ORURO AND ITS PROSPEROUS MINES
During the colonial period Oruro was the second great mining centre
of Alto Peru, ranking next to Potosí in the wealth of its mines and
the luxury and extravagance of its inhabitants. The _fiestas_,
pageants, and tourneys of the Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria
frequently rivalled in splendor those of the Villa Imperial itself,
and the population increased so rapidly in consequence of a continuous
development of mineral wealth that, from a hundred inhabitants at the
time of its foundation in 1604, the city grew to number seventy-six
thousand residents in 1678.
[Illustration: COAT OF ARMS OF ORURO.]
The earliest history regarding Oruro is found in pre-Columbian records
which state that several Incas visited this locality, and that it was
an important centre of population in the province of Collasuyo. The
great Pachacutec, who is generally considered the most noted of the
Peruvian emperors after Manco-Ccapac, made Oruro his place of residence
for some months while conducting expeditions to various sections of the
Aymará province. The Spaniards passed very close to this settlement
when they first invaded Collasuyo and founded the city of Paria, three
or four leagues distant, but it was not until 1595 that its existence
was discovered by the conquerors, when a curate named Don Francisco de
Medrano, who had been told by the Indians of the mineral wealth of this
neighborhood, found his way to the little pueblo of Oruro, or Uru-uru,
meaning “whence comes the light,” and established here his authority
as its first _alcalde_. As previously stated, the city was not
officially founded until some years later, when, according to the
interesting old document which is still preserved in the archives of
the city, the ceremony was performed under the authority of Don Manuel
Castro y Padilla, who represented His Catholic Majesty King Philip III.
The occasion was one of great importance to the new colony, and the
official services were marked by extreme formality, beginning with the
celebration of mass and the unfurling of the royal standard, while a
choir of priests sang the hymn of _Veni Sancte Spiritus_, and the
site of the new municipality was blessed with solemn consecration.
The standard was thrice raised during the naming of the city: “The
very noble and loyal city of San Felipe de Austria, for the King Don
Philip our sovereign and for his successors in the Crown of Castile and
Leon and Peru, whom may God keep for many years.” As was the custom
upon such occasions, a gallows was immediately set up in token of the
royal possession. Oruro sustained well the dignity of a royal city,
christened with imposing rites, and in the social and political events
of the colonial period took a conspicuous part, the citizens being
especially renowned for their hospitality, which was lavishly shown
upon the noted occasions when high political and church authorities
from Spain visited this prominent centre of colonial wealth.
Not only did Oruro count among the richest and most important
cities of the viceroyalty of Peru, but it early became noted for
the independent character of its citizens, who were among the first
to raise the standard of revolution against the tyranny of Spanish
rule, and to whose valiant and loyal efforts some of the most noted
victories of the Independence were due. Since the inauguration of
the republic the city has twice been honored by a supreme decree of
eulogy, the first qualifying it as “heroic and intrepid, deserving the
national admiration,” and the second, as “first city savior of the
institutions.” Congress has held sessions here upon several occasions,
and, in recent years especially, the city has been constantly advancing
in commercial as well as in political importance.
Although Oruro has a severe climate, due to its situation on the
high plateau, at an altitude of about twelve thousand five hundred
feet above sea level, exposed to strong southwest winds, which in
July, August, and September are sometimes veritable hurricanes;
it is healthful, and those who live there, foreigners as well as
natives, find it agreeable, except during the worst season. There
are many foreign residents in Oruro, English, German, French, and
North American, who have established very comfortable homes and have
organized several clubs. The chief activity of the town centres in the
principal plaza and in the streets branching from it in all directions.
Owing to the great altitude and the exposure of the city to cold winds,
vegetation has not shown any great development in this district, and
the city itself presents a rather dull aspect without the adornment
of trees and shrubs. But the plaza is well paved and makes a pleasant
promenade, and during the favorable season band concerts are frequently
held here. Some of the more important buildings face the plaza, such
as the University, the Government House, and others, though there are
large and well-built edifices on all the principal streets. The Spanish
style of architecture prevails, and houses are generally of one or two
story construction. To the North American the aspect of long rows of
buildings of one or more stories in height is particularly foreign,
and at first sight disappointing, as it seems to indicate lack of
enterprise or of prosperity. But a visit to one of these modest-looking
houses is often a surprising revelation, as they make up in surface
space what they lack in height, and sometimes cover a remarkably large
area, with their _patios_ and corridors. The churches, hospitals,
and schools are commodious buildings, and the city has a theatre, a
mineralogical museum, and a public library.
