Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-24


Written for The Evening Star
"What promises to be one of the chief
mining enterprises of our hemisphere has
been started by Americans in the heart of
the Andes
Thus spoke Mr.. Irving B. Dudley, our
minister to Peru, as we chatted together
in Washington prior to his leaving for his
post, last week. / spent some time with
Mr.. Dudley in Peru, when l visited that
country a few years ago, and. with him,
went to the top of the Andes on the rail-
road built by Henry Meiggs, the Callfor-
Man, at an enormous cost about thirty
years ago. That road is the highest noun
tain railway of the world. 1t takes you
in one day from the Pacific ocean clear to
the top of the Andes, and lands you on
the other side more than three miles above
the sea. The road goes through some of
the richest mineral territory of South
America, and it was originally intended to
reach the famous Cerro de Pasco silver
mines. Meiggs' money gave out before he
got there and, although the road had been
continued after his death, it was from
fifty to seventy miles away from Cerro
de Pasco when I rode over it.
American Capital in Peru.
1.-THE enterprise I refer to-" continued
Minister Dudley, sis connected somewhat
with the railroad by which We travelled to
the tops Of the Andes 1t is the purchase Of
the Cerro de Pasco mines by corps of
American millionaires headed by J. B.
Haggin, D. o. Mills, Henry c. Prick and
others, among whom are said to be the
Hearst heirs and the Vanderbilts. The
company Is largely composed of men who
have been connected more or less with
the great copper mines at Anaconda,
Mont, which are supposed to be the
Cerro de Pasco They have already spent
So 100000 in purchasing the property and
in extending the railroad to Cerro de Pasco
and l understand that they will spend 81
600, 900 more before next fall. They have
bought up the mines from the individual
owners not asking concessions of the Pc
ruvian government, and their work is all
done after practical business methods. They
are said to have in the neighborhood OF
three hundred mines and almost everything
of value in that immediate vicinity. They
expect to extend the railway to coal mines
about twelve miles farther on so that they
can have their own fuel for the shelters.
Vast Copper Deposits.
'T thought the Cerro de Pasco mines were
silver mines, Mr.. Dudley?"
80 they WERE but copper has been found
under the silver and the ore now taken
out is a mixture of silver and copper. This
paying better than silver mining. 1 see 1t
estimated that the Cerro de Pasco Com
pany will be exporting within less than
two years about five thousand tons month,
or sixty thousand tons per annum. inns inns
million dollars five times the whole pro-
duction of Chile. 1t will be more copper
than Spain and Portugal, the great copper
countries of Europe, produce
Tons of Silver.
''Tell me something about the silver of
Cerro de Pasco?'
s'Those mines have been producing silver
since the seventeenth century, said our
minister to Peru. "They were discovered
by an Indian shepherd who camped out
one night where the town Of Cerro de Pasco
now stands That place Is more than four
teen thousand feet above the sea and it Is
usually bitter cold after dark. The Indian
built a fire before going to sleep and
awoke next morning to find that the stones
under his fire had melted and lump or
silver Stag lay in their place. Since then
thousands of tons of pure silver have been
taken out of Cerro de Pasco. Twenty-seven
thousand tons had been mined as far back
as 1924, and altogether more than sixty
million dollars worth or silver has been
produced there.
Much Of the silver ore was shipped to
Europe" continued Mr.. Dudley" Then a
smelter was built at Casapalca on the rail-
road about seventy five miles from Cerro
de Pasco and for the past few years the ore
has been carried there on the backs of
llamas. A llama will carry only one hun
bred pounds. 1t is a stubborn beast and
will lie down and refuse to go if over
loaded. AS result the cost of transpor-
tation has been enormous, and only the
best of the ore could be taken to the
smelter. There must be a great deal of
silver still in the dumps about those mines
This ore Is now being carried to the smell
ter by the new railroad built by the Amer
lean syndicate. ! understand however
that the rates of transportation by llamas
have been so reduced that they are carry
ing ore at about the same freight rates as
the railroad, the animals walking along
beside the tracks
Peru's Mineral Wealth.
us Peru still rich in gold and silver, Mr..
Dudley?"
Yves; but 1t is hard to tell just how rich
1t is. Much of the country has not been
thoroughly prospected. and the mines may
be better further down. In these Cerro
de Pasco mines the upper deposits con-
sisted of a great body of low-grade silver
ore. more than mile and half long by
three-quarters of a mile wide. This was
worked down to depth of about two hum
dred or more feet, and then tunnels had to
be driven in to drain the mines. They have
been making immense tunnels still lower
down. and the tunnel companies claim GER