MINES OF THE SIERRA AND OTHER REGIONS
[Illustration: SCENE AT THE BORAX MINES OF AREQUIPA.]
All the world is familiar with stories of the Incas’ splendor and the
viceroys’ luxury, based on the enormous riches of Peruvian mines in past
centuries. Gold and silver seem to have run in streams of never-failing
abundance from the sierras of this wonderful country, their wealth
gleaming in temples dedicated to the worship of the Sun in pre-Columbian
days and forming a pavement for the footsteps of viceregal princes in
the no less flourishing period of colonial Spain. But it is not
generally known that the decline of this abundance was due entirely to
other causes than an exhaustion of the source of supply, and that the
mineral wealth of Peru to-day is, for practical purposes, as great as
ever. The progressive spirit of modern enterprise promises to restore
the prestige once enjoyed by Peru as the richest mining country of the
globe.
The natural development of the mining industry was first arrested when
repeated uprisings of the Indians interfered with its interests,
especially during the latter part of the eighteenth century; and it was
still further checked by the war of Independence, which, although it
brought the blessings of national freedom, left the country in a
condition of political disorder and confusion, with all industry
comparatively at a standstill. The young republic had neither funds nor
experience adequate to meet the needs of industrial development; and,
for many years, political matters held supremacy in the national
councils, to the great detriment of trade and financial well-being.
But when the effects of constitutional liberty began to be apparent in a
more stable government, and the decline of militarism was succeeded by
an increasing interest in economic affairs, the nation turned its
attention to many sources of wealth that had remained practically
unworked for half a century, and the government stimulated this
awakening spirit of enterprise by making laws calculated to encourage
individual endeavor in every branch of industry. The inauguration of the
School of Mines in 1876, and the adoption, the following year, of laws
governing mining property so as to ensure perpetual and irrevocable
ownership, proved of great importance in promoting the mining interests
of the country. Foreign capital was encouraged by the liberal attitude
of the Peruvian government to make large investments in mineral lands of
the sierra, and from this period date many of the extensive foreign
enterprises now established in Peru.
The mining code now in force was promulgated in 1901; it has given
additional impulse to the industry, as, by its terms, every facility is
afforded for the acquirement of mining property, as well as ample
liberty in working it and perfect security in possession. The rights of
the foreigner are the same as those of the Peruvian mine owner, no
distinction of nationality being made in the conditions of ownership. By
the law of 1877, each mining claim is subject to a half-yearly tax of
fifteen soles (seven dollars and fifty cents, gold), which guarantees
possession as long as it is punctually paid. A special law, passed in
1890, further guarantees that, until the year 1915, no new tax can be
imposed on the mining industry or on the export of its products.
A mining claim, or _pertenencia_, is usually marked off in the form of a
parallelogram, one hundred by two hundred metres in area, and is of
indefinite depth. The measurement is made from an angle indicated by the
concessionaire. A _pertenencia_ for a placer-mining property, a platinum
bed, petroleum deposit, tin or coal mine, is measured in the form of a
square of two hundred and thirty metres each side. The maximum of a
single concession is sixty adjoining claims, but any person or company
may solicit as many concessions as desired, though a separate petition
must be made for each, the only charge for this privilege being a stamp
of five soles, which covers the cost, whether the concession is for one
claim or sixty.
Mining property is conceded under the direction of the government,
through the Department of Fomento, in which a general register of mines
is kept, containing a record of all the mining property in the republic
with the names of concessionaires and the extent and locality of their
claims. As an encouragement to the development of mining, the
importation of materials and machinery required in the elaboration of
metals and the construction of railroads for their transportation is
allowed free of custom house duties. The government organized, in 1902,
the Corps of Mining Engineers, whose duties are to promote the mining
interests of Peru by providing the most thorough information obtainable
regarding the geology and mineralogy of the country. Commissions have
been appointed by this organization to explore and examine new regions
and to ascertain their mineral wealth, so as to secure such knowledge
about them as may be necessary in the granting of concessions and the
general exploitation of mining lands. Regular bulletins are published by
the Corps of Mining Engineers, giving the results of these explorations,
their pages being usually illustrated with interesting views of the
regions traversed by the appointed commissions. The School of Mines has
been of invaluable service in promoting a technical knowledge of mining
among the young men of those districts where such an education is of the
greatest importance. Graduates of this school are prepared to assume the
management of a mine, and are qualified to direct the various
departments of mining industry.
[Illustration: HUÁNUCO.]
