Evening star., 1898-07-23

~ hdtLu ll4e week Cledn-uD OF i1tTle
placer mine which belongs to a number of
Bolivians of La Paz. The diggings were
on the Chuguiaguillo river. which rurs by
the city not two miles from where 1 am
writing This river has cut a gul!ey sew
eral hundred feet deep in the side Of ;he
plateau or basin in which La Paz is situ-
ated. and above the cut a high wall Ct
gravel extends to what is known as the
Alto. far above the city. 1t is in this gravel
that the gold is found A score of Indians
were at work digging down the nill car
rying OF the gravel in wheelbarrows and
dumping it into troughs or sluIce boxes
through which water from the liver was
conducted On the bottom of the troughs
we're iron ladders or frames 50 laid that
they would catch the heavier parts OF grav-
el and gold as the water carried the dirt
on into the river. There was 10 quick
silver used. and the miners depeaded en-
tirely on the weight of the gold 70 catch
the particles as they went through. ShCrtly
after 1 arrived the water was turned par
tally of and the gravel panned ior gold.
ne pdHnins was done by three Indians
who sat with their bare legs in the water
on the sides Of the sluices and dipped the
gravel up into wooden bowls just :LD1ut as
Dig as those which We use for making
bread or chcpping hash. These bowls are
lHe So4l-WaShlnS pans or the Indians. They
are called bateas, and are TO be found in all
The mining regions Of Peru and Bolivia. The
miners dipped the bowls of gravel f.0n
une 10 time into the water and, mixing
the gravel With their hands, caused the
dirt 10 flow off. Now and then they picked
up a handful of the gravel, and after look
ing II over, cast it back into the sluice box.
As they went on you could see little yellow
DTS OF metal among the dark stones.
- After while the gravel was all washed
out. and in each bowl there was a little pile
OF gold pebbles or small nuggets. There
was TO gold dust, the deposits ranging
from bits OF pure gold the size of the head
OF q pin TO nuggets as big as your little
niger nail. One OF the nuggets which l
saw taken out weighed more than half an
ounce, ana II was worth. l was told, at
least ten dollars. The total amount cleaned
UP was not large, but it was all of this
coarse gold.
This IS the character OF the gold found
In Bolivia 1t lies in the earth not in
pockets. but distributed with great regu-
larity through the layers of gravel of
some parts Of the country. Now and then
large nuggets are found. These same
gravel beds have been burroWed into by
the Indians for more than two hundred
years. and out OF almost the spot upon
which We stood there was found, in the
seventeenth century, a mass of gold which
sold for S1l,260. 1t was sent to the museum
at Madrid. where IL is said one of the keep
eTs had dummy nugget made to initiate
IL, and then stole the original and melted
IL UP and sold it. While we were at the
He had probably been mining here genera
tions ago and the earth had caved in and
buried him.
The Bolivian Gold Fields.
I went out TO this mine with Mr.. H. H.
Strater Of Philadelphia and Prof. A. a.
Hard of Denver. Prof. Hard is a we'll
known mining engineer. and he has been
brought here by Mr.. Strater in connection
with some Philadelphia capitalists, who
have taken up p large placer claim on the
PaIka river. about thirty miles from La
Paz. al the foot of the great Inimani
mountain They have tested the property
thoroughly and IT promises TO be one of
the great placer mines of the world The
best hydraulic machinery for its develop
ment has already been ordered from San
Francisco and within a few months they
VIII begin active work. The machinery is
all made in sections, no piece weighing
more than $50 pounds. it must go to the
mines on the backs Of mules Prof. Hard
has Travelled extensively over this part of
the Bolivian mining regions. He tells me
there IS no doubt but that there Is a great
deal OF gold here. Said he to me today:
I believe that the whole mountain range
running from Mt. Sorati Or Iuanpu, as it
IS here called, to Mt HliHani. distance
or 1JD miles, contains quantities of gold,
and shall not be surprised if there Is here
within d few years a gold excitement equal
70 the klOndike. This range forms noun
tain wall containing some of the highest
peaks on tne globe The formation is
curious one. 1t has many alternate layers
of grave and clay, and it seems to me
that the whole country between here and
Lake TiJicaca is sedimentary deposit
which was during the ages under the sea
with only the peaks OF the mountains show
ing above it Wherever prospecting has
been done in this deposit very coarse gold
has been found The gold everywhere
runs in little nuggets like that you saw
and there is little Of what We call gold
dust These nuggets are very scattered
Much panning results in nothing bat al
most every yard seems to contain some
gold. l know OF one instance where 400
yards Of gravel run through a sIuice box
produced 433 ounces OF gold worth be-
tween seven and eight thousand dollars
Most of the gravel Will only pay when
worked with machinery and on q large
scale.
Where does this gold come from, Mr..
Hard2' I ..sked. "Are there quartz hedges
In the mOuntains?''
Ing expert. In all the gravel which /
tested from near La Paz to far up Mt
Illlmani found some gold. / saw numer-
Gus quartz lodges on the Sorati mountains
when / crossed them the other day and /
doubt not but that there will be extern
slve quartz mines II Bolivia in the future
So far the expense of bringing In machin-
cry and the difficulties of development have
Deen so great that the people here have not
prospected for quartz ledges. In fact there
has been little systematic prospecting in
Bolivia The country has not been scratch