The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-10-10
Left z ortune f Estimated
at 100000.
Washington Starr

at 7OOOO,O
washington Starr
A dispatch from Chihuahua. Mex. saws:
Private dispatches received here from
Parral confirm the report of the sudden
death of Pedro Alvarado. the mining man
| who was known throughout Mexico and
the United States.
t. He leaves fortune amounting to about
/ SlO,OOO,OO0, according to reliable estimates
by those who have been handling the ore
/ from his mine during the past six wears
i The value of the Pamilla mine. which
he owned and which he discovered a few
| years ago when he was a peon working
in a mine at 50 cents d day is not known
| as Alvarado persistently refused to ad-
nit mining experts to it's workings 1t is.
however one of the richest silver proper
ties in the world.
OF the $40 900 worth of ore which AL
! varado took out of the mine since its dis
covery, it is said that there is more than
$50 100000 worth in silver bars locked in
! steel cage at the residence of the late
owner. This cage is guarded night and
day by a strong force of armed men.
Alvarado recently acquired additional
notoriety by offering to pay the public
debt of Mexico He also offered to buy
all of the mining properties and smelters
| of the American Smelling & Refining
company in Mexico.
| He gave many hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the poor and erected costly
T Catholic cathedrals at Parral and in this
! city He leaves widow, to whom his
! estate will go. 9
Romance of Alvarado.
If the history of mining operations in
the vicinity of Parral were to be written
! there could be woven one of the greatest
rromances ever conceived, fer the truth
| in regard to some of the bonanza mines
| and bonanza kings of Parral is stranger
| than any fiction that was ever the fruit
| of an imaginative mind; and of all these
there is none more impressive than the
| stroy of San Pedro Alvarado. the med
ern Croesus or Mexico's Monte Cristo.
| as he was frequently called. owner of the
| fabulously rich and justly famous La
Palmila mine" located on La Palmilla
| hill, about four miles slightly north of
west of Paral and Immediately adjoining
the property of La Palmilla hill Mining
company who:N properties are co-exten-'
sive with and upon the same mineral zone
as La Palmilla mine itself, each contain
ing about four performances" or claims,
! making ten acres for each property.
The very early and subsequent mining
operations in the ParTal district were
confined to the immediate vicinity of the
town. Then skipping supposedly bar
rem interval of six miles mining opera
lions were conducted with great success
in the now famous camp of Minas Nue.
vas, six miles north of west of Parral.
The intermediate territory attracted no
attention of consequence until within the
last half of the nineteenth century. This
nlilla hill, where the father of Senior Pc
dro Alvarado began prospecting on what
is now the most famous bonanza ground
in Mexico,
live and pay the annual government tax
of $40 per claim on four claims was as
much as this old Indian prospector could
manage, and 1t is therefore easily under
stood why he did not take up and hold
more ground than he did
Encountered Many Difficulties.
Mining in those days, before any raiL
roads were built IN Mexico, or at least
within many hundreds of miles of his
except where it was possible to mine in
the most primitive way ore that carried
large quantities of gold or silver which
could be extracted cheaply by the simple
methods in vogue and carried in1the com
pact forrIr of dust or bullion to the City
of Mexico, or to the United States. over
difficult roads and tiresome journeys.
only to be exchanged at the point of deS-
tination for provisions and other supplies
with which to carry on operations until
another shipment could be gotten togeth-
er, when the process would be. repeated.
Naturally, the profits of such operations
were reduced to a minimum.
The ambitious old Indian never lost
faith in the ultimate outcome of his mine,
but hung tenacieusly to it through all
sorts of difficulties and Universities.
young man, with his father in the mine,
and enduring the hardships and priva-
tons of long. tiresome trips with pack 4
trains of burrOs carrying only a couple
of hundred pounds each of ore. to be
traded to the merchants or buyers at the
railroad station sixty miles away for pro-
visions and supplies at ruinously exorbi-
tant prices young Pedro Alvarado par
took of his fathers energy and persever-
ance and unfaltering faith in a possible
grand bonanza from their intermittent
prospect.
Made Slow Progress.
Patiently and faithfully the old pros
pector and his boy, and occasionally the |
few other Indian laborers or poems" they
were enabled from time to time to hire, !
dug away at the mine, making slow prog 4
ress with their primitive methods in sink
ing to where they believed the great |
wealth awaited them.
AS they sunk deeper and deeper the |
difficulty OF mining and removing the ore |
became greater and greater, as every !
thing had to be carried on the backs of !
men. who climbed several hundred feet |
upon notched poles, or chicken ladders, |
as they are termed.
Conditions and embarrassments which !
would have baffled and completely halted |
almost any other person than this perse-
vering old "peon'' were bravely met and !
But, alas for life's limita- |
ton, the old man never lived to see his |
dream of wealth realized.
He, however. left in his son Pedro a
worthy successor to take up the battle |
ringing in his ears of his fathers dying
admonition to finish his incomplete, task,
young Alvarado worked with even more
vigor than had his father, whose worthy
son he showed himself to he.
Confronted Troubles.
Troubles, however. with which the old
prospector was never beset, confronted
the young man. There were other heirs
than himself who inherited interests in
this family burden, and they and their
husbands or wives, soon firing of the
irudgery. and ever increasing load re-
fused to bear their part and insisted with |
persuasion and threats of coercion to
compel a sale of the property if that
could be effected, or even an abandon
nent of it.
When all chance of success; and all
nope of realization of his fathers and
MS own life dream seemed lost, Pedro
Alvarado had his hopes frightened by
he sight of a small quantity of ore of
exceeding richness.
Elated with what be believed meant
'arly success, he besought his relatives
o continue with him in his work. They,
lowever, persistently refused saying
hey had seen those evidences and con-
litions before. only to find that they
we're short lived.
Undaunted Pedro succeeded in attract
ng the attention OF the strongest bank
ng mouse III Parfal, ana after perSeVer-
ne efforts succeeded in inducing the
,ank to advance him a sufficient sum to ,
'uy out his relatives and prevent the
ale of the mine.
The bank also loaned him sufficient
money to clear up some debts and pay
IF unpaid laborers, and work the mine
egularly and more rapidly. No elabor-
tie machinery was installed and prac
cally the same primitive appliances We're
sed until one day less than three years I
go, at a depth of $50 feet Pedro Alva-
ado had the indescribable pleasure Of t
casting his eyes upon a mass of ore |
hat meant to him the full realization !
f the fondest dreams he or his father $
ad ever known. {
Became Veritable Croesus. !