The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07
ARE RICHEST ON EARTH
SILVER MINES OF PERU AND
BOLIVIA

A silver Property of the Bolivian
President and How He Got 1t.
Copyright. 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.
ORURO, Bolivia, July 14.-Oruro is
one of the great mining centers of Bo-
livia. There are rich deposits of silver
and tin in the Andes all about, and
the work goes on in the mines night
and day. There are rich copper mines
or the Desaguadero river, not far from
here, and the whole country, in fact,
seems to be a bed of valuable minerals.
In the Huanani (Wah-nah-ne) tin dis
trict there IS a conical mountain, which
has a network of tin veins, in some
OF which the pure ore has been follow
ed down from the top of the mountain
a distance Of 600 feet. In the Avecaya
district. near this, the tin lodes are
from one to three feet thick, and now
and then contain great masses of solid
tin ore. Other veins are from six 10
eight feet wide in places, and some of
the ore is so pure that 1t Is shipped
to Europe as it comes from the mines
Other ore is crushed by means Of rock
ing stones and is smelted on the spot
in little blast furnaces and run into
fifty-pCund pigs. All of these tin mines
are situated at least 1900 feet above
the sea
WORLDS RICHEST SILVER MINES
Bolivia has perhaps the richest sill
yer mines on earth. She has produced
q vast amount of the silver now in
the world, and did the price of silver
rise she would again food the market
with her product. There are today In
the dumps of the abandoned mines of
this country millions upon millions of
ounces Of silver which fine machinery
may some time reduce at a profit. The
methods of mining have been wasteful
in the extreme, and the high freight
rates now prevent anything but the
richest ores being touched. The tin
and silver bearing territory Of Bolivia
IS about 1900 miles long and 210 miles
wide. 1t runs clear through the noun
famous parts Of the country from
south to north, and everywhere
throughout it, at distances from fifteen
TO twenty miles apart, may be seen
these abandoned mines, which were
worked by the Spaniards.
In 1913 the number of these mines
was estimated at 10000. Few such
mines were exhausted. The Spaniards
forced the Indians to labor in them
and they burrowed through the earth,
taking out only the richest parts of the
veins. The owners gave one-f1fth Of
what they mined to the Spanish crown,
and it is known that between the time
of the coming of the Spaniards to Be-
ltvia and the year 1900 the country
produced more than three and one
third billion dollars in silver. From 1900
to 1925, when Bolivia secured her in
dependence Of Spain, sixty-seven mill
lion dollars were taken out Of the
mines, and up to the present it must |
be, l should say, very low estimate |
TO say that Bolivia has given the world |
the enormous amount Of four billion |
dollars worth Of silver. The greater |
part of this metal came from the fam
Gus silver mountain Of Potosi the mines |
of which have produced more than |
three billion dollars worth of silver.
Today the Potosi mines are to a large |
extent exhausted, and the town, which |
had at one time more than 100000 peo- |
pie, has now hardly one-fourth Of that |
number.
PRESIDENT MADE A FORTUNE.
AT present Oruro is far greater as a
mining center than Potosi There are
some very rich mines here, and one
not far from the city has Melted the
present president of Bolivia a fortune.
This mine Is called the San Jose 1t
was, I am told, discovered by a
Scotchman named Andrew Penny, who
came out here years ago as a common |
mechanic He was a drunken sort of a
Fellow and was by no means particular
as to the character Of his female
friends. AT least he married an In
dian and was living with her when his |
mine began to produce fabulous
amounts. 1t continued good and soon
made him very wealthy. He invested
some Of his surplus in an estate In the
Old country and then died. By the
Bolivian law his estate went to his
wife and his adopted son, who was a
half breed. The widow concluded TO
go to Scotland and see if she could not
capture the estate there. She failed.
but her lawyer who seems to have
been as little particular as was the
old Scotchman, made the ancient In
dian widow a proposal of marriage and
came back to Bolivia to live
The Old lady soon died, and the now
president of Bolivia was the lawyer
VINO settled the estate. He did this In
such a way that for d consideration
the Scotch lawyer husband withdrew.
leaving the balance of the estate, in
Guiding the mine, to the president and
the adopted son. The president. I am
told, now owns hve-eighths of the
mine, and he has from it an income of
something like $4,000 Bolivian dollars A.
week, or more than $4,000 Of our dol
lars a month. The mine has ore in
sight for a long time to come, and as
his eXcellency is the president there Is
little danger of his title being disputed.
A BOLIVIAN SILVER MINE.
Oruro is mining town of 1900 peo-
PIE. 1t makes you think of the larger
villages of the valley of the Nile. save
that there is no green surrounding it.
1t lies at the edge of bare gray hills
In a desert. The streets are narrow
Most of the are unpaved, and most of
the houses are Of one story, matched
with straw. The town water works
are mules who carry barrels of this
precious fluid about on their backs. and
large part of the population Is made
up Of Quichua (Keech- wa) Indians.
The most Of the miners are half breeds
or Cholos, and, as mining is the chief
industry, you see Cholos everywhere.
There are also saloons everywhere.
You know them by the little red flags
which are stuck In balls over their
doors Just above the city on the
me untain is the Chilean mine called
Sacavon La Virgen. This is g. famous
old silver mine, Which has produced
and Is still producing vast quantities
of silver.
1t has a capital Of $1,000, 900, and it's
stock is worth, L am told, $50 per cent
above par, 1 visited it today. The
mine is managed by Englishmen. but
the work in it is all done by Bolivians.
The miners labor half naked In the
tunnels, as the mine is like an oven
and the means of ventilation are poor
They take out only the best Of the ore
and this, when brought to the surface
is broken into little pieces by Indian
women, who sort out the best and
throw the poorer pieces away. There
h,1,, 80 ~.