The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-24

Uut not successfully. He bought
lot of expensive machinery without
considering how he could get it to the
mine. 1t was in too heavy pieces to be
carried there, and some of it is now
lying along the road. The syndicate
mas now new management, with v.
Is. Speare, a well-known mining man,
OF Colorado, as its Peruvian head. /
mine are good, although as yet no
large amounts Of gold have been taken
out.
Just above Lake Titicaca, near the
Bolivian boundary at Poto, Peru, there
are gold mines which are doing we'll.
My information concerning this region
is from Mr.. Charles w. Bellows, an
American prospector who is now in the
employ of the Santo Domingo mine.
Mr.. Bellows has recently prospected in
this part of Peru. Said he:
There are at Poto placer diggings
1900 feet up in the Andes, which are
now turning out $4,000 worth of gold
every three months. The gold is 937
world. They are working the mine
with one hydraulic, but they could, l
think, use thirty with profit.
There are other valuable gold
Mines" continued Mr.. Bellows, Just
across the line in Bolivia. At Suchez,
just east of Poto, and at the same alti-
luce, there are placers which at times
pay $4,000 a month and produce gold
|. that is 1853 fine, supposed to be the fin
est gold Of the world. These mines
were worked for $50 years by the Span
iards, but they are now in the hands Of
Messrs. Penie and Gibson, two young
Englishmen, who are developing it.
They have a river with 130foot fall,
which gives them force for their hy-
| al, T., H. l,,S4 l.
ments Of cobble stones, in which the
gold falls, and they collect the fine gold
with quicksilver. They have gotten
some nuggets weighing as much
| as three ounces Above PotO
| there is another good mine. It is
| known as the Potorosa. 1t is situat-
| ed on the side of a mountain $4,000 feet
high. It is now in litigation, but the
| people who have possession have been
| making good thing out of it, and they
| ship a great deal of gold to Europe to
| be Smelted.
NOT A POOR MANS COUNTRY.
I fear that some of the statements in
this letter may lead Americans with
out capital to come to South America
to prospect. 1 should most earnestly
advise such to stay at home. This is
not a poor mans country in any sense
of the word. There is no chance at all
for the man without capital, and there
is no chance for the man out Of money
to make money by his muscle in COM
petition with these Indians, who live
like dogs and will work for about 20
cents Of our money per day. Many Of
them are good mechanics, and as to
bookkeepers and clerks, the markets
are overstocked. 1t takes a large
amount of money to travel here, and
without proper supplies the hardships
are inconceivab!e. l met last week two
Americans who had been prospecting in
the Benz region of Bolivia and in the
Carabaya district of Peru. They were
the hardest looking Yankees I have
seen, and their story was harder than
their looks. They had attempted to
live off the country, and had had little
more than cornmeal mush for three
months. Some Of the time they were
almost starving, Notwithstanding the
fact that they had plenty of money
with them. For weeks they had to
walk through the rain and sleep at
night without a fire in rude Indian
huts, where at times they were only
admitted because they forced their way
in.
There is absolutely no chance for
man to make his expenses as he goes
along, and as for trying to wash
port him, this is an impossiblity, FOR
the surface washings and, in fact, all
gold bearing gravels that could be east
ly gotten at have been worked over
and over by the Indians, first in the
days of Incas, later on when they were
under their Spanish taskmaSters. and
since then from year to year for them
selves. The gold regions on the east
ern sides of the Andes are In many
cases malarious, and those about here
are so high that many cannot stand
the rarefied air and have soroche. No
American can work here as he can at
| home, and most of those who attempt
to do so give it up AS ITO the rough
ness Of travel here and in the Rockies
| there Is no comparison.
The passes of the Andes are over the
ridges of mountains rather than
| through valleys, and PASSES of 10000
and II 600 feet are common. Mr.. Bel
| lows told me he crossed the mountains
| in one place at 10000 feet, and that
when he got to the top the other
| side seemed straight down, and his trip
| from there was like climbing down the
side of a wall. Some of the roads over
| the mountains are by a series of steps
| and mules are trained to climb and
| jump UP from step to step. In some
| places the mules will sit down upon
| their hind legs and slide down the
mountain, and you are often in such
situation that If you or your mule
makes misstep you are lost
TROUBLES OF THE MINER.
Let us look at what it will cost the
ordinary American to come here to
mine. We will suppose that his purse
| is lean, and that he travels in the
cheapest way. If he goes by steerage
from New York to Panama 1t will cost
him $50, and he will need $35 more for
his steerage passage to Mollendo. 1t
will cost him $22 for actual expenses
| from Mollendo to La Paz, and SO far
nothing whatever has been allowed for
extras At La Paz he must outfit, and
here everything is high. sack of
baking powder and no bacon and he
will have to stock up with such canned
goods as he can find at the highest
prices. The chances are that he will
decide to live off of the country, and
that his stomach will be turned upside
down as soon as he gets outside pf the
settled regions. What he will have to
eat, If he can buy it, will be cholona.
| This Is a sheep, split and dried whole
| In the sun.
He packs on his mule or burro
and 1t forms his staple food. 1t is
exposed to the rain and then becomes
soft. A terrible stencil rises from 1t.
and it looks like putrid meat, as it real
ly is. Another food that Is a staple is
| chuno, or frozen potatoes dried These
are much liked by the indians, but are
not relished by foreigners. Outside of
these two articles you can buy nothing
on the road. At the Indian villages
you may sometimes be able to get
| q b11t &c