Omaha daily bee., 1914-02-01

90 have come from Lake Guatsvita, and I
know that gold imnscs have been dug up
from its shores for generation or
more From time 20 time the Spaniards
have tried 90 drain the lake by making
cut through tho mountains. They have
always failed, and now an English com
pany has gotten a concession, and IL is
slowly making It's way through the noun
tain walls, In understand that q great
part OF the lake has already been
drained, and the treasure or the lack OF
It is soon TO bc found
Copper aud EmcraIds.
The natives of Colombia claim that they
viii some day have the greatest copper
producing country In the world. Copper
ores are now found In five different
states, and there are important copper de-
nosits right on the Magdalena river, about
40 miles from the sea. The river is navi-
gable for this whole distance with the
exception of short stretch OF rapids
Tho copper there Is i'm low mountains
bordering the stream, and the mining
engineers cay It can be worked at a
profit.
The emerald mines OF Colombia are said
20 be the richest OF the whole world, They
belong TO tho state, ana are worked
through concessions or leases. According
TO the law, private parties are now pro-
hiblteG from claiming any emerald mine
they may discover, and thuso which have
been already found can only he worked
by paying the government S6ooo0 a year
from the time the mining begins.
The best emerald mines at present are
those OF Muzo, about seventy-flye miles
from Bogota, Here tho stones have been
deposited In the bowl OF an extinct vol
oano, They are dug out Of the crater
BY laborers, who break the lava a,ong
a fixed line, unoovoring the trail OF green
quarts that contains the crystals, This
quartz ls then taken out with great care.
The gems are extracted from the matrlx
and tho debris falls into a sluceway
where II Is washed by water dropping
down from the higher planes Of the mine.
After the water has drained off the sed-
ment 10 searched for emeralds.
Some Prise Gems.
II was out OF such gravel that the Duke
of Devonshire, the most valuable single
emerald ever found, was taken. That
stone weighed little over half q pound
II was about two inches long and aver
AGED two inches In thickness. Another
fine stone which came from Colombia is
the Hope emerald, which weighed six
ounces,
The Muzo group OF mines is now turn.
ing out over 100000 carats OF emeralds
per annum OF these about a6a OO0 carats
are Of the first class and 100000 Of the
second class, while there are others oI
the third and fourth classes There is q
new group OF mines now being worked
which II is believed will yield a half mil
lions dollars worth OF emeralds per year
There is a tradition that Cortez got an
emerald Of the Azteos that was worti
$1,000 ducats, and that another emerald
the size OF an ostrich egg came from
Peru where the Indians warshiped Il Al
a goddess,
| The first emerald mines here wers
opened up by the Spaniards I'm 1b40 th,
Indians being enslaved in order tC
work them. After a time they wer,
closed and lost to the world They be
came hidden in the jungle and re,
mained so for more than hundred years
being discovered again only about six,
teen years ago.
FRANK q. CARPENTER