Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-23

out by the Indians. Just outside La Paz the
Spanards picked up nugget that weighed
80 pounds and was worth $4,000. Last year
a nugget as big as the palm of mans hand
was found near the same place
To these specimens will be added some of
blocks OF ore, weighing three or more tons,
which Bolivia has been showing at Client,
and the whole collection will form one Of the
finest mineral exhibits ever seen at any ex-
position 1t will give fair idea OF the won
derful possibilities of the Andes. These
mountains are highly mineralized through
out their whole length from the Gulf of Da-
ren to the Strait of Magellan The republic
of Colombia at the north has added hum
dreds of millions of dollars worth of silver
and gold to the wealth of the world Ecua-
dor and Peru have produced vast sums, and
also Bolivia and Chile They are now wash
ing gold from the sands at the Strait of
Magellan.
| have already written of the wonderful
copper mines of Cerro de Pasco, that pro-
duced many millions in silver before the sill
yer ore ran into copper. Between the years
of 1880 and 1924 those mines yielded more
for many years they turned out a million
ounces of silver per annum. Indeed, it is
said that $6O0OO,OOO worth of silver has
been taken from under the very ground on
which the town of Cerro de Pasco now
stands. [ doubt not that an equal value in
copper will be produced from the mines now
being worked below where that silver lay.
The greatest OF the silver mines of Bo-
livia have been those of Potosi. There is a
mountain there that has produced more of
that metal than any other place in the whole
world The mines were found about 81
years after Columbus discovered this hem
sphere, and from then on until the nine
teenth century the average product was
more than $12,OOO,OOO year, or S1,OO0,O00
month, for 294 years. The total sum
amounted to over three billions of dollars,
and it is estimated that almost four billions
have been taken out to this day The
mountain of Potosi is now honeycombed
with mines, and the silver ore is largely ex-
hausted but the silver seems to have run
into tin, and a British company is working
the mines for tin, with the silver as by
product In Cerro de Pasco, the silver and
gold mixed with the copper pay all the ex-
penses of the mining, and the copper is pure
gain. 1t will probably be SO with the tin of
Potosi The mines have always shown
great values in tin, but the ignorant miners
threw the tin away They separated it from
the silver, allowing vast quantities Of the
cheaper metal to be washed off by the
streams Potosi mountain has now some
thing like 1000 abandoned silver mines scat
tered over it, and there are hundreds of
these that will soon be worked for silver and
tin ] am told that the mountain also con-
tains copper.
The Huanchaca silver mine has produced
more than 100000 pounds of pure silver,
and the mileage of its underground work
ings is said to be longer than that of any
other silver mine in the world The mines
have recently been equipped with modern
machinery, and a long railroad has been
built to connect them with the smelter at
Antofagasta. Those mines were discovered
in the nineteenth century by poor Span
lard, who for 20 years had hunted for silver
and gold and had found none. AS the story
goes, he was considered especially unlucky
and was laughed and sneered at by all but
the Indians, to whom he was kind The
Huanchaca mine was shown him by an In
dian woman as a reward for his kindness
during her illness, and as result he died a
rich man. More silver was taken out after
his death, and the total product has now
equaled about Sl25,OO0,OO0. The mines are
still yielding They employ altogether
about 5000 workmen, including 1000 wo-