The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07

upon his back, and will go off on a
dog trot with his burden. The ore is
broken UP into small pieces with ham
mers by children. 1t is then ground
by circular stones being rolled about
over it and then mixed with quicksil-
yer after the patio process by driving
mules around through 1t. These Hual-
gayoc mines are the ones which Hum
boldt says produced $33,0O0,000 worth
of silver in thirty years. Much of the
ore is now reduced to a sulphlde ana
taken on mules to the coast and ship
CERRO DE PAsCO MINES.
The same sort Of work goes on at the
famous Cerro de Pasco mines In the
Andes above Lima, and, In fact, in
nearly all Of the silver regions of Bo-
livia and Peru The Cerro de Pasco
mines, which are now in active opera
ton, number about 300 and there are
225 silver mines being worked at Yauli,
on the Oroya railroad, about sixty
miles away. Cerro de Pasco has always
been thought to be the crater Of an
extinct volcano. It is situated about
$4,000 feet above the sea- in one of the
bleakest parts Of the Andes. The town,
which Is now only one of about 5000
people, lies in a basin surrounded by
barren rocks. The deposits consist OF
a great body of low-grade silver ore
over a mile and a half long by three
quarters of a mile wide. This has been
worked down to depth of about ESQ
feet, and numerous tunnels have been
run in at that level to drain the mines.
The great trouble is the water, and
further mining can only be done by
lower tunnels or heavy pumps. Henry
Meiggs, the American engineer, who
constructed so many great works in
Peru years ago, began tunnel 100
feet below the present levels. The
work was stopped, however at dis
tance Of 900 feet from the surface, and
at present nothing is being done. The
tunnel will need to be extended from
500 to 1900 feet further before ore Is
struck and at the present low price
OF silver there is little prospect of this
being attempted. Within short time
there has been something of a revival
Of the silver industry at Cerro de Pas
CO, owing to the copper ores lying I'M
der the grade silver ores, and the
camp today is more one of copper than
Of silver. In the past the Cerro de
Pasco mines have produced enormous
/ quantities. Between 1880 and 1924 81
200 tons of pure silver were taken out
of them. and the dumps of the mines,
if they were scientifically worked,
would bring fortune.
Twenty years ago Cerro de Pasco
was turning out more than 100000
ounces Of silver year, and am told
that 100000 600 worth Of silver was TAX
en- out from under the ground on which
the town of Cerro de Pasco now stands.
These mines were discovered in the
seventeenth century by an Indian. He
camped out one night near the site of
Cerro de Pasco. Before going to sleep
he built a fire upon some stones ana
I awoke to find that his stones had melt
| ed and that q lump of silver Stag had
taken their place.
AMERICAN SMELLING WORKS.
The biggest Yankee enterprise l have
found in a mining way south of the
equator is the smelling works of the
Backus & Johnston company, at Casa
palca. Peru This company is compos-
ed of Mr.. j. Backus, a Brooklyn man,
| who is a nephew of the famous Engi-
neer Meiggs; Mr.. ]. II. Johnston, OF
Bath. who came out here to work on
the Meiggs railways, and Capt. H.
Guyer the owner of the Guyer springs
In Idaho, who is well known as a prac-
! teal miner and mining engineer in our
Western states Backus and Johnston
made a nice thing in establishing
brewery at Lima. They imported ma
| Cnlu6Ty IOT II lIOlli tiIS OIillcu 9toISo
! and made money from the start.
They sold the brewery some years
ago to an English syndicate for $780,
| 600 in gold They have since been deal
ing In mines, and have put a great deal
| of money into their smelter. This is
situated at Casapalca, on the Oroya
railroad. away up in the Andes ninety
five miles from the sea and 1906 feet
| above 1t. The works run night and
day, and I am told that they smelt to
as good advantage as any establish
ment of the United States. The super
| intendent of the smelter Is Mr.. Frank
Pierce, the son of Richard R. Pierce.
of the well known Argo Smelling works
| of Denver, and the smelling is done af-
| ter much the same plan as that Of the
Argo. The company also has extensive
! silver mines at Casapalca. Capt. Guyer
told me that the profits of the mines
and works during the past y,sr were
more than 100000, while the pl tfits of
the year preceding were even sNeater.