The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-16


once that the work was going the wrong
way, and that the seam went down under
the sea, instead of into the land. / stopped
the works at once and upon the investiga-
tions of the engineers the works were closed
for lack of money, the company becoming
bankrupt That mine could now be bought
for $4,000 in gold, and 900 put into work.
ing It would produce, believe, 81, 0000O0 /
was once the manager of the big Puchoco
coal mines, which are of the same char
acter, and which now produce 100000 tons
of coal a year. They are situated on
Coronel bay, and were at the time / had
charge the property of Baltimore men.
took out 10000 tons of coal the first year.
and we made throughout an enormous
profit, running as high at times ss 50 per
cent. year. This coal region is, you know,
practically the only one on the west coast
of South America, and all of the ships must
coal here. 1 know there are a number of
good properties of this kind. All that the
capitalist needs to do is to bring his experts
out here and investigate. They can tell
from these other submarine mines just what
the cost will be and the probable profits
MINING COAL UNDER THE SEA.
These coal mines of Chile are exceedingly
interesting. They are far different from
any mines we have in the United States,
and in some respects are far more difficult
to work The seam of COAL which is at its
best about five feet thick, begins at the
shore and runs down under the waters of
the Pacific ocean. The rock above it is
slate and sEale, so compact that the water
does not drop through. The tunnels are SO
clean that you could walk through them in
a dress suit without danger of getting dirty.
They are worked with the latest machi-
nery ard during my visit to them l had
several experiences which it is hard to real
ize could take place in Chile Think, for
instance, of riding on an electric trolley
coal train through a tunnel over mile
long under the Pacific ocean at a speed of
twenty miles an hour. Imagine mines light
ed by electricity forming catacomb of
corridors and chambers under the waves.
Realize that just above you great steam
ships are floating and that the coal which
is being taken out of this bed of the Pa
cifc is being shoveled into them. Picture
sooty miners, half naked blasting out the
coal and loading the cars, and follow the
train carrying twenty-seven tons of black
diamonds to the shaft where a mighty
steam engine lifts four Cf them at one time
to the surface and you have some idea of
what is going on at the Lota coal mine.
These mines are now producing 1000 tons
of coal a day and $50 miners are employed
within them. They pay a profit running
high into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year and are carefully man
aged as any Of the great coal properties
OF our country. / 3sked as to the pay of
the miners and was told that they received
from 80 cents to 81 Chilean. or from 81 to
81 cents OF our money. I wonder what our
Pennsylvania miners would think of that
The Chileans, however, have their houses
rent free and ccai is furnished them at cost
price.
These mines were opened by Don Matias
Cousino in 1855 and they formed the foun-
dation of the Cousino fortune, of which you
have read in the stories published about the
late Madame Cousino, the so-called richest
woman in the world. Her income from the
mines and factories at Lota is said to have
been a million dollars year. If so she spent
the most of it, for the estate, now that she
is dead, though still large, is many millions
short of the amount al which it has general
ly been estimated. The Senior Cousino, who
was her husband, must have been a man
of great ability. He owned copper mines,
silver mines and big estates, and he estab-
listed here a copper smelling works to
which the ore from the Cousino mine is
carried in the steamers belonging to the
estate. Under him the town Of Lota, which
now contains about fourteen thousand peo-
pie, grew up. and in the different Cousino
works and factories here more than three
thousand men are now employed. On
mountainous little peninsula above the coal
bed and just opposite the smelter, is
Madame Cousinos famous park and palace
of Lota. 1t is one of the most beautiful
parks Of the world and a fortune has been
spent in making it so. 1t is even more
beautiful than her estate of Mocul, which
/ visited from Santiago, and is full of won
ders of landscape gardening and picturesque
effects of land and sea.
FRANK G. CARPENTER