The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-22

tcopyright, 1914, by Frank G. carpenter).

Copyright, 1914, by Frank c. Carpenter).
 Cerro De Pasco. Peru.
 -HAVE come to the top of the Andes to tell you about the
 greatest copper mines of this Ikxf$SI continent. They lie here on the roof of the world. They are more than 200 miles south of the Panama canal and something like 3o00 miles from the Strait of Magellan They are about 200 miles east of the Pacific ocean and 300o-odd miles from the Atlantic. Their actual altitude is over 14ooO feet, and one has tc go over q pass which is 15,665 feet above sea level to reach them. l came here by the Central railway of Peru. This brought me over the Andes and down to the 12,ooO-foot level at the town of oroya. There I got the Cerro de Pas co railroad and climbed up the plateau to where 1 now am.
 Cerro de Pasco is the highest mining town of the world. 1t is three or four thousand feet above Leadville. and all most twice as high as Mexico City. There are peaks near it which are 2o,oo0 feet high, and it's surroundings are some of the grandest on earth. The town is right over treasures of silver and copper of incalculable value. They have been min ing silver here for 300 years and that metal is almost played out The out look is that they will be mining copper for 100 years more, and the copper mines gre really just at their beginning. To- cay the town is like ii great coander, the holes of which are the openings of mines The Spaniards and Indians have been mining here for eight generations. and now the Americans have bought the most valuable deposits and the outlook is that they will be mining for many generations to come
 The story of Cerro de Pasco dates back to 1630. At that time an Indian who was watching his llamas and sheep, had to stay here over night He built fire on the stones to keep warm and when he awoke in the morning ne found the rocks specked with globules of silver which the fire had boiled out. This story went forth and as a result something like 5O0000,000 ounces of silver have been taken out of these mines. They are mining some silver here now and as I rode on mule back about through the town I could see great pits large enough to swallow the Vatican at Rome or our national capitol at Washington from which that ore had been taken. The silver ore comes from a yellowish rock which lies near the sur face It disintegrates easily, and much of it is taken out in the form of a powder.
 The first working was done by the Spaniards, who used Indian slaves and fogged them to keep them at labor. La ter on the mines fell into the hands of they were owned by capitalists who paid the miners something like 40 cents day for F hours work, with an ounce of coca leaves to keep them hard on the job. Today the silver ore and many of the petty copper propositions are worked Inv Indians Outside the American hold ings there are many small mines; and the town of 30,000 is so peppered with holes that one would hardly dare to go about alone after dark. The native min CTS do their work in the old-fashioned ra, They dig 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 I rode through the city. An Indian will carry from 60 to so pounds al a load and they are now bringing the ore out upon ladders from depth of 900 feet.