The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-08

Atahualpa said that If Pizarro would re-
lease him he would fill the chief room in
t..e palace in which he was confined with
gold to a point as high as he could reach.
This was agreed to, and for several weeks
gold was brought in great loads from all
parts of Peru. The room was seventeen
feet long by twenty-five feet wide, and the
point up to which it was to be filled was
designated by a red mark nine feet above
the floor The gold was in all sorts of
shapes. Some of it was composed of gold
plates torn from the Temple of the Sun at
Cuzco. There was great variety of golden
basins, drinking cups and other dishes. There
were vases of all kinds and many pieces of
beautifully carved workmanship. When the
room was almost filled up to the mark in
dicated Pizarro ordered the Indian gold
smiths to melt the whole into ingots. and
there was so much gold that they worked
day and night for month in doing So
Then Pizarro refused to let Atahualpa CO.
and with a mock trial had him put to
death. There is stone in Cajamalca which
the Indians say is stained with Atahualpa's
blood. A prison now covers the spot where
the palace stood, and it is in one of the
rooms of this prison that this stone is
shown.
SILVER MINES OF NORTH PERU.
The road will also pass through the rich
mining town of Hualgayoc, where the sill
yer veins are rich beyond description, ana
from where the silver with which Pizarro's
soldiers shod their horses probably came.
There are copper and lead mines along the
route, and as far as l can learn the whole
region is full of undeveloped mineral wealth.
The workings of the silver mines so far
have been after the rudeSt methods, the
silver being reduced to a sulphide and car
ried on mules down to the seacoast to be
shipped to England or Germany for reduc-
ton.
AS I write this I see a dispatch in the
Lima paper which has just reached here
stating that the first instaIlment of rails
for this road has just been shipped from
Philadelphia. 1t is to be hoped that the
work of construction will be rapidly pushed,
for the other foreigners here are very
jealous of any American innovations, and
will not scruple at anything which will
block the wheels of Yankee progress. This
is especially so of the English, vino,
through the Peruvian corporation, now con-
troll most of the railways of Peru. The de-
velopments of this concession will make the
American influence very strong, and it may
possibly result in our getting a coaling
Pacific. The pier which has been reared
here for the terminus of the railroad is
one of the finest in South America. 1t cost.
am told, s., 900 to build it. 1t is made
Of iron, and is about forty feet wide and
just half mile long. 1t extends that dis
lance out into the harbor. and forms one
of the principal shipping places of this part
of the world. The steamers do not come
to the pier, but lie some distance away,
and the goods are taken out to them in
lighters. This is a cattle-growing country,
and large amount of live stock is shipped.
Cattle are loaded by raising them in sings
by means of derricks from the end of the
pier and dropping them into the lighters.
When about one hundred fat beeves have
been thus dropped lighter is full, and it
is taken away to the ship. There is now
railroad track upon the pier, and the cars
of the railroad which goes up this valley
bring their shipments of sugar, coffee and
hides out to the ships over it, paying the
American company for the privilege.
OIL IN PERU AND ECUADOR.
All along the coast above here 1 saw
signs of the oil fields of Peru. AT one port
we stopped and took on thousands of boxes
of petroleum for Lima, and at another we
saw the refineries on the edge of the sea.
There seems to be an almost continuous
strip of oil territory running down the Pa
cific coast from Ecuador for some distance
into Peru. The Ecuador oil fields 1 learned
of in Guayaquil They have not been
touched as yet, and hardly prospected, so
that the information concerning them is
indefinite and hazy. 1 was told, however,
that flowing wells of crude petroleum are
found all along theAEcuadorian coast, from
n ar6 in
many places the flow of oil is such that
when the weather is calm it covers the sea
for distance out from the shore with
greasy film. North of Cape St. Helena
wells have been sunk by Ecuadorians,
and some of the output has been sent to
Guayaquil to be used for fuel in the boilers
of the steamers on the Guayas river. The
parties working the wells however, were
natives. and, as is usual in many such
cases, no practical tests were made. From
what l was told at Guayaquil l should
think it might pay to investigate this terri
tory. The land on which the oil exists be-
longs to the government, and any one has
the right to denounce it. BY "denounce" 1
mean to take it up for mining purposes.
One man, under the law would have the
right to take up twenty claims, each about
three-eighths of mile long by 1900 feet
WlQS. AFTER THIS a yearly TAX or 81 In gold
on each claim would have to be paid If
the territory should produce largely the
properties would be very valuable, on ac-
count of the oil lying near the surface and
right on the edge of the sen, where it could
be almost piped into the steamers.
The oil fields of Peru have been known to
exist for the past thirty years, but it is
only recently that much development has
been attempted. The oil is found at dis
tances varying from $50 to 600 feet below
the surface, and both flowing and pumping
wells have been exploited. The oil found
at Zorritos, north of Paita, yields about 80
per cent. of kerosene, and is said to be good
for. both lighting and lubricating purposes
1t does not furnish good light as our
American oil and brings only about half as
much in the markets here. am told that a
large number of the companies who have
tried the Peruvian wells have lost money
and the English consul at Lima estimates
that about $25, 600 600 has been spent without
return. Still, there are English and Italian
companies which claim that they are work
ing at a profit, and one Italian, named Mr..
De Piaggio, is now producing about 5000
barrels month, while the London and Pa
cifc Company. has tank steamers and ope-
rates the largest refinery on the coast At