Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-30
Copyright. 1914. by Frank G. Carpenter

hE4 pIouuCSu One-tnlru OF all the
te9@gN silver mined in the world. II
is now turning out more than
one-fourth of all the tin, and it has
such vast deposits Of that mineral that
1t will some day drive the mines of
Malaysia and Cornwall out Of existence.
Tin is found almost everywhere in the
western chain Of the Andes. 1t is mined
on the high slopes about Lake Titicaca,
and there are great tin deposits in the
main ranges OF the Cordillera Real and
its numerous spurs. Right here in the
heart of the Bolivian plateau. eight hours
ride by train from La Paz, is a tin mine,
out of which they have been taking ore
for generations. The mine has a tunnel
that starts into 1t out of the very heart
of the city, and one has to walk through
this less than half mile before he comes
to the workings. These have been ex-
tended to a depth OF 700 feet, with solid
tin all the way. No one knows how far
down the ore goes. The mine was worked
by the Spaniards for silver, but later on
changed from silver to tin and the bulk
of the product is now in that metal.
The tin ore lies in veins between layers
of rock. It is the meat of a mighty stone
sandwich that has to be blasted out and
carried to the surface. There the great
chunks of tin and rock are broken to
pieces and sorted over by Indian women,
who pick out all the ore that will pay to
be sent away for reduction.
During my stay here / visited this mine
Back of the buildings containing the ma
chinery of its main works are mounds of
broken stone and piles of valuable ore
The mounds look like gravel. They are
the waste of the mine, having only about
! per cent of the metal. The good ore
looks like that of silver or lead. It is
so dull in color that no one would imagine
that It could produce the shine one finds
on a new dishpan or wash boiler.
Ore Comes in Chunks.
spent some time watching the Indian
women at work The ore comes out in
chunks some of which are ten times
as big as your head. The women break
the chunks into pieces with heavy steel
hammers and pick out the bits that con-
tain tin and silver. They have faces the
color of copper, and as they sit on the
ground pounding away their black bare
feet and rosy bare calves can be seen
showing out from under their very full
skirts. They are dirty and frowsy and
their hair and bodies form the homes of
lar. Their continual pounding gives them
large arms and they are noted for the
size of their biceps. They keep at the job
from daylight to dark. and their earnings
are about so cents of our money. They
are paid by the amount that they do
and it was with difficulty that 1 got
them to stop work and pose for my pic
ture,
Nearly all Of these girls were chewing
coca and their cheeks were swelled out
by the fat qulds inside them. While I
waited some OF the miners came out and
1 photographed them I asked as to wages
and they told me they were paid about 80
cents for ten or eleven hours work un-
derground. The men are brought up in
the mines and are skilled In the handling
of ore.
The mining company that owns this
mountain Of minerals has three different
properties, all Of Which are producing sill
yer and tin. 1t has hundreds of miners
and Keeps go women at work. The Oruro
mines have always paid well. and TODAY
they are producing good dividends. 1 vis-
tied them when 1 was here some years
ago, and before the railroad to La Paz
had yet been constructed. The fuel then
by caravans from all over the country
1t took four tons of that stuff to run
the forty-horsepower engine twenty-four
hours, and remember going with one of
the managers of the mine into the pit
where the fuel was stored. II then con-
tained 10000 pounds Of llama droppings.
The stuff looked like gray bullets or
gravel, and it was as dry as a bone and |
gave forth no smell.
Coal Fifty Dollars Per Ton.
Today the company is using coal at a !
cost of about $50 a ton 1t has installed I
the most modern machinery, and IL is /
=aving money by employing anthracite /
gas engines that give a 20 per cent fuel i
efficiency, using one pound and a half of 1
anthracite per horsepower per hour. This /
saves q great deal in a region where the !
coal freights from the sea coast are from /
s25 TO $50 per ton.
have already written Of the mines Of |
Potosi that were opened up by the soan-
ilrds Since their beginning they have
produced three or four billion dollars
worth OF silver and II is now thought
millions OF dollars more were thrown
away In the tin which was mixed with
the silver. The people did not understand
inc value OF the baser metal They could |
not realize that IT might some day be
worth Sl,lO0 ton, which has been its sell
ing price within the last year, although
II is now very much less. So they took
out the silver and left the tin on the
dumps, whence it has been washed away
by the streams. All this is changed and
the great profit is now in the tin. the
Fotosi owners having originated a syndi-
cate to operate the property on a silver
basis. They will work the mines almost
solely for tin and will capitalize them
largely on their fame in the past as sill
Ner producers
There are other tin mines OF enormous
value in the Potosi district. La Saliva
dora has produced as much as /, 700 900
pounds OF pure tin in a month and the
uncia mines are now yielding more than
half million pounds Of that mineral /,