Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-18
LAND OF THE INCAS.
Misleading Reports Of Rich Gold Finds
Primitive Methods,

Los Angeles Corr. New York Tribune
Among the several hundred persons who
went to Peru last May when the news was
abroad that fabulously rich gold placers
and some lodges had been discovered in the
E. Foster, former member Of the Oregon
legislature and gold miner in California
of twenty years experience. He came up
the Pacific coast from Peru the other day
with party of other Californians, all Of
whom are provoked over the way they were
lured to South America at large personal
expense and loss Of their time only to
find that the information was without foun-
dalton.
Il earnestly warn Americans from going
to Peru or anywhere in that region to make
money in gold or silver mining" said Mr..
Foster in this city. There Is no chance
there at all for any American in mining,
no matter whether he Is prospector, CAPT.
talst, a mining engineer or a gold digger.
The stories that came out Of Peru last
year about the riches that abounded in the
mountains of Peru and Ecuador were cruel
hoaxes. and | am ashamed to say they were
started by Americans and Germans, who
will be much benefited financially by q
rush of gold hungry men into that region.
Many a man has spent his all in going to
Peru to mine. Our party Of ten Califor-
mans was 0OWn Iu6ro elRnI months. we
were each i'll with fever at some time while
we were in Peru, and two died from the
fever. marvel that any have come away
well. We were bound to prove The truth or
falsity Of the yarns about the rediscovery
Of placers from which the Incas got their
hoard Of golden wealth centuries ago, and
believe We saw more Of the rural and min
ing regions of Peru than any American Wis
itors in that region in some years.
Briefly an American miner cannot make
even living in that land Of cheap things.
y saw there only two persons who were
not Peruvians and who made respectable
out of the question for profit. Those two
were young chaps from Pennsylvania, who
had contract with a rich banking firm in
Callao for sinking shaft on American prin-
The stories that were published in the CAL
ifornia newspapers last spring said that
gold was SO plentiful in the streams In the
remote and almost inaccessible canons and
barrancas Of the mountains OF Peru in the
locality of Hualgayoc, that frequently the
sand and gravel went SIS and $18 to the
pan were deliberate lies. Then there was a
cheerful story also afioat in California and
Nevada last year about how the native In
dian divers in the deep mountain streams
often went down and brought up hand
fuls Of gold bearing sand; how the padres at
Jesuit mission at TrujilFo had saved a
that the ignorant Indians had brought them
as gifts by the handfuls. while the sagaci-
GUS padres had for years kept the untold
riches OF the streams perfect secret. A
dozen such alluring stories were current in
the mining camps Of the west year ago.
They seemed reasonable when we know the
enormous quantities Of gold Pizarros troops
took from Peru early in the sixteenth CEN
fury.
well We rrospecteds and interviewed all
through the so-called mining regions OF
Peru, and we never found enough color to
buy a meal once q week. The fact Is that
while the mines were once valuable. they
were worked out over century ago. For
ing gold for his conque4tadores under pen
atty Of death, and they just about scraped
the country bare, az they knew how. of
gold. Then the Portuguese conquered and
When the Spauiards again came into pc