Although it is not only in the region of the sierra that valuable
minerals are extracted,—since gold placers are worked in the coast
districts of Nasca and Camaná, as well as in the valleys of Sandia and
Carabaya, and elsewhere in the Montaña,—the riches of the Peruvian
Cordilleras are so enormous and so varied that to speak of the sierra
is, of necessity, to refer to its mines. The Nudo of Cerro de Pasco and
the Nudo of Vilcanota especially appear to form storehouses full of vast
treasures of metallic ore; gold, silver, copper, and other mineral
products abound; and the companies now engaged in developing these
regions are daily opening up new properties of increasing importance.
Cerro de Pasco and Yauli are the principal silver and copper mining
districts of Peru. At Cerro de Pasco, nearly every kind of mineral is
found within a radius of a mile. A North American syndicate purchased
the mining properties of this district, the first engineers arriving to
take charge of the property in 1901. The following year the syndicate
bought the concession for the construction of a railway from Oroya to
Cerro de Pasco, the line being completed and opened to traffic in 1904.
This railway is eighty-two miles long, and has a branch twenty-five
miles long to the coal mines, while the switches at the mines and
smelter cover twenty miles more. The road is standard gauge and the
locomotives and cars are of North American manufacture. The original
cost of construction and equipment was about three million dollars. The
work of putting up a smelter and furnaces was completed in 1906, and a
reverberatory and roasting plant is now being installed, which will
greatly increase the production of the establishment. In 1907 the annual
capacity was thirty million pounds of pig-copper, and with the new
improvements it is estimated that the quantity will be nearly doubled.
[Illustration: CAILLOMA MINES, ALTITUDE SEVENTEEN THOUSAND FEET,
DEPARTMENT OF AREQUIPA.]
The mines of Cerro de Pasco have been developed by shafts, the lowest
level being at a depth of over four hundred feet. The present output
supplies the smelter, besides which an ore reserve is accumulated. All
the properties of the company were purchased from small owners, and
include over six hundred claims in the Cerro de Pasco district, besides
about three hundred claims in Goillarisquisga, a few miles to the north,
where valuable coal mines are located, furnishing eight hundred tons of
this fuel daily. New properties have been recently purchased in the
Morococha district, which is rich in copper and silver. In addition to
these mines, the company owns the Paria estate at Cerro de Pasco,
covering seventy thousand acres, which is used for pasturage and dairy
purposes. A considerable population is supported by the various
enterprises of the company, five hundred men being employed on the
railway, sixteen hundred in the smelter, a thousand in the silver and
copper mines and fifteen hundred in the coal mines. The syndicate has
spent about eighteen million dollars on all these properties, including
the cost of improvements and development, and is now in possession of
one of the most valuable mining districts of the world.
[Illustration: CARMEN SHAFT, CERRO DE PASCO MINES.]
The “Opulent City of Cerro de Pasco,” as it was entitled by a supreme
decree of 1840, is a typical town of the Peruvian sierras. It was
founded by the Viceroy Amat in 1771, and became one of the most
important towns of the Intendencia of Tarma, which, under the colonial
government, embraced the present Departments of Junín, Huánuco, and
Ancash. Cerro de Pasco was made the capital of the Department of Junín
in 1851; the cities of Jauja, Tarma, and Huancayo shared with it the
prestige of political centres, being provincial capitals. Jauja,
unsurpassed as a sanatorium, and destined to become a famous health
resort, is one of the oldest towns of Spanish-America, having been
founded by the conquerors before the site of Lima was selected for the
capital of Peru. Tarma, founded about the same time as Jauja, is rich in
minerals and claims additional importance from its situation on the
highway of travel between Lima and Iquitos.
In the districts of Yauli and Huarochiri, which rank next in importance
to Cerro de Pasco, silver and copper are also the principal metals
extracted, though lead is an important product. Smelters and other
establishments for the elaboration of gold, silver, and copper, have
been installed at these places, the works at Casapalca, in the Yauli
district, being especially notable. For some classes and grades of
minerals, the process of smelting is followed, while in the treatment of
others concentration is adopted. Yauli is located on the line of the
Oroya railway, in the province of Tarma, Department of Junín, and
Huarochiri lies a few leagues to the south, in the Department of Lima.
Both these mining districts are worked at an altitude of twelve thousand
feet or more. In the same region of the sierra are situated the
silver-mining centres of Castrovireina, Huallanca, and Cajatambo, in the
Departments of Huancavelica, Huánuco, and Ancash; and farther north, in
La Libertad and Cajamarca, are the mines of Salpo and Hualgayoc, which
are rich in silver ores.
