The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-24

hit and miss order. The gold that could be
got cut without the aid of machinery has
been pretty well worked by the Indians and
Spaniards. The fact that no fine gold is
FOUND / consider an evidence that there
must be somewhere very rich quartz
lodges
THE TIPUANI GOLD REGION.
There are a number of Americans here
WHO are about to start to the Tipuani
eTip-oo-wan-ne) gold fields A Mr.. Yost
ard his wife from Denver recently arrived,
and two young Ohio men. Messrs. Scott and
Rathbun. of Lima. who represent the Desh-
lers and other capitalists of Columbus. are
now there prospecting. The most important
undertaking in this country is that of
Denver syndicate in the charge of e. S. and
G. T. Wilson, of Denver from whom l get
the following information: The syndicate
has a concession of seven miles along the
bed of the Tipuani river, and il has had
powerful dredge constructed with which it
can dredge the river bed to depth of forty
feet and to bed rock The dredge was made
al Denver and was tested there. 1t was con-
6tructed so that it could be sent here in
pieces. ard it is now being taken into the
gold region on the backs of mules and In
dams. The whole dredge weighs eight tons,
but no section of it weighs more than 125
pounds, while the average piece is not heav-
Ser than seventy-five pounds. The cost of
getting the dredge from Denver to the mine
will be more than $4,000. 1t took more than
six months to get it here, and its journey
on to the mine is attended with all sorts
of dangers. 1t has to go over high noun
tain passes, to be carried along the edges
of precipices. In some places lamas will
transport it and at others men will have
to do the work. This machine has a ca
pacity of 200 yards of gravel a day. IT
will be put in the river and will excavate
pits to bed rock, the gravel, coming up be-
ing washed upon the dredge. The bed rock
will be swept and scraped by men in diving
suits, and the prospects are that a vast
amount of gold will be secured The Tipuani
river is one of the most famous of the Be-
livian gold streams 1t was worked
3n the days of the Incas, and the
E2aniards have had large amounts from it.
The Tipuani is rushing stream three hum
bred feet wide, lying on the eastern side of
Cordilera, about two weeks travel from
La Paz. The river flows into Maperi and
thence into the Beni in which its waters
find their way to the Amazon. In the rainy
season it is a rushing torrent and the In
dams cannot work in it, 1t is so deep that
with their crude methods of panning with
wooden bowls they have not been able to
get to the bed rock of the center of the riv
er. although they still wash along the edges
of the stream every year with profit. They
stand in the water up to their waists and
scrape the gravel together with their feet
until they have made little pile. They
then dive down and gather painful, often
getting 25 or so cents out of a pan of gravel
off Ia c11arA nf
pear, weighing 2k ounces, was taken out.
There was a Spaniard who worked the bed
of the river to slight extent years ago.
He had bucket brigade of Indians, who.
equipped with rude cowskin buckets and
standing on notched poles that served as
ladders passed the gravel and water from
one TO the other until they reached the top.
It took two years of such work to get to
bed rock, and it is said that the man took
out during four years $4,000 in gold. An
other story, which is questioned. is that he
took out nine hundred pounds of gold in
single year, and another is that he panned
out 463 pounds in five hours. The pit where
this Spaniard worked was about seven miles
above the claims owned by the Denver men.
1t was, it is said, only twenty feet square.
Gold is also found upon the Yani river,
which is not far from the Tipuani and in
southern Bolivia.
PERUVIAN GOLD REGIONS.
The Peruvian gold field that is now at
tracing the most attention is the Carabaya
district. This is not great distance from
Cuzco, and can be reached by five days
travel on mules and on foot from the branch
OF the Arequipa Puno Railroad, which is
extended toward that city. You leave the
railroad for the Carabaya on a mule and go
two days down hill, then two days up hill,
and during the last day you go down again
for distance of about II, eco feet This last
Journey is made on foot, and it takes you
ebout eight hours. You then find yourself
in a region that is covered with trees and
one where the vegetation is almost tropical.
A river runs through it, and in this the In
dams have been washing gold for centuries.
These indians are the descendants, it is sup
posed, of the Incas. They are semi-civilized,
and can be got to work for you for 20 cents
day. Up until recently all of the gold
frcm this part of Peru was from placer
washings. The chief work to-day is in the
quartz mines of Santo Domingo. Out of this
mine $4,000 ounces of gold were taken in
eighteen months, and it was later on sold
TO an American syndicate for $2S5 900.
Whether the mine is only pocket or not is
not yet known. The ore, | am told, runs
very pockety, though some of the quartz
has run as high as 1000 to the ton. The
ore that is now being worked turns out
about $500 to the ton. This is being put
through ten-stamp mill. This mine was
bought for the syndicate by a California
man named Hardison, who came to South
America to investigate the rubber business
and got into mining. He managed the
property for while, but not successfully.
He bought a 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 1t is now lying
along the road. The syndicate has now
new management. with Mr.. v. K. Speare,
a well-known mining man of Colorado, as
its Peruvian head. I understand that the
prospects of the mine are good, although as
yet no large amounts of gold have been
taken out.
BEST GOLD OF THE WORLD.
Just above Lake Titicaca, near the b.
hvian boundary at Poto, Peru, there are
gold mines which are doing well. My in
formation concerning this region is from
Mr.. Charles w. Bellows. an American pros
pector who is now in the employ of the
Santo Domingo mine. Mr.. Bellows has re-
Gently prospected in this part of Peru.
Said he:
There are Poto placer diggings 1890
feet up in the Andes. which now turn