Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-13
ABOUT COLOMBIA.
A Land of Possibilities and Prom-

 As operations progress on the
 Panama canal. the eyes of Americans
 and others are beginning to be open. ed to the vast possibilities of the 1 South American countries. Particu-
 larly is this true of our nearest South American neighbor. the U. s. | of Colombia. This state has here tofore been known to fame princi-
 pally as a producer of emeralds and
 platinum, but the mining world of
 the present day is commencing to
 take interest in the nations immense
 gold deposits, both placer and quartz.
 Colombia, particularly the Choco
 region, is famed in song and story as being the source of supply from
 which the Spanish galleons gathered their golden loot For over 300
 years this region has been putting forth the yellow metal, with the real sources of supply as yet prac- l tically untouched.
 The ancient aboriginal races ob-
 tained their fabulous wealth from ! the surface placers. These placers, as will be seen later on, are peren-
 nially enriched, and they alone have
 maintained the status of Colombia | as gold producing section
 The Choco region lies in the | northwestern part of Colombia, bor- dering. on both the Atlantic and Pa- cific, and consequently is the near est part of South America to the | Panama canal on both oceans. To. reach the country from the
 United States, ship is taken to Car | thagena, one of Colombia's princi-
 pal seaports on the Carribean sea. Thence by river steamer, there is
 nothing to prevent pleasant jour-
 ney up the Atrato river through
 scenes of tropic beauty, and through
 region rich in every natural re-
 source, and fabled lore, to Quibdo, the head of navigation. The trip in itself is we'll worth taking. The
 opportunities presented to modern | industry and capital are extraordi-
 narily attractive. Tributaries to the Atrato are the Capa, Andagueda,
 Cabu, Quito, Negua, Bebera and va rious others.
 The torrential rains of ages ago
 have denuded the backbone of the great Cordillera of the Andes, with
 Its untold mineral wealth, and
 formed in the Choco, in and ad- | joining these rivers, what is prob
 ably one of the greatest bodies of gold-bearing gravel on earth. There
 in the unsubmerged alluvials, min ing has been steadily going on for centuries, and its river beds with
 their adjoining banks now present the most attractive and promising | field for what is recognized as the
 safest and most satisfactory form
 of mining, namely, gold dredging. Before the era of Spanish domina- tion in Colombia, gold and copper appear to have been the only metals
 utilized by the Incas. Specimens of ] their prehistoric cups, urns, jewelry, e-c, etc, show the highest skill in
 the metallurgy of both these pre- cious metals. In some sections of
 the country, especially in the Choco,
 gold is evidently the only means the | their metallurgical necessities. Even
 gold fishhooks are frequently found
 in washing the grayels, and there
 are occasionally dug up or exposed | by caying banks. solid gold images, sometimes of several thousand dol
 lars value.
 The "Guaca," or ancient Indian
 grave hunter, practically always find buried with the bones of the Incas
 gold ornaments and utensils of con-
 siderable value and there have been
 cases where the finds have been of
 such quantity as to make the
 hunter independent for the rest of his days.
 The arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century showed the Indian that gold was his curse. At the
 muzzle of the terrorizing blunder- buss the red men were enslaved,
 and their task-masters drove them
 so mercilessly that they died by hum
 dreds and because comparatively ex- tinct. After the Indian, the African
 slave was imported. Great placer
 mining haciendas were established
 in the Choco by the Spaniard whose
 descendants are to-day the leading citizens of Quibdo, Isturia, and.
 indeed of the entire Cauca. Most of
 the wealthy families of Popayan,
 Cali, and many of the other cities, owe their fortunes to the gold
 bearing gravels of the Shoeo in the days of slavery.
 Ancient records are, of course,
 liable to be uncertain, but from
 what publications are available, such as the diaries of the mission aries. Spanish histories and Baron
 Humboldt's writings, the choeo
 seems to have been regarded as the
 most fruitful section of the vast
 area whose shipments of gold made Spain the richest and most power full country on the gold. Spain is
 accredited with receiving from the Choco alone. something like a hum dred and sixty million dollars of the metal. After the War of Indepen- dence. the golden streams to Spain. of course. stopped, but if record could be obtained of the yield of the
 haciendas until the liberation of the slaves some sixty years ago. it
 would show a handsome total for the period. Since the liberation of the slaves. a majority of the white families have moved away from the Choco as the negroes could be com
 pelIed to work only so much as re- quired to provide for their few
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