Everywhere in the Andean region silver is found, though it is usually
mixed with copper or lead. Most of the silver ore in the Cerro de Pasco
district is of a reddish color, due to the oxide of iron it contains;
the Peruvian miners give it the name of _cascajo_, or gravel. The copper
ores, like the silver, appear in combination with other metals, veins of
copper containing usually some silver and gold. In Ancash, Ica, and
Arequipa, in the coast zone, these copper deposits are also found, and
new smelting establishments have been installed in these departments
which are contributing to increase the output of copper ore. New copper
mines have been explored in the provinces of Jauja, Pasco, and
elsewhere, and prove to be rich in ores. The industry is in a more
promising condition than it has ever been. Petitions for concessions of
mining property are constantly reaching the government, a favorable
augury for the future development of this valuable resource. Lead exists
in large quantities in Yauli, Huarochiri, and several districts of
Ancash and Cuzco.
[Illustration: THE INCA MINING COMPANY’S OFFICES AT SANTO DOMINGO, BUILT
OF MAHOGANY.]
[Illustration: THE MAIN STREET OF CERRO DE PASCO.]
The Nudo of Vilcanota embraces an extensive mining region to the north
and west of Lake Titicaca; and the veins of precious metals follow the
course of the Cordilleras, which, after separating, form the Nudo of
Cerro de Pasco. The Cailloma mines, in Arequipa, and those of the
Lucanas district, in Ayacucho,—both rich in silver,—are located in the
western range, while those of Cuzco belong to the eastern and central
Cordilleras. Puno lies in the heart of a vast mineral region; in its
provinces some of the most productive mines of Peru are to be found. The
Inca Mining Company, in which more than a million dollars of North
American capital is invested, has developed gold mines of enormous value
in the province of Carabaya, supplying about nine-tenths of the gold
coined in Peru, and having a monthly output amounting in value to ten
thousand pounds sterling. The history of this enterprise is an
interesting sequel to the record of gold-mining in colonial days.
During the period of the viceroyalty, the gold mines of the province of
Puno produced vast wealth, the viceroy once sending as a gift to Charles
V. a nugget that weighed a hundred pounds, taken from San Juan del Oro;
and one of his successors presented to Philip IV. another famous nugget,
shaped like a man’s head and of great size. When the Indians revolted
against Spanish authority a few years before the war of the
Independence, those of Carabaya and Sandia joined the rebel ranks and
slaughtered their masters, hoping to be relieved from the hard work of
the mines. This uprising, and the war of Independence that followed,
caused the mining industry to be totally neglected until the middle of
the last century, when a party of explorers looking for cascarilla bark
found gold in the bed of the Challuma River, and a rush followed, which
lasted for two or three years. During that time several million dollars’
worth of gold was taken out, and a nugget weighing over four pounds was
presented to General Castilla, then president of Peru. But the system of
mining employed was primitive and, after the first excitement passed,
only a few gold-diggers remained, the mines from that time being worked
on a small scale until the Inca Mining Company purchased the Santo
Domingo property a few years ago and set up a large establishment.
[Illustration: A MINING TOWN OF THE PUNA.]
The discovery of the Santo Domingo gold mine was made by a Peruvian, Don
Manuel Estrada, but it was the enterprising spirit of two North American
prospectors, Chester Brown and Wallace Hardison, which led to its being
exploited on a large scale. Mr. Hardison had seen, in Lima, samples of
rich ore that had been found in Carabaya, and he was not long in making
his way to the goldfields to investigate further. He was joined by Mr.
Brown and they went to Santo Domingo together, starting from the
Southern railway terminus at Juliaca on muleback, accompanied by their
guides, and having with them a number of llamas laden with provisions
and blankets. Both courage and faith were required to follow up a trail
in such a rugged, mountainous country as that over which the Americans
travelled. Part of the route was across the high sierra, sixteen
thousand feet above sea level, where the riders could look on a sea of
clouds rolling below, while the sun blazed down from a sky of wonderful
blue. Only those who have travelled on these heights know how clear are
the skies and how piercing is the white light of the sun at these
altitudes. When there is no sun, the weather is freezing cold. The
wealth of the Santo Domingo mine was apparent to the prospectors from
the first, and the Inca Mining Company was organized at once with
capital to purchase the property.
[Illustration: LLAMAS AND DONKEYS AWAITING CARGO AT CERRO DE PASCO.]