The rapid increase of production in the mines of the department of
Oruro has contributed to make its capital an important industrial
centre; and as the new system of railways provides for several branches
from this point to the eastern and southern cities of the republic,
its growing fame as a rich entrepôt for the valuable mineral products
of neighboring departments will make it still better known as one of
the great mining centres of the world. The present population of the
city is about eighteen thousand inhabitants, though it is increasing
annually since the exploitation of tin has attracted many people to
this department and to its chief city.
[Illustration: MAIN PLAZA, ORURO.]
The department of Oruro covers fifty thousand square kilomètres, and is
divided into four provinces, Cercado, Carangas, Poopo, and Abaroa, each
of them rich in minerals and renowned for their splendid contributions
to the royal treasury during colonial times. At one time five thousand
mines were in operation in this department alone, and it is recorded
that during the three years preceding the Independence its mining taxes
to the Crown amounted to forty million dollars. The Socavón de la
Virgen, San José, Huanuni, Negro Pabellón, Morococala, and Antequera,
which now chiefly represent rich mines of tin, were, centuries ago,
the sites of important silver mines, the tin being held of such little
value that it was rarely extracted. The Socavón de la Virgen is
situated close to the city of Oruro, at the foot of the neighboring
_cerro_, and it is still rich in silver as well as in tin. It has
the distinction of being one of the oldest mines in Bolivia, having
been the first exploited by the curate Don Francisco de Medrano,
when he discovered and settled in the Aymará pueblo of the Serrania
Uru-Uru, at the foot of the Cerro Pie de Gallo, or cock’s foot. The
Compañía Minera de Oruro now owns this mine, which is provided with
modern machinery, the establishment for the treatment of its ores being
situated at Machacamarca, where both silver and tin are extracted by
the amalgamation and lixiviation processes.
The San José mine is situated two miles from the city of Oruro, in a
sheltered slope of the _serrania_, where a very busy little town
has grown up to mark the site occupied four hundred years ago by an
Indian settlement. The town of San José is a typical mining pueblo,
containing about two thousand inhabitants, and on feast days it is a
scene of great revelry. Like all towns of the plateau, it has scanty
vegetation, and the people supply all the brightness there is in the
landscape. Photography is inadequate to give a correct picture of these
gorgeous spectacles, which depend so much on the “color scheme” for
their effectiveness. The town of San José is lighted by electricity
and has several modern improvements. This mine has always produced
silver, and is still worked on a small scale for that metal, though the
mining of tin is usurping the silver industry here as elsewhere. Modern
machinery is used in the mine, which has twin vertical shafts of nine
hundred and seventy feet in depth, that are worked from the surface
by a steam engine of two cylinders. The principal square is situated
in the centre of the working region of the mine, and is one thousand
feet deep. It is served by a Robey engine of forty horse power. The
_socavón_, or entering passage, which is three hundred feet long,
with walls and roof of hewn stone, is without a rival of its kind in
South America. The equipment for this mine is said to have cost one
hundred and fifty thousand bolivianos. Machinery for the treatment of
tin ores has been set up in the _ingenios_, and in 1902 the new
Wetherill machine was adopted for the electro-magnetic treatment of
ores. The mine yields about fifty-five thousand dollars monthly in
silver and tin, the ores being shipped over the private railway of
the owners to the _ingenio_, where the silver ore is treated by
lixiviation, and the tin ore by concentration and smelting. About one
thousand workmen are employed in the San José mine, those above ground
working the customary ten hours a day, and those inside the mine eight
hours a day. The mine is provided with water brought in pipes from a
stream twelve miles away. The water taken out of the mine is deposited
in tanks to be used in the concentration of the tin ores.
The mines of Antequera, as well as that of San José, are still worked
for silver, though the principal attention is given to tin mining.
Antequera was famous during the colonial period for rich lodes of
silver, and they have yielded millions of dollars of this precious
metal under the republic, though now they are exploited chiefly for
tin. Several large companies are engaged in developing the mines, most
of which are fitted up with modern improvements, the _ingenios_
being equipped with the best machinery for the elaboration of the
ores. All the Antequera mines are located in the vicinity of Poopo,
on the Antofagasta and Oruro Railway, where there are several large
_ingenios_. Poopo is a thriving little town of three thousand
inhabitants, with considerable commercial movement, being the nearest
railroad centre for a large territory. The extent and importance of the
mining industry in this section is illustrated by the fact that one
company is under contract to deliver two thousand quintals, about two
hundred thousand pounds, of metal daily to the railroad, to be carried
to the _ingenio_ of Bella Vista, in consideration of which the
railway has extended its line to this establishment, passing through
Antequera.
[Illustration: SAN JOSÉ, ORURO.]
