The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-06
pERU'S PHANTOM MINES.
rpr STORIES OF RIoH FINDS SAID
" To ne MERELY HOAXES.

Inc ANGELES, Ma Ftbs -cs tho HCN-
avail hundred people who won't to Peru last May.
.San the news was spread that fabulously rich
va n,arsrs and some lodges had been discov-
..od IN the upper Andes near Hualagayoc and
,tar,inez was Abram j.. Foster. n former mem.
,nr n, the Oregon Legislature and = gold miner
IL california OF twenty years experience. He
..mo.,,n rho Pacific coast from Peru tho other
a., with n party Of other Californians, all Of
HON were angry because they had been lured
On south America Mt large personal expense
md loss OF time. only to find that the inrorma.
tion was without foundation.
-; hopc that The SuN, will wnrn Americans
from going 10 Peru or anywhere in that region
n make money in gold or silver mining" said
NJ Foster, There is no chance there Mt all
,or any American in r,ining, no matter whether
no il n prospcctor. capitalist, mining engineer,
Ar gold digger. Tho stories that came out Of
peru last year about tho richcs that aboundcd
IN the mountains of Peru and Ecuador were
cruel hoaxes. and l am ashamed to say they
were started by Americans and Germans who
would he much benefited pecunisrily by a rush
~ Rold.hungry men into that region. Many a
man has spent his all in going to Peru to mine.
Our marty of ten Californians was down there
sight months. We were all very i'll with fever
AT one time or another while we were in Peru,
and two OF our party died of it. marvel that
any Of us have como away so well. We were
hound to prove the truth or falsity Of the yarns
about the rcdiscovery OF the placers from which
IN, Incas got their boards OF golden wealth
centuries ago, and I believe we saw more of the
rural and mining regions Of Peru than any
American visitors in that region in some years.
Briefly an American miner cannot make even
n living in that land Of cheap things. We saw
there but two persons not Peruvians who made
resp ,ctable wages in the silver mines gold
mines being out OF the question;for profit. These
two we're young chaps from Pennsylvania, who
had a contract with n rich banking firm in Callao
for sinking a shaft on American principles in the
Chicaura spur OF the Andes. Stories published in
one California newspaper last spring said that
gold was so plentiful in the streams in the remote
nn6:almost inaccessible cahons and barrancas
OF the mountains of Peru near Hualagavoc that
frequently the sand and gravel went $15 and
SIS to the pan; these were deliberate lies. Then
thcre was a cheerful story afioat in California
and Nevada last year about how the native
Indian divers in the deep mountain streams
often brought up handfuls of gold bearing
sand: how the padres at a Jesuit mission at
Trujillo had saved a flour barrel of solid gold
dust and nuggets that the ignorant Indians had
brought them as gifts by the handful. A dozen
such alluring stories were current in the min
ing camps OF tho West n year ago. They
seem reasonable when we think Of the enor-
nous quantities Of gold Pizarro's troops took
from Peru early in the sixteenth century.
Well. we prospected and inter yiewed people all
through the so.called mining regions of Peru,
and we never found enough color to buy q meal
once a week.
THE fact is that the mines were once valua-
bic but they were worked out a century ago.
For seven years Pizarro kept The conquered
natives hunting for gold under pennItv of death
49,, a., i,., -, o,,,,o, 81.
ana lhey just ABOUT scrapea tne country as
bare as they knew how of gold. His successors
did the same ,b;ny So there ia M GOLD loft in
.;,h, 4, al ,hnt rou;on po,;,o, - -.
esn1 ~ u. 'naI e'o oes'uo' IL > uanser-
dor. The cahons are rocky and precipitous.
wh,,o ,ho s,noanns - aoon m.h',an. W.,
W"n' u Streams arc "eepa anu ,urouieh.. we
Indians. under command of Pizarro's soldiers
w,sbod an, n ton NJ ro,a M Iouo,I h.oi :.
t Nt 400 oM mo n ,o nro VI l. i fpd' M ne .egemd ms III
i oou men We're hiiei ahI ur1wnea tnere
i az d iva hr II w otrn,y t Lnu th haa mGte
r II ao ,hnvo oy top .ho % sarnw IRON n inc granite IL
The water bracjp poo rhc, m" ~ a ama; iU 'I hnILn'
s ~ ,~hi'a ,b Ieh cnhS tnr,i7erVes gam. o9uia,
,nrOugn tn pd n ar canon; A MUSTER AZ any
S hUWe itro anu M =, thG PAGER I'M mniner mignG nc carried
a a Gat s,rSam 10 a of Inc Per o,Tia say that
= msr rtbta I'm Indi, OF -, p'I a so.u,ers Used TO
u MANI or' l nn 10 bLe canon every Gay Ike
t III many ny, c4nniots; anu make thehl seek goid
"" .rba ,1n MA na"E ~ unih. D..
,i,haN ia,nous silver mines or feru are at the
hnst u n nr,mnG VI any mines IN tne "orid. me
p'o ~ rck ~. Al icru ~ IN tne NalIey OF
i nIia"snSov ms WHEY Is none OF your pretty
t"jns bmt J.. n" . n1 u J, =. '1e reel ot noun
AIM, ~, 70 80 up .lnohR tne upperhi9st'
tmJcs a ~ Iodp Tfaahhs y Shc hnucS. IT'S aNl.
tSTre e i" nono,tt0o aecu dp9Ec sea ieEei. mere are
ster tb pe1 HI, ameG jesus Maria, ana Jose;
! 90o feo, ~ ranitS anu me! rec ,'Sou ana
tiswortS t'sneT nIiiotR me clouds. 4 rev SET,
,nina V;m i nn IiNc away up there ana
m a,,;,rJ, ~ ""Gdnta SILVER mines are NJ
NJ a go %dt siI' o. upoui io,3Vo Ieet; Ihere is MOI
iess t%on ' aot lhsnu III ~ tera " an altltudg on
Sir is az ~, ,SSG;U'D ~ J. ne oesi are hlgher. INC
msn . SU INN al me Ioity aititudes that whlte
u.iss WEAKNESS ana makes one pun. TWO
fornia o "a inItS. used 10 inc mountains OF Cail'
head" taornua So!orhuo. were quite out OF thelr
gayoc, ' The 4 way wso 1bb Two o w |n ne, we were IN nuaia.
s snT ne uo weather IS 50 coId ny there IN MD
cintbes w mp one InIist wear heavy winter
Sme . ~ heep warm. me equator Is only
taIn neaS S ueSItcs 10 me norm, 700; Inc noun
s Avn ~ p Tn a.at rear themselves above the val
heNv n = are stfaight; hard. ana sharp.
o IN 5,e scarrsI ana pierced by silver mines.
yeors m ma Gan fe,lpe-hes been worked Tor 200
worteJ i; IN ~ oniu 70 pc'the QUEST NINE now
ions S IN ~ inc WORTH. III ma a tunnel l:6oo rect
And n me mountain, ana hundreds OF laterals
ermdit si;opcs; IL Is amusing to see there the
don bh,'h hea Oh mining. a vast fortune has no
.Se'' bCcI lITOWH AWAY by WuSIeIul ana an