street, a wealthy contractor and
engineer. He will be accompanied by a
United States naval officer and another en-
gineer. OH whose report the expedition was
organized. Another person interested is a
United States Senator. from an adjacent
State, whose Office is down town. The COM
mittee intends to sail by the next Pacific
mail steamer for Colon.
If the investigators find what the reports
| say exists, the investors expect to realize
many millions each from the venture. The
| reports tell of untold wealth. Gold in
countless millions is to be had for the mere
taking. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and
emeralds are in abundance. 1t appears that
Jose Rodriguez Zelaya. a mining engineer.
and a native of the United States of Co
lombia, but who was educated in England,
determined, a year or so ago, to start on a
tour over the Andes in Peru. His osten-
sible purpose was to investigate the ruins
OF the ancient temples of the Incas. His
real object was to discover, if possible. a
promising gold field. The reports of his
trip, which are filed in the downtown Of
P nee or the United States Senator, are what
led to the proposed expedition.
The engineer. after many hardships,
the Atlantic slope of the Andes. He found
a tribe of friendly Indians who showed him
did not interest him as much as the gold
trlnkets and worn by the In
dams. He found at the mouth of a stream.
emptying probably into the Amazon, an In
dian village, where, in a crude fashion, the
natives had washed out 1.600 pounds of pure
gold within as many months. This was in a
locality, he says in his report, never before
seen by white men. AT a nearby locality
posts. that yielded from 70 cents to 81 with
every pan. After carefully taking his bear
ings he retraced his steps and landed at the
mouth of the Magdalena river in Colombia.
He became acquainted with an officer
aboard a United States man-of-war sta
seen. The officer secured a six months
furlough. and the two came to this city.
Their visit here resulted in the formation o.
the company. The officer and the engineer
will the expedition. and each
| will receive a share of the profits. Those
| interested in the enterprise will furnish all
the capital necessary.
THE ENGINEERS REPORT.
A copy of the engineers re-
port was shown to a reporter yesterday.
Names and places were carefully omitted
and designated by asterisks. Here are
some extracts from it: Its latitude is 9
and longitude o Gold quartz and large
and rich auriferous gravel deposits, silver,
tOppei, CUdi, dSneStOS ana precious stones
Gubies, sappbires, diamonds, emeralds and
amethystsp are found here. The whole
place is full of loose mineral. Thousands
of tons. that will keep any plant busy for a
long time, are right at hand"
After describing contiguous copper and
goid deposits the report continues: There
are in this locality six miles square of
a,iriferous gravel deposits whose richness
discovered In any part of the world. The
river that has its source in the volcano,
after receiving the waters of innumerable
creeks and a%ftiuents, traverses in a majes-
| tic way the valley, walled in between ranges
Of high hills until it reaches where it cuts
the mountain, making a sharp. elbow-like
| angle at the cut and continues on it's way
to the sea. At this turn and cut are the
rich, alriferous gravel deposits herein re-
ferred TO. These deposits are hills, many
hundred feet high. containing pay gravel
from the grass roots of the bedrock. The
| deposit viii pay on the average about IS
! per cubic yard, the gold being twenty-five
carat fine; Water would have to be con-
veyed by ditch a distance of seven miles"
The deposit mentioned is, according to
report, some thirty-six miles in extent. a
ton. In such an area of gravel there would
be many thousands of millions of cubic
yards. which, at s. a ton. would mean more
of the precious metal than there is at pres
ent in circulation in all the civilized coun-
tries of the earth The report continues:
Between these two rivers there is another
immense deposit of auriferous gravel, form
ing hills Loco feet high, and also with gold
from the very grass to bed rock. The place
is known as a very small and miserable vii
lage. It is very scarce of water, but you
could build a ditch, say ten miles, that
old Spaniards- began work on such a ditch
and dug. a good part of it, as can be seen
to-day but never finished 1T, probably on
account of Indian wars
GOLD PLACERS n MINES OF GEMS.
The engineer then grows enthusiastic and
says: 81 have noticed the surprise occa-
stoned by my report of these gold placers.
What. then. will it be when your experts
go Down there and see for themselves?
May the doubling Thomases' keep their
heads cool, for I might be fearful of their
sanity He is very modest when he says:
Intentionally, / did not put down in my
report the true richness of those deposits,
which will average 5 cents per pan, be-
cause / like to leave a good margin on my
side. About the extent and depth of the
deposit L may, perhaps, be mistaken In a
few hundred feet in the former and a
few feet in the latter, because never did
measure 1T exactly
He also speaks of immense nearby de-
posits of asbestos, silver and copper He
then refers to a ruby, emerald and sapphire
mine as follows: ."The road to this mine is
extremely rough and recipltous Inc r FORM
peculiar. On the surface there is a con-
glomerate, three feet thick in some parts,
Composed of small pieces of stone, broken,
and representing all kinds and colors OF
metamorphosed rocks. giving the place the
appearance of an immense lava bed Below
this there are several bands or layers of
different colored course sand. until a blush
clay is reached, and mixed with this coarse
sand are quartz, pebbles, garnets, rubies
sapphires, amethysts and sometimes broken
emeralds. In my hurried prospecting l
never could get to bed rock, but | noticed
that the lower L got the better in color
and shape was the stone found. The sap
phires and rubies are found by themselves
in a different layer and color of sand.
The rubies are pure and brilliantly red.
This mine is quite extensive, and will surely
attract the attention of the world the day
it is worked
A member of the investigating expedi-
ton, a street railroad contractor, said to-
day: 1.-The writer of these reports is a
native Colombian. He was educated in Eu-
rope and is well known as a mining engineer
in this city. He has been lately employed
as a mining superintendent by an English
company in operating hydraulic mines and
placers in the United States of Colombia.
He is an old and efficient prospector and
miner. Ills knowledge of his native country
and natural inclinations led him to explore
the districts described. We expect to be
absent about three months. l verify believe
that the engineer has accidently stumbled
across what no white man has ever been
able to discoyer-the treasure trove, from
which the old Incas of Peru obtained their
gold and jewels. 1t will be another South
Africa, only on a grander and richer scale"
1t is believed that Senator Brice is the