East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-10-07
FORMER PEON OFFERS TO
CANCEL MEXICO'S DEBT.

Pedro Alvarado, the multi million
aire of Parral Mexico, has made
new strike OF almost pure silver in
fabulous quantities in his Palmilla
mine and it is reported, has renewed
his offer To President Diaz to pay the
public debt of Mexico. says the Chi
cago Record Herald. He says that he
obtains his wealth from the ground
| and that he thinks the government is
entitled to n good portion of 1t. He
has just completed "a palatial resi-
dence near his mine at a cost of sew
eral hundred thousand dollars. There
is Il piano in every room. Several mil
lion dollars of his money is said to be
kept in IA strong iron cage at his home.
where ii is constantly guarded by
armed men.
He has never permitted mining ex-
pert to enter his mine, and no report
of its richness has even been made.
Alvarado, known as the ''peon min
ing king of Mexico four years ago
worked for daily wages ranging from
81 cents to 60 cents Mexican silver.
His income is now estimated at .$25,-
600 day. and as the owner of the
famous Palmilla mine he is some
times called a billionaire.
Born 39 years ago i'm the little town
/ of Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico. his boy
hood was spent in the hardest kind of
labor, continually working in the
mines with little opportunity for edu-
cation. His father belonged to the
great peon class of Indian extraction,
and his mother was of pure Indian
origin. The boy toiled early and late
for a pittance of cents to 25 cents
n day in Mexican money.
As he grew older he became shift
boss and later small contractor TAX
| ing a few feet of work at "A time. 1t
was Pedro's father who acquired the
now famous ming, La Palmilla. by a
grant from the national government
obtained by the usual method. This
| property was all he could manage
/ to pay taxes on and the annual pay
ment of $40 required by law was no
small task.
| 1t was life struggle for the elder
| Alvarado as well as for Pedro digging
away with crude tools, following here
and there rich streaks of ore and car
rying It up notched poles I'm hugs bags
4 to the surface. Then loading 1t on a
| burro, they would drag 1t to the near
est market or smelter. perhaps 30
days journey each way. Six years
| ago the father died, and with his last
| breath importuned his son to work un-
ceasingly for al PaImilla would even
/ tually prove lucky strike.
Threatened by the detection of his
/ l.. I,,,,~ .I,s ~
Pedro gave leases to number of
friends in order to hurry the work of
development. Three years ago mat
ters reached climax, La Palmilla vim
dicated itself.
A lessee put in a shot that blew
away a face of rock disclosing excep-
tionally rich ore with large veins of
the precious metal in abundance. AL
varado submitted samples to the local
bankers and obtained a sum sufficient
to buy out the refractory relatives.
For machinery and hands and to
gain control of the property he was
in debt to the banks for $lSO,0OO. but
within 80 days after the first ship
ment of ore from this strike he had
not only repaid the loan with interest,
but had deposited with the bank $780,
600. This output was at the rate of
$4,000 a day profit. From that day
to this La Palmilla has showered her
wealth in constantly increasing
quantity upon this lucky and plucky
Mexican. This mine has surpassed all
records in mining. Alvarado would
not sell it for many millions, and ex-
poets to produce $1,000,000,000 or
| more.
Alvarado attracted attention to him
self two or three years ago, when he
first made an offer to pay off the ma
tional debt of Mexico. This offer was
prompted by gratitude to the govern
ment, and he was disappointed to
learn that legal obstacles would pre-
vent him from paying the debt, which
exceeded $15O,000,00O.
, ..u.l