Huanuni is said to contain the richest tin mines in the department of
Oruro. It is situated fifteen miles from the station of Machacamarca,
on the Antofagasta and Oruro Railway, and can be reached by diligence,
as there is a good coach road. The beautiful Cerro of Pozocani, in
which the mines of Huanuni are located, is conical in form, not unlike
the noble Potosí, and rises to a height of ten thousand feet above
the neighboring _quebrada_. It is crossed by innumerable lodes
and veins, which have been worked on a large scale and are still
yielding enormous riches. The Cataricagua vein, now under exploitation,
produced one thousand one hundred and ninety-two tons of bar tin, of
two thousand two hundred and forty pounds per ton, in 1905, the value
of bar tin being about one hundred pounds sterling per ton, though
the market price varies, sometimes reaching one hundred and fifty
pounds sterling per ton. The Cataricagua vein varies in width from
two to eight feet, and the quality of tin is uniformly good, selected
ore containing fifty per cent oxide, while the poorest quality yields
twenty per cent. The washings which remain after the ores have been
treated are put through a second process, and are found to contain
about five per cent oxides. In some instances, selected ore yields
as much as sixty-five per cent tin, without concentration, and the
washings yield fifteen per cent. The company which is operating this
mine has ten crushers and several automatic strainers and rotatory
tables for the concentration of the ores by the Cornish system.
[Illustration: MINERS’ HOLIDAY AT SAN JOSÉ, ORURO.]
The treatment of nearly all tin ores in Bolivia is limited to
grinding and concentration, the product being exported in the form
of sand _barrilla_, containing an average of sixty-four per
cent of metallic tin, or, as in the case of some of the Potosí
mines previously mentioned, in the form of bars. The mines of Negro
Pabellón, Morococala, and Vilacollo form a group about ten miles north
of Huanuni, in the vicinity of Paria. Negro Pabellón is especially
noted for the superior quality of its tin and for the facility with
which the ores are treated. The principal lode is about three feet
in width, and is crossed by several smaller veins, rich pockets of
the valuable metal being found at the various points of intersection.
The _barrillas_ obtained from the concentration of these ores
contain more than seventy per cent tin. In the Morococala mine, the
ores yield a good grade of tin, the principal lode measuring in some
places from twelve to fifteen feet in width, and containing very rich
oxides. Vilacollo is situated a short distance from Morococala, in a
_cerro_ of the same name. It was formerly a rich silver mine, and
has produced great quantities of both silver and tin. Though the lodes
contain continuous veins of hard tin ore of different widths up to two
feet, and, owing to the extreme hardness, difficulties are encountered
in extracting this metal, yet, on the other hand, veins are met with
which contain kidneys and grains interposed, and these are worked with
profit, while the tin pyrites are treated for the extraction of the
metal by first being calcined and then crushed and put through the
concentration process. About ten miles south of Huanuni, the tin mines
of Challa-Apacheta are notable for the great width of the principal
lode, which measures from twenty-five to thirty feet in places, though
the ore is not so rich as in thinner veins, owing to the mixture of
gravel and clay.
[Illustration: MINE OF SAN JOSÉ, ORURO.]
Berenguela, which is situated about fifty miles east of Oruro on
the heights to the south of the Quebrada de Arque, is said by some
authorities to possess a quality of tin not excelled by any other
mines in Bolivia. Although it belongs to the province of Cochabamba,
all the metal is exported through Oruro, the mines being located about
midway between the two departmental capitals. The Spaniards worked
the mines for silver, but it is only within a few years that its rich
tin mines have been exploited to any extent, the silver veins of
this Cerro being distinct from those which contain tin in abundance.
The hydraulic machinery used in operating the mines is established
about three-quarters of a mile away where an abundant water supply is
obtained. There is a town called Berenguela in the province of Pacajes,
in the department of La Paz, near the border of Oruro, where alabaster
is found, and these places are frequently confounded with each other.
Every province of the department of Oruro is rich in mineral products.
The Cercado, of which the city of Oruro is the capital, is particularly
famous as the district in which the rich tin mines of Huanuni are
located, though the adjoining province of Poopo also claims distinction
for the wealth it represents in the Antequera and other mines. Not only
silver and tin, but many other valuable minerals are found in large
quantities in this department. Iron, lead, manganese, bismuth, and
antimony have been discovered in the provinces of Cercado and Poopo,
awaiting only the necessary capital for their exploitation on a large
scale. Antimony is exported in ores containing from fifty per cent to
sixty-four per cent of the metal. The province of Abaroa, named in
honor of one of Bolivia’s heroes in the War of the Pacific, covers
a territory rich in minerals, of which Challapata is the thriving
capital. There are two towns called Challapata, within a mile of
each other, the old city being the more picturesque, though of less
importance commercially. It is noted for its beautiful old church,
which was erected during the colonial period, and which is frequently
visited by travellers because of the rich ornaments in silver that it
contains. The modern town of Challapata is of recent existence, having
been founded only in 1893, as a station on the line of the recently
constructed Antofagasta and Oruro Railway. It is a town of about two
thousand five hundred inhabitants, many of them foreigners, who are
engaged in mining enterprises. The second city in the department in
size, it is important as a railroad town and the terminus of the coach
roads from Potosí and Sucre. Among other towns of this department, the
historic Salinas de Garcí-Mendoza is deserving of special mention,
as it was once the centre of rich silver mines, which yielded great
fortunes during the colonial period. It is a small town of less than
two thousand inhabitants, but preserves many social features of its
more prosperous past, and its people are noted for their hospitality.
