The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-03-26
|GREAT COPPER MINES
| ON SUMMIT OF ANDES
FIRST OPERATED AS SILVER
MINES, NOW COPPER IS
CHIEF VALUE.

| Following is an extract from a let
er by Frank G. Carpenter, the fam
Gus correspondent, on the American
owned copper mines Of Peru
| / have come to the top Of the Andes
to tell you about the greatest copper
| mines of this continent They lie here
| IN the roof Of the world. They are
| panama canal and something like 5000
miles from the Strait Of Magellan
| rhey are about 200 miles east of the
| Pacific ocean and 3OO0- odd miles from
the Atlantic. Their actual altitude is
| over $4,000 feet, and one has to go
! ,ver a pass which is 1866 feet above
| ;ea level to reach them. | came here
by the Central railway of Peru. This
brought me over the Andes and down
! o the 12.O0O-foot level at the town of
! Orova. There l got the CerrO de Pas
20 railroad and climbed up the plateau
J 10 where | now am.
Highest Mining Camp in tho World.
Cerro de Pasco is the highest min
| ing town of the world 1t is 5000 or
| 1000 feet above Leadville, and almost
twice as high as Mexico City. There
| are peaks near it which are 10000 feet
high and its surroundings are some of
! the grandest on earth. The town is
right over treasures Of silver and cop
| per of incalculable value. They have
been mining silver here for 800 years,
and that metal Is almost played out.
| rhe outlook is that they will be min
| ing copper for 100 years more, and the
| copper mines are really just at their
beginning. Today the town is like a
| ;reat colander the holes of which are
| he openings of mines. The Spaniards
md Indians have been mining here for
eight generations and now the Ameri-
| ans have bought the most valuable
| deposits and the outlook is that they
| will be mining for many generations
o come.
Silver Mined Centuries Ago.
The story of Cerro de Pasco dates
'ack to 1880. AT that time an Indian
no was watching his llamas and his
heep, had to stay here over night. He
wilt fire on the stones to keep warm
md when he awoke in the morning he
| )und the rocks speckled with glob-
lies of silver which the fire had boil
d out. This story went forth and as
result something like 100000 600
,unces Of silver have been taken out
# these mines. They are mining some
| silver here now and as | rode on mule
back about through the town l could
see great pits large enough to swal-
| ow the Vatican at Rome or our ma
ional capitol at Washington from
which that ore had been taken. The
silver ore comes from a yellowish rock
which lies near the surface. It disin
tegrates easily and much Of it is TAX
en- out in the form OF powder.
The first working was done by the
Spaniards, who used Indian slaves and
logged them to keep them at labor
Later on the mines fell into the hands
If Indian Cholos, and when silver was
high they were owned by capitalists
who paid the miners something like
40 cents day for - hours work, with
IN ounce Of cocoa leaves to keep them
hard on the job. Today the silver ore
md many Of the petty copper PROPOSE
tons are worked by Indians. outside
small mines; and the town Of 10000 is
peppered with holes that one would
hardly dare to go about alone after
dark. The native miners do their
work in the old fashioned way. They
Zig out the best ore with picks and
carry it up ladders in rawhide sacks
on their backs. I saw many piles of
such ore as rode through the city. An
Indian will carry from so to 80 pounds
at load and they are now bringing
the ore out upon ladders from a depth
of 800 feet.
Now Copper Chief Value.
The ore taken out by the Indians is
now largely copper, although most Of
it carries more or less silver. The real
value of the mines is in the copper,
the ore containing more and more cop
per as the mining goes down. The sill
Yer, which near the surface often as
sayed 100 ounces to the ton, has grad
ually fallen in quality until it is now
less than 10. All Of the ore, however,
has more or less gold and silver in it
land the American company finds that
the costs of the mining are paid by the
precious metals, the copper being al
most pure profit The copper is far
richer than that in the mines of the
United States, from which our great
supplies come
1t was the great conner value that