The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1924-01-10
EMERALD CITY OF WORLD
IS COLUMBIAN CAPITAL
INTERESTING FACTS REGARDING
UNIQUE SOUTH AMER
lcAN CAPITAL.

The Princess Snow mines awaits
prince-or will make a prince. Near
ly everyone knows the fairly story of
the unfortunate princess who pricSed
her finger and submerged her castle
in sleep for one hundred years Then
came the prince He hewed down the
brambles. walked the sleeping Snow
White. and they were married and
lived happy ever after
Down in South America lies the
/ Princess Snow White of mines
sleeping says a bulletin from the
Washington. ID. c.. headquarters OF
the National Geographic society
Years and years ago, when tho
Spanish conQuerors still We're in the
land, the west coast of south America
was combed for gold. silver and prec-
ious stones. The state of New era
ma Ia, now Colombia. they found, was
the single source of the jewel most
/ priced by mantle emerald These
/ Spanish masters compelled Indians to
work the mines and bring gems to
Bogota, the capital
emerald lily OF word
"Bogota still is the emerald city of
the world and practically all the Span
ish mines still are being worked. All
except one, the Princess Snow White
of mines, natives say. Years ago the
Coscuez mine, as it is called, was swal-
lowed up by the jungle Now it awaits
the prince to cut away the brambles
The rich Somondoco ledge was a
snow white mine, lost for more than
a hundred years until Is rediscovery
16 years ago. Beside this adventure
shoveling sand for pirate gold is as
prosaic as dish washing. But there
is one condition-nO fairy story is
complete without Il condition-the
mine belongs to the government. The
discoverer can lease it and work ii.
but mining emeralds and salt in Co
lombia are government monopolies.
"Colombia's capital city can Dor
row a phrase from American adver-
Users and truly say If it's an emerald,
it's from Bogota' Many mines are
near the capital, but even the opera
tors in outlying districts trade
lllOubn Alldl CITY 1OEOA1 - ht-
scribed by travellers as 500 miles from
anywhere. But as long as the world
demands emeralds, it cannot forget
Bogota, because 80 per cent of the an
nual supply comes from this single
source.
Found in Volcanic Craters
"Emeralds are a type of beryl.
Crystals of translucent beryl have
been found in New Hampshire weigh
ing as much as two tons, but the
emerald, the purer form, is never large
though it is three times as costly as
diamonds. Like the diamond, emer-
aids are found in old volcanic crater
months. Natives slice away lodges
of rock on the mountain side and
crush it TO get the stones. Operations
in Colombia, though primitive, produce
emeralds valued at S1.O0OOOO every
year A few emeralds are found in
India, Austria and Egypt but none in
Ireland. In Egypt the mine at label
Zaabra that produced emeralds for
Cleopatra is producing some for New
York today. but the Colombian mo-
noply, like the Kimberly combina-
ton, is unchallenged
saint Augustine. Fla, is proud of
being the first city established in
North America by virtue of its found
ing in 1865. But Bogota, the emerald
city, was 90 years old when Saint Au
gustine took its place on the map,
having been founded in 1886 by Cen
Sc ..ff
pointed out TO visitors. Though Be-
gotta is almost on the equator, it has
comfortable climate because it is
perched up on a mountain plateau a
mile and a half above the sea. Be
hind it are two mountain peaks,
crowned also with monasteries.
City of Churches
Colombia has 100000 inhabitants
but its capital has a population of
only $4,000. This is because Bogota
is 500 miles from anywhere. No rail-
road as yet connects the capital with
port on the Atlantic, so a tourist
must travel alternately by boat and
railroad for to 10 days to get to
Bogota. Once there he will find a
quaint, quiet old city, whose restful
atmosphere is not even disturbed by
the noise of a trolley car. A visitors
first impression is that Bogota is
city of churches. However, he will
find that many of the large churches
are headquarters Of government de-
partments, various ministers having
Communicated them for office build
ings The city is built on the noun
tain slope, so the citizens make stream
beds of their street cutters. Swift
mountain creeks are diverted into the
streets which run downhill.
Mystery stories, romances and
tragedies have been written around
famous diamonds. Emeralds can tell
strange stories, too. Princes of India
today are proud of their emeralds. 1t
is believed that many of them were