The Inca Mining Company established headquarters at Tirapata, on the
Southern railway between Juliaca and Cuzco, and immediately began to
develop their mining property. A concession was obtained from the
Peruvian government, under which the company built a wagon road from
Tirapata to Santo Domingo, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. In
return for opening up the country in this way, the company received
about two thousand acres for every mile of wagon road completed. The
route lies almost due north for seventy miles, from Tirapata to Crucero,
passing the small towns of Asillo and San Anton, in the midst of
excellent grazing lands for sheep and alpacas. Crucero, which was once
the capital of Carabaya province, is also the centre of a pastoral
district. A few miles beyond Crucero the road crosses the Aricoma Pass
at an altitude of sixteen thousand feet, and then begins the descent of
the eastern slope of the Andes to Limbani, which marks the beginning of
the timber line and the limit of established government authority. From
this point the journey is made at times through the virgin forest and
always through a region little frequented by the white man. Agualani
Station is the next stopping place, where travellers find sleeping
accommodations. After leaving this place, the road crosses the Inambari
River at La Oroya, over a bridge three hundred feet long, and a few
hours’ riding brings one to Santo Domingo. The administration house of
the company at Santo Domingo is built of solid mahogany and fitted up
with all modern comforts. Here in the heart of the forest, hundreds of
miles from a railway, are to be found the conveniences of electric
lights, hot baths, electric fans, and other comforts supposed to belong
only to the favored residents of a great metropolis. The employés have a
tennis court, and a telephone connects Santo Domingo with Tirapata,
which has telegraphic communication with the other cities of the
republic and, through them, with the outside world. Modern mining
machinery has been put up at Santo Domingo, at great cost of labor and
money; three years were consumed in getting the stamp mill to the mines.
A few miles beyond Santo Domingo the rubber country begins, through
which the company has built a road to the Madre de Dios, as elsewhere
described. In the same region in which the Inca Mining Company’s
properties are located are the mines of Montebello and the Lavaderos de
Oro, famous in colonial times. The Lavaderos de Oro mines are in
Carabaya, the streams of which are nearly all gold-bearing. The
Rinconada Mining Company of North America, with a capital of two million
dollars, is working rich properties in the districts of Poto and Quiaca,
province of Sandia.
There is not a single Department of Peru in which gold has not been
found, though in many districts its mining is still among the primitive
industries, the Indians washing it out of the streams that drain their
_communidades_, and using the nuggets and gold dust as a medium of
exchange. It is not unusual for an Indian of the Marañon, Sandia,
Urubamba, or other valleys, to offer a little sack of gold nuggets in
payment for his tobacco and similar luxuries purchased in the stores of
interior towns. A curious process of placer-mining has long existed
among the Indians, which is supposed to be the origin of one of their
popular sayings that “in Peru one can sow stones and harvest gold.” It
is still in vogue in some districts, and consists in laying flat stones
along the bed of a gold-bearing river during the dry season, in such a
way that, when the rains come and the mountain streams bring down in
their current the precious gravel, these nuggets are caught in the
spaces between the stones and held there. When the river falls, or
disappears, as it does in many cases during the dry season, the Indian
sower of stones reaps his harvest of gold.
[Illustration: OLD CHURCH IN THE MINING TOWN OF CAILLOMA.]
The question of transportation has hitherto been such a very important
factor in determining whether mining properties were worth developing or
not, that some rich deposits have been allowed to remain untouched, and
regions known to abound in valuable metals have been only partly
explored, on account of the difficulty and expense attending any effort
to penetrate beyond a certain radius, accessible to the railways. In
this connection, the work of the Corps of Mining Engineers has proved of
inestimable value, their surveys extending to every region, so that they
are rapidly effacing from the map of Peru its _Territorio inexplorado_.
Every expedition sent into the interior returns with fresh information
regarding the country’s mineral resources; and deposits, hitherto
unknown to exist, have been brought to light under the investigations of
scientific commissions.
[Illustration: MINERS ARRIVING AT AN INN IN THE SIERRA.]
In colonial days, Peru was famous for its quicksilver deposits, and the
mine of Santa Barbara in the Department of Huancavelica, was the centre
of this industry, which was of great service in facilitating the
amalgamation of silver ores. The history of Huancavelica is one of the
most interesting pages in the mining records of Peru, the quicksilver
mines of this region being, in the time of the viceroyalty, the richest
in the world. Cinnabar has been proved to exist in abundance for thirty
miles around the Santa Barbara mine, in as many as fifty hills of the
neighborhood. Veins of this red sulphuret of mercury are also found in
the Departments of Cajamarca, Huánuco, Junín, Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno,
and it has been worked in various mines. The mineral production of
Huancavelica is undergoing a revival, and a new era of prosperity is
dawning for this historic district.
