The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-24
GOLD MINES OF B0LIWlHo
What Some Of Our Apericap ProsPec-
tors aQd Capitalists Are Doing ip
tbe Highlands of tbe Andes.

Tie Rr11 everywhere Flfls II lss1ke s12zksSS
Ike ,ast rot saw. and there IL little OF
what we call gold dust. These nuggets
are very scattered Much panG!ag re-
suits In nothing. bu. almost every yard
seems 20 contain some gold. / kHoH Of
o0e instance where ~ yards O. grave
through = siutes box produced ~
ounces o. gold. worth between seven AMI
eight thousand dollars. Most - the
gravel will only pay when worked WITH
machinery ami or large scale"
Where does thGz gold come from. Mr..
iiard?" I asked. Are there quartz
lst.gez In the mountAIpsZ
Yes. am sure Of it," replied the min
Ing expert In all the gravel which |
tested from near La Paz 10 FAR up Mount
Il.!mani I found some gold. saw EIuner-
o44s quartz Lodges OF the soraii mountains
when J crossed shsm The other DAY. AID /
6ou1t nor but that there All Dr. extsf-
stve quartz mines IN Bolivia IL the future.
40 far the expense % bringing n mschin-
cry and the difficulties Of CsveIC 5fF2eEl5 have
been - great tnat the people heEe have not
prospec:ed for quartz hedges IL fast, t1ere
has b~en little systematic prospecting n
Bolivia TIE country has nct b<-en scratch
ed and the examinations made have been
Of the hit and miss orded. The gold that
could be gotten out without the aid Of
machinery has been pretty well worked
by the Indians and spaHiards. The fact
evidence that there must De some leEe
very rich quartz ledges."
The Tipuani Gold Region.
There are a number Of Americans here
who are about To start 10 the Tipuani
CTip-oo wah-neJ gold fields NJ. fost
and his wife from Denver recently ar
rived. and two young Ohio men. Messrs.
Scott and Rathbun. OF Lima, who repre-
sent the Deshlers and other capitalists al
Columbus, now there prospecting The
most important undertaking in this coGn-
Try Is that Of Denver syndicate Ia the
charge OF r. :. and &. T. Wilson, Of Den
yer from whom I get the following infoT-
nation; The syndicate haa concession OF
seven miles along tns bed OF the Tipuani
river, and IL har had powerful dredge
constructed with which it can dredge the
river bed to depth Of forty feet and 70
bedrock. The dredse was made at Denver
and was tested there. II was constructed
40 that IL could be- sent here In pieces. and
IL Is now being taken Into the gold region
on the backs OF mules and Indians The
whole dredse weighs eight tons, but no
section OF IL weighs more than IL pounds,
while the average piece Is not heavier than
seventy -iye pounds. The cos, Of getting
the drefge from Denver 10 the mine will
be more than 10000. 1t took more than
ak months to get IL here and It's journey
on to the mine IL attended with all sorts
Of dangers. II has TO go over high mount
Ain passes. TO be carried along the edges
OF precipices. In some places llsmas Viii
transport Il aud at others men viii have
10 DO the work. This machine has a ca
paciiy OF 260 yards OF gravel a day II
will be put In the river and VIII excavate
pits ~ bedrock. the gravel coming up he
Ing washed upon the drcage. The bed
rock viii be swept and scrapei by men IN
diving cults aud the prospects are that
vast amount OF gold Will be secured. The
TipuauI river IL one ot the most famous
OF the Bolivian gold streams. IL was work
cd in the days OF the Incas and the Span
iards have had large amounts from IL.
TIE Tipuani is a rushing stream 200 feet
wide lying on the eastern side OF COrdil-
lera. about two weeks travel from la
Par The river flows into the Maperi and
thence into the Benz. in which its waters
find their way 10 the Amazon In the
rainy season IT is rushing torrent and
the Indians cannot work In II. II IS SO deep
that with their crude methods OF pauuing
with wooden bowls they have rot been
able 70 get 80 the bedrock Of the center q
the river. although they still wash along
the edges OF the stream every year with
profit They stand In the water Up 70 their
waists and scrape the gravel together
with their feet until they have made a lit
tie pile They then dive down and gather
a painful often getting = or - cents out
81 painful % gravel just the other day
A nugget % the shape 90 a pear weiehiSS
Two and onc-haif ounces was taken out
There was a Spsniard Who worked Fhe
bed Of the river to a slight extent YEAR
arc. He had bucket brigade 81 Indians
who. equipped with rude cowskin buckets
and standing on rotChed poles that served
as ladders passed the gravel ard water
from one 90 the other until they reached
the top II took TWO years of ~ucA work
- get 80 bedrock AMI IL IS saia that The
l man took out during four years $4,000 IN