The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-01

provinces. and in the ranges between the
Cauca and Magdalena rivers.
This area covers thousands of so,,.
i'ines ana gold is said to be found where.
e'er .here Is gravel Back in the rnoun-
.ains where the rock has been laid bare
lhere are gold veins everywhere thai
REQUIRE only modern machinery and meth.
ods Tor the extraction of the metal Much
Oh TINS territory has never been exnlore,
except by the Indians There is also gold
IN the department of Narino. borderins
On ecuador, and gold nuggets are found
III ,he gravel beds of all the rivers od
'nat section which flow into the Pacific.
ocean.
one Oh the odd gold finds of Colombia
is connected with the sacred lake o1
1udtaVlta, which lies high up in the
MOUNTAINS TWO miles above sea level
rms lake has a deposit of mud about
30 feet deep at the bottom that is believed
TO contain quantities of gold images.
gold plates and gold dust that were placed
there by the Indian before and since
Columbus discovered America. Accord
ing to the tradition the Indians came to
the shores of the lake and threw in this
gold as offerings to their gods. The
ceremony was performed by the chief,
who first took bath In gold dust HeI
was then rowed upon a raft which was
loaded with gold in various shapes out
to the center of the lake. Here his sub
jects washed the gold dust from his body
and threw the golden offerings into the
water. I have seen golden images att
Panama which are said to have come
from Lake Guatavia. and 1 know that
gold images have been dug up from its
shores for a generation or more From
time to time the Spaniards have tried
to drain the lake by making a cut throush
the mountains. They have always failed,
and now an English company has gotten
concession, and it is slowly making its
way through the mountain walls. |
understand that a great part of the lake
has already been drained, and the treas
ure or the lack of it is soon to be found.
The natives of Colombia claim that
they will some day have the greatest
copper producing country of the world.
Copper ores are now found in five differ
ent states, and there are important copper
about $50 miles from the sea. The river
is navigable for this whole distance, with
the exception of a short stretch of rap
ids The copper there is in low noun
tains bordering the stream. and the min
ing engineers say 1t can be worked at
profit.
The emerald mines of Colombia are said
to be the richest of the whole world.
They belong to the state, and are worked
through concessions or leases. According
to the law. private parties are now pro-
hibited from claiming any emerald they
may discover. and those which have been
already found can only be worked by
paying the government $4,000 a year from
the time the mining begins.
The best emerald mines at present are
those of Muzo about Is miles from Bo-
gotta Here the stones have been deposited
in the bowl of an extinct volcano. They
are dug out of the crater by laborers.
who break the lava along fixed line,
uncovering the trail of green quartz that
contains the crystals. This quartz is then
taken out with great care. The gems
are extracted from the matrx and the
debris falls into a sluiceway where IL
is washed by water dropping down from
the higher planes of the mine. After
the water has drained off the sediment
is searched for emeralds
1t was out of such gravel that the
single emerald ever found, was taken.
That stone weighed little over half a
pound 1t was about two inches long and
averaged two inches in thickness. An
other fine stone which came from Colom-
bia is the Hope emerald, which weighed
six ounces.
The Muzo group of mines is now turii-
ing out over 100000 carats of emeralds
per annum. OF these about 262, 900 carats
are of the first class and about $4,000
of the second class. while there are 9TH
ers of the third and fourth classes. There
is new group of mines now being
worked which it is believed will yield a
half million dollars worth of emeralds
per year.
There Is a tradition that Cortez got an
emerald of the Aztecs that was worth
10000 ducats and that another emerald
the size of an ostrich egg came from
Peru. where the Indians worshiped it as
a goddess.
The first emerald mines here were
opened up by the Spaniards in 154o the
Indians being enslaved in order to work
them After a time, they were closed
and lost to the world. They became hid
den in the Jungle and remained so for
more than hundred years, being dis
covered again only about is years ago