Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-05-10
RICH C0LDFIELDS
OF BOLIVIA ATTRACTIVE


This time the wand of Midas waves
over Bolivia, in South America, and
the fortune-seekers who have braved
the glacier trails of Alaska and the
Yukon, the plaques of Nome and
searched with feverish hands the
placer and quartz deposits Of Ne
vada and California are turned to the
alleged FL Dorado of the south. The
perils of sickness and misfortune
that have throughout historic times
haunted this district of romantic
riches and crime are forgotten in
the news of phenomenally rich plac-
er diggings in the streams cutting
through the mountains north and
northwest of Lake Titicaca.
During the last four months ap-
proximately 400 miners have left
San Francisco for Bolivia. Most of
them have gone to the district sur
rounding Tipuani, $50 miles north
of the city of La Paz. The river Tip
uani fowes from Mount Illampu and
empties into the river Mapiri. Both
rivers are reported TO contain large
quantities of gold in the gravel, and
returning miners report days pan
nfpO NJ ne much oS cen n{fao,t.ge
have been encountered in hand meth
DDS through the sub-soil water, and
pumps and other mining machinery
have been shipped down in large
quantities. j. F. Dunstan, an old
Nevada mining man, returned from
+. Bolivia three weeks ago and formed
a company of seven men, each put
ting in $1,000 and the party left
last week for Tipuani with two gas
oline pumps to enable them better to
work the placer deposits.
A number of prospectors have also
gone to Suchez, in the northwestern
part of the state of La Paz and about
200 miles from the city of La Paz.
Reports of river gold being found in
conglomerates at the headwaters and
of gold-bearing gravel all along its
bed are attracting large numbers.
Gold deposits have also been found
in the streams all along the southern
portion of the Cordillera range of
mountains.
Scene of Greatest Activity.
Tipuani, the scene of the greatest
activity, is at an altitude of about
1000 feet, and is reported to be
comparatively healthy 1t is reached
by rail from the port of Mollendo,
Peru, to Lake Titicaca, thence by
steamer to Guaqui, by rail again to
lie Paz, and from La Paz by stage
The Bolivian government is widely
advertising the mining districts, and
the Bolivian consul at San Francisco
has been busy for the last several
months furnishing information to
miners. The official reports are be-
ing subjected to close scrutiny, and
in some cases are reported to be
somewhat exaggerated; but the fact
that SO many local men and miners
from Alaska and Nevada are rushing
to the country is attracting wide at
tention. Most of the men that have
gone to the new fields so far have
been Independent prospectors, but
number of mine owners in Tonopah
and Goldfeld as well as in this city,
are reported to be grdb-stalling men
to look over the field
Old Spanish Explorations.
Tradition has it that the Tipuani
river is the same ravine of Purum-
alta which Captain Baltasar de
Ocampo mentioned in his report to
Lord Don Juan de Mendoza y Luna,
MARQUIS of Monies Carlos, Viceroy
of Peru. This report was made in
1911, and Captain de Ocampo who
was nearly so years of age at the
time and who had assisted the regi-
eide, Don Francisco de Toledo, in
the execution Of the last of the In
cas-, Iuca Tupac Amaru, was distin
guished for his honesty and unpleas-
ant frankness. He said.
There is in this province, most
excellent Lord a report concerning
great treasures in huaca Of the In
cas-, of which there are expectations
that it will be discovered, our Lord
being served, together with a ra-
vine yielding gold, called the rayine
of Purumata. From this place the
Spaniards have alreay taken great
quantities of very fine gold. Four
years ago a nugget was found the
size of hens egg. When the Camp
Master Diego Garcia de Paredes was
vovernor ha took TO Spain a purse