The province of Carangas is rich in minerals, and has other industries
which have been developed on a small scale. The _serrania_ of
Carangas was once the centre of the silver-mining industry in this part
of the plateau, but owing to the inundation of the mines, and lack of
proper machinery with which to put them again in working order, they
remained abandoned until purchased by a company recently established,
which, it is said, possesses sufficient capital to develop their full
productiveness. Under the viceroyalty the town of Carangas was rich and
prosperous and had its grand _fiestas_ as did the other “silver
cities” of Alto Peru; in its deserted streets are still to be seen
vestiges of the opulence of former days, arches, carved doorways, and
churches. The province has a small population now, less than twenty
thousand people altogether, the greater number being Indians, who are
engaged in tending flocks of sheep, goats, and alpacas, or in hunting
the vicuña and the chinchilla. Vegetation is scanty, though the Indian
raises potatoes, quinoa, and barley sufficient for his own use.
In the southwestern district of the department of Oruro, in the
province of Carangas, are found large deposits of borax, those of
Chilcaya covering an area of about thirty thousand acres. The borax
of Chilcaya is considered equal to the best produced anywhere in the
world. It is exported through the port of Arica, a little more than a
hundred miles distant. The saline deposits found in the department of
Oruro, especially in the region of Chilcaya and Coipasa, are said to
mark the southern limit of the great lake which scientists claim once
covered the plateau for an area of over forty thousand square miles,
and constituted the chief reservoir of the Amazon. The lake Chilcaya
is entirely within the limits of this department, Coipasa marking the
boundary between Oruro and Potosí. The boracic _capa_, or layer,
which is found on this lake is a foot thick, more or less, of a very
high grade, and the production per acre is estimated at one thousand
five hundred tons. Though Chilcaya is surrounded by _cerros_,
the climate is cold and windy, and the aspect is bleak and dreary in
the extreme, as the very nature of the soil in this region makes it
impossible for anything, even _puna_ grass, to flourish.
[Illustration: SILVER AND TIN SMELTING WORKS, POOPO.]
No city in Bolivia looks out upon a more favorable prospect than
Oruro, which is entering on a new era of prosperity, signalized by the
inauguration of the railway system, which is to branch out from this
point in all directions, and by the not less interesting ceremonies
which a few months ago marked the establishment of new educational
institutions of the greatest importance.
The citizens of Oruro, foreign as well as Bolivian, are enthusiastic
in their efforts to promote the interests of the municipality, and
the favorable attitude of the Bolivians toward foreign residents is
exemplified by the fact that a foreigner, Mr. John B. Minchin, is
president of the Municipal Council. Mr. Minchin has lived many years
in Oruro, and is firmly convinced of the bright promise of the future
already illuminating his adopted country. He has made a careful study
of the country under various aspects, and his authority on many
subjects, particularly mining, is accepted as the best known. Under
his administration, the city of Oruro is undergoing many important
improvements. Another foreigner, who has lived in Oruro so many years
that he is known throughout the department as “Don Andrés,” is Mr.
Andrew Penny, who has contributed a great deal toward the development
of the mining industry in this department. He is identified with the
success of the San José, Huanuni, and other mines, and is highly
esteemed by all who know him for his sterling character and kindness of
heart.
The chief authority in the department is the prefect, to whose
initiative is due the progress of the department in general. Dr. Victor
Sanjinés, the present prefect, who succeeded Señor Dr. Andrés Muñoz
a few months ago, is a distinguished leader in the politics of his
country, and has given proofs of exceptional administrative ability
in various official posts. Under his direction, the roads and other
public works are receiving special attention, and the city, as well as
the department, is benefiting by many improvements in the condition of
the highways. With the conclusion of the new railway to La Paz, Oruro
will be within a few hours’ distance of that city, and when the line to
Arica is put in operation it will be possible to leave Oruro at night
and arrive at the seaport next morning. Oruro will no longer be only
the terminus of a railway, but the centre from which trains will run in
many directions.
[Illustration: BERENGUELA TIN MINES.]
[Illustration: GOLD WASHING AT CHUQUIAGUILLO, NEAR LA PAZ.]