The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-30
ocopyrighted, 1914 by Frank G. carpen-
oruro. Bolivia

Oruro. Bolivia. T~1 IN is now king in Bolivia. This
 country once produced one-third @ of all the silver mined in the lSkSsSW world. It is now turning out more than one-fourth of all the tin, ane it has such vast deposits of that mineral that il 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 It is mined on the high slopes about Lake Titicaca, and there are great tin deposits in the main ranges or the Cordillera Real and it's numerous spurs Right here in the heart of the Bolivian plateau. eight hours ride by train from La Paz, is q tin mine. out of which they have been taking the ore for generations. The mine has tunnel that starts into st out of the very heart of the city, and one has to walk through this less than half a mile before he comes to the workings. These have been extended to depth of roo feet, with solid tin all the way. No one knows how far down the 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 lay CTS 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 1 visited this mine. Back of the buildings containing the machinery of it's main works are Gfn a aA nj of valuable ore The mounds look like gravel. They are the waste of the mine having only about l 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 pro dnce the shine one finds on a new dish pan or wash boiler.
 spent some time watching the In dian women at work. The ore comes out In chunks, some of which are 10 times as big your hand The women break the chunks into pieces with heavy steel hammers and pick out the bits that contain 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 uncomfortable in- SectS. They are nluSculdr. Jnelr con tinual pounding gives them large arms and they are noted for the size of their biceps They keep at the job from day light to dark, and their earnings are about 50 cents of our money They are paid by the amount that they do, and il was with difficulty that l got them to stop work and pose for my pictures.
 Nearly all of these girls were chew ing coca and their cheeks were swelled out by the fat quids inside them. While I waited some of the miners came out and I photographed them I asked as to wages and they told me they were paid about 50 cents for 10 or II hours work underground. The men are brought up in the mines and are skilled in the hand ling of ore.
 The mining company that owns this mountain of minerals has three differ ent properties. all of which are produc- ing silver and tin. It has hundreds of miners and keeps 250 women at work The Oruro mines have always paid we'll and today they are producing good dividends. l visited them when I was here some years ago before the rail- road to La Paz had yet been constructed. The fuel then used was the ilama man. ure. brought in by caravans from all over the country.
 It took four tons of that stuff to run tDe 10 horse power engine 24 hours, and l remember going with one of the managers of the mine into the pit where the fuel was stored. It then contained 15O,OOO pounds of llama dropings. The stuff looked like gray bullets or gravel; it was as dry as bone and gave forth smell.
 Today the company is using coal at a