Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-07-26
W|LDS OF COLOMBIA
Prospecior Says He Has Un-
earthed Spanish Claims.
Also Says That Life Down There IL
Worse Than Dante's Inferno--DIgs
Up Relics Of Days Long Past
--ouInlne Steady Diet.

Col John s. wilbur. veteran pros
pector, who has participated In more
gold PUSHES than he has years In his
life, and that means a few, for the
grizzled seeker of El Dorados has seen
the tail lights Of half century 60
glimmering down the corridors OF
time. arrived In New York the other
day aboard the steamship Santa
Marta The gold man is back from
the wilds OF Columbia where he has
secured claims on the very ground
that brought wealth to the adventur'
ers OF Spain as far back as 1850.
For two long. feverish. insect In
tested and nightmarish years Colonel
Wilbur secured the dense jungles Of
the South American country before
he made his discovery and found for
tune at his feet. The doughty pros
pector with a belt full of nuggets and
gold dust has now returned to visit
his family in Chicago for two brief
weeks, then to return to the land OF
golden promise.
Colonel Wilbur believes that he has
discovered the gold workings that
made Spanish galleons so sought after
by the cutthroat pirates of the olden
days. Colonel Wilbur's claims are To-
Gated along the Atrato river in the
Choco district and near the town Of
Quibdo The workings are about 300
miles inland and In a country that
would daunt most white men.
ut is placer gold Of the finest quail
ity that have discovered" said the
veteran prospector. "And my lands
are the same that the early Spaniards
washed for gold. AS matter Of fact,
am using the same bitches that were
dug by the dons almost three CEN
turtles ago. Through these bitches
fetch the water to wash the golden
sands.
81 have dug up many relics of the
Spanish days, such as picks and other
iron tools. And few days before
left one of the native workmen
brought to light a steel helmet, or
casque, such as we're worn by tho
fighting Spaniards of those days. The
Spanish miners simply worked of the
top of the land and made 1t necessary
for me to sink shafts and dig tunnels
THE gold runs between 81 and $40
to the cubic yard and is worth SIS an
ounce. II II were not for the fevers
believe that this section Of Colombia
would be every bit as wealthy in gold
as the choicest districts of Alaska
The next objection is that foreigners
are not permitted to purchase land
outright, but must lease 1t from the
natives.
The Choco district is no place for q
man who holds life too dearly. There
you may contract all the fevers ever
thought Of and few more. l have
gulped so much quinine in the last
two years that my ears ring like
cathedral chimes.
And then there are the insecrs
They all bite and bite hard in that
country. Every insect has bite pc
culiar unto itself and one that makes
a white man think of Dante's inferno
as a haven of joy Why, even the but
terflies bite in that accursed country
IAN the animals are thin almost tC
transparency That is because they
are always on the run. Every beast
has another one constantly chasing
il and when a white man comes along
they seem to concentrate their forces
and efforts to make him hit the
hurdles.
Vegetation seems to grow more
rapidly than any place else on earth
Talk about mushrooms, why. I've seer
things grow almost as watched
them. And every thirty days ! have
TO set the natives to cutting down
the Jungle about the workings or the
sunlight would soon be hidden from US
But I'm going back the first part OF
June, not because like fever or en-
10y being chawed by insects. but be
cause of the wealth in those Spanish
workings"
Colonel Wilbur had narrow escape
in getting out of his land of gold
He journeyed by canoe down the
Atrato river. The first night Of his
journey his boat hit a half submerged
log and the prospector, his two ma
tives and his baggage went headlone
into the river. The colonel and his
men managed to get hold of the over
turned boat and chung to 1t for over
an hour before they drifted opposite
an opening in the Jungle where they
could struggle ashore. The prospec
tor spent two days fishing in the trop
&c stream for his belongings and res
cued a small trunk.