The discovery of large deposits of bituminous and anthracite coal is
regarded as of particular importance in a country where it is required
so generally for mining purposes. The exploitation of this mineral is
just beginning to show results, the mines of Goillarisquisga being the
most important. Anthracite coal is found in Ancash, La Libertad, and
other departments; in Cuzco are beds of coal containing the trunks of
trees perfectly carbonized. Along the lower banks of the Ucayali River,
and in various districts of Puno, lignite exists in considerable
quantities. Peat is abundant, especially in Junín, where it is known as
_champa_. It is used a great deal throughout this region, and is a
combustible of great value.
With gold, silver, copper, and coal as the basis of her mineral wealth,
Peru has numerous other deposits which, once developed, must yield a
large revenue. Already the petroleum wells of Tumbes, Piura, and Puno
give promise of producing great wealth, and new discoveries of this
liquid bitumen are continually being made. It is found at Chimbote and
near Casma,—both in Ancash Department,—and it abounds in the district of
Palpa, in Ica. Jauja, Huancavelica, and Cuzco also have petroleum
deposits, and there are evidences of its presence in several other
districts. Foreign capital is already invested in this field, which is
apparently of vast productiveness. The two principal centres of the
industry at present are in the northern coast region—especially at
Tumbes and Piura—and in the vicinity of Like Titicaca, in the district
of Pusi, Department of Puno. There are two petroleum refineries in Peru,
and these are but the forerunners of more extensive establishments. The
Titicaca Oil Company sank eight wells in the Department of Puno, in five
of which oil was struck, and the industry has attracted the attention of
capitalists who are prepared to develop it on a large scale.
[Illustration: SAN JULIAN MINE, CASTROVIRREINA.]
In Tumbes and Piura, great masses of sulphur have been found almost on
the surface of the soil, and the beds are being worked by a rich
company. The mineral contains fifty per cent of sulphur, and when
elaborated the product is ninety-eight pure. The coast country is rich
in mineral salts, especially of soda, magnesia, etc.; chloride of sodium
is found in Morrope, in the Department of Lambayeque, and saltpetre
exists not only in the provinces of the coast but in Cajamarca and other
interior departments. There are important beds of borax in several of
the southern states, those of Arequipa yielding large quantities of this
useful product. The borax beds of Arequipa were discovered in 1893 by
Don Juan Manuel de Escurra, who formed a company for their exploitation,
the enterprise being now in the hands of a large syndicate, the Borax
Consolidated Limited, which has an extensive establishment, with all
modern improvements, including twelve reverberatory ovens for drying the
borax. The Laguna de Salinas, where the borax is found, lies just west
of Arequipa on the pampa between the Misti and the Pichu-Pichu.
[Illustration: THE MINING TOWN OF CASAPALCA, DEPARTMENT OF LIMA.]
Iron is met with in almost every mining district of Peru. In the
province of Calca, in Cuzco, mines have been discovered containing iron
with a grade of eighty per cent pure metal. They have been little worked
owing to the expense connected with their exploitation. Nickel abounds
in the northern districts of Ayacucho; mica of superior quality has
recently been found in one of the coast provinces of Arequipa; bismuth
exists in various districts, and Junín has deposits of bismuth-ochre
containing forty per cent of bismuth. Molybdenum, which is constantly
increasing in demand for amalgamating purposes, is exploited in Jauja
and Cerro de Pasco; and, in the neighboring Department of Ayacucho,
iron, manganese, and wolfram are taken out of the mines of Lircay. It
would be difficult to name a mineral that is not to be found somewhere
in Peru; and its marbles, granites, and other fine stones are of the
highest value for architectural and constructive work. Kaolin, cement,
and other clays for ceramic purposes are abundant, and may be utilized
in manufacturing the finest pottery and porcelains. The ancient
Peruvians had the secret of making their urns and vases of pottery so
very light in weight as to be remarkable for this feature among all the
ancient potteries; one of the tests used by experts in determining
whether the _huacas_ that are sold as antiques in the Lima stores are
genuine or false consists in weighing the article, the modern imitators
being unable to produce a pottery as light as the original.
The exports from Peruvian mines show increasing development of the
mining industry annually. The production of silver last year amounted to
about five million dollars in value, and of copper to a little over that
amount; petroleum was taken out to the value of a million and a half
dollars, gold of a million dollars, and other minerals in paying
quantities. During 1907, the Cerro de Pasco mine shipped ten thousand
tons of copper, more than a third of all that South America exported to
the United States that year, and the output for 1908 is estimated at
fifteen thousand tons. It is predicted that the ultimate copper output
of Cerro de Pasco will reach fifty thousand tons.
[Illustration: HEADQUARTERS OF THE CERRO DE PASCO MINING COMPANY AT
CERRO DE PASCO.]
[Illustration: THE PICTURESQUE CURVE OF SAN BARTOLOMÉ, OROYA ROUTE.]