The Republican journal., 1903-10-08
SILVER MINES OF BOLIVIA.
rhev Are Among the Richest in the World
An American Enterprise and its Wonder
full Success.

full Success.
Especial Correspondence of The Journal
la PAz, BOLIVIA, Aug. 25th, 1908.
From time immemOrial the gold and
silver mines of Peru and Bolivia-both
these modern republics having been in
.uded in one province under the old
,panish regime-have been celebrated
m history and tradition as the very rich
-st in the world During the last two
CENTURIES about $500, 900, 600 worth have
bean taken from Peru alone; and Officials
lata proves that the single mountain OF
roposi. in Bolivia, has yielded the in
.onceivable sum of almost $4,000, ,000,O
,,atth of money since it's discovery in
nib The ores of Toposi, Cerro del Pas
.. and other noted mines are so rich
lat a Weld of 5000 per ton is common,
wen with the primitive methods now
.nploved. Remembering that miners
the United States find it profitable
work mineral worth only $40 per ton
.ate may form some idea what
nrse Andean treasure-houses might be
..lde to disclose in the hands of wide
wake worknen aided by modern ma
merry. The gold and silver fields of
+.ese countries are producing compare
.,ely little nowadays, owing to the
yertv and ignorance of the people.
I'll poor methods and worse manage
lent. For many years numbers of the
.lnes most famous in history have had
,hing done to them beyond the reduc-
u1u by modern processes of the refuse
I'd the ancient miners.
Perhaps the richest region on the
lobe is that of Potosi, the name itself
guifving AN Eruption of Silver
1ud the mountain is well named, for it
, broken out all. over with precious
etal. like a well-detined case of small
.,x. More than 5000 tunnels and open
IS have been made in it, every one of
N lch has produced gold, copper, iron,
-ad. tin, quicksilver, zinc, antimony, or
,ume other mineral, and silver in great
.-t abundance. Gold has been found in
uauy places, but has not been extensive
mined. being much harder to get at
. the processes in vogue, while silver
50 plentiful that the people can afford
t. Iispense with the more precious but
-.ublesome metal. To this day big
..grets of pure gold are occasionally
liked up by some wandering prospect
and these bring a higher price when
-.,. as curios than the value OF the
ION. Years ago Potosi received its
latest boom by means of a stroke OF
& tning, which detached mass of
..j gold from some unknown Cliff
.al ND the mountain side and dropped
ar the feet of a group OF miners IN
vale below. For a long time this
-teIious nugget was the wonder OF
N0rld then it was sold at fabulous
to the royal museum at Madrid.
rs- it may still be seen. Early in the
century the city of Potosi boasted
5s- than 100 900 inhabitants, but to-
it las hardly 10000 OF late years
mines have been comparatively
rtted. 50 that the output OF them
5ues not exceed -, 800, 900 a year
spirit of revolution ever remains
long enough for capitalists to
secure in investing their money
and if roads are constructed so
] 40 Jiyzo
md an easy outlet to the sea, and
er machinery for working the
md ingress by the same means,
laiSsance may occur which will re-
..d the world OF FL Dorado of olden
present the most prosperous min
enterprise in Bolivia is a purely
..erican one, carried on exclusively
nited States money and machinery,
.. is owned by Dr. W X. Christy, a
ing millionaire of Boston, Mass
principal mines of silver-iead ore
At the base of Sorato, the great
untain near the southeastern shore
AXE Titicaca, which is one of the
Ludest snow clad giants of the
can system. He has also some ex-
i've smelling works, and has been
uted by the government monopoly
E he smelling business in Bolivia for
-riod of fifteen years. He has i'm
Heted a diamond drill from Chicago,
a the President gave him the ex
usive right to use such a machine in
l- so-called republic for ten years
A. this business OF which Mr.. Christy
ne sole owner goes under the gen
er name of "Empresa Titicaca" and
udes not only one of the most ex-
t-asive silver-lead mines in the ada
eut region but the only coal mine in
lliiyia. The latter, is in comparatively
tceless country, where the only fuel
from earliest times has been llama-dung
and species of fungas, and a mine of
good bituminouS coal is worth about as
much as SO many Jumps of gold. The way
II came to be found was as follows:
Tue Indians of these high attitudes use
lumas exclusively for beasts of bur
dem and tho uaupral rurp all amOOp