Panama to Patagonia

THE MEXICO OF SOUTH AMERICA

Depression and Revival of Mining Industry—Bolivia’s Tin Deposits and Their Extension—Oruro, Chorolque, Potosi, and La Paz Districts—Silver Regions—Potosi’s Output through the Centuries—Pulacayo’s Record—Mines at Great Heights—Trend of the Copper Veins—Corocoro, a Lake Superior Region—Three Gold Districts—Bismuth and Borax—Bituminous Coal and Petroleum—Tropical Agriculture—Some Rubber Forests Left—Coffee for Export—Coca and Quinine—Cotton.

BOLIVIA, in the character, variety, and extent of her resources, is the Mexico of South America. Her mines yielded the precious metals for hundreds of years. She was the casket of gems held in pawn by the Spanish Crown. She poured the riches of prodigal mother Nature into the lap of the mother country.

Nor was the largess limited to the colonial epoch. The prosperity continued until world conditions, the fall in the price of silver, the depression in the baser metals, bore with crushing weight on an industry which after centuries of ceaseless exploitation must show exhaustion. Lack of transportation facilities discouraged capital from meeting the stress of lowered prices by replacing primitive processes with modern methods. Mining was not abandoned, but it did not advance. Fresh discoveries did not follow exhausted ore beds.

But the dawn of the mining revival came. It was heralded by the basis of all modern industrial development,—railways. The country will have means of communication. The impulse will be given to working old mines and developing new ones, and the progress for the next quarter of a century promises to parallel that made by Mexico during the last twenty-five years. Much of it will be due to the policy initiated by General José M. Pando, and followed by his successor, President Ismael Montes. The understanding of the prospect will best be had after knowledge of what constitutes the mineral resources of the country. From 83 to 85 per cent of the exports are of this class.

Bolivia has not only the precious metals. She also possesses tin. So few countries in the world produce tin, and the article maintains so steady a price, that it is surprising enterprising capital has not made greater efforts to exploit the Bolivian deposits. This mineral is found all through the eastern fold of the plain lying between the Oriental and the Occidental Cordilleras. It extends from the vicinity of Lake Titicaca to the southern boundary of the Republic. The richest and most productive zone of this region is between south latitude 17° and 19°, but the tin fields cover an extent of 300 miles. The most common formation is of slate and gravel, tin being found in the igneous rocks. The best-known districts are Milluni; Huayna-Potosi, where the mines are worked more than 17,000 feet above sea-level; Colquiri, where the early Spaniards found tin concentrates, and other sections of the Province of Inquisivi; Oruro; parts of the Province of Poöpo, and the districts of Chayanta, Potosi, Porco, Tacna, Chorolque, Chocaya, and Cotagaita. The three latter deposits are in the vicinity of Uyuni.

The productive districts are known as La Paz, in the north; Oruro, in the centre; Chorolque, in the south; and Potosi, in the east. Some of the deposits are superficial and thinly spread out over a great extent, while others have been followed to a depth of 1,000 feet and are still continued. The thickness of the veins varies from a few inches up to 10 feet. In some of the mines the mineral is found comparatively pure, containing 40 or 50 per cent and even as high as 65 per cent of the metal. In others the oxide of tin nearly pure is encountered in the form of crystal grains and nodules of a kind of sticky iron sand.

In the northern district between the Illimani and Sorata, and not more than 20 miles from La Paz, is the beginning of the tin deposits of Huayna-Potosi. The tin is found in combination with bismuth, iron pyrites, silver, galena, and even with gold. Milluni is a few miles north of Huayna-Potosi. It has a group of parallel lodes, running east, north, and south, which are composed of quartz impregnated with fine earth, more or less crystallized, and oxides of iron pyrites. There are also veins, running in a westerly direction, which have galena, blends, and carbonates of iron. The greater part of the workings have been at slight depths where the mineral is easily extracted. Chocaltaga, which is within 12 miles of La Paz, is operated under similar conditions. It forms part of the single deposit of Huayna-Potosi and Milluni. The ore extracted from this group is exported by way of Lake Titicaca and Mollendo.

The Oruro region is the most important, as appears from the comparisons of production. The output of the different districts for a series of years is shown in the following table, in terms of metric quintals of 220.46 pounds:

This shows that the production rose from 37,495 metric quintals, in 1897, to 176,083 in 1902. The value as expressed in bolivianos mounted from 2,986,000 to 8,783,000, or from $1,255,000 to $3,689,000. Since then the output has grown continuously. The Potosi district has increased its production steadily, but the greatest development is in the Oruro zone. The tin is exported mainly to Liverpool, though a variable quantity goes to Hamburg. It is subject to a small export duty, the rate being 1.60 bolivianos for each 46 kilograms of bar tin and 1 boliviano for the mineral in the spongy form known as barilla, or black tin. For the bar this is about 70 cents per 100 pounds, and 43 cents for the barilla. The latter is the form preferred for export. In a recent year the exports through the port of Antofagasta were: barillas, 29,583,000 pounds, and bars, 4,686,000 pounds.

In every sense the tin-mining industry may be said to be one of the future, notwithstanding that it has been worked for years chiefly with a view to securing the pure tin and without much regard to the silver associated with the deposits. In the Oruro region some oxidized ores from near the outcrops are operated for tin, but the bulk of the mineral comes from the sulphide zone. From 2 to 4 per cent of tin has been obtained by concentration and lixiviation tailings. In Potosi there are also silver amalgamation tailings. The past development of the industry was due to the building of the railroad from Antofagasta to Oruro. This provided means of transportation which made it profitable to work the tin deposits within the limited zone where lower freights could be assured. The company granted a special tariff for the transport of machinery, fuel, and ores. By the llama or other pack animals it cost about $1.25 per ton for each mile of transportation to the concentration mills. The freight to Europe for each metric ton of 2,204 pounds averaged 35 bolivianos, or $14.90, the proportion charged by the railroad from Oruro to Antofagasta being about 4.89 bolivianos per metric quintal of 220 pounds. Other transport and shipping charges were about 3 bolivianos for each quintal.

Of the world’s total tin output, say 100,000 tons, the Bolivian production under present conditions may be placed at from 9,000 to 10,000 tons, or more than equal that of Cornwall and Australia combined. Since the United States consumes 43 per cent of the entire production of tin, the importance of the development of the deposits in Bolivia and of the transportation facilities should be appreciated.

The richest silver-producing districts of Bolivia are in the western part and along the metalliferous zones of the central plateau which form the base of the great plain. Toward the north, south, and east the ore deposits crown the summits of the Andine sierras sloping to the west. The region is divided into three sections which differ fundamentally in their geological composition. The Department of Potosi is the most abundant in silver ores. In it are situated the deposits of Huanchaca, Aullogas, Colquechaca, Porco, Guadalupe, Chorolque, Portugalete, and Lipez.

The famous, though not fabulous, silver field of Bolivia was the Potosi. It is said that there may be people in the world who never have heard of Bolivia, but there can be no one to whom the name Potosi is unknown. “Were I to pay thee, Sancho,” said Don Quixote to his squire, when the servitor was bargaining to inflict lashes on himself in order to disenchant the knight’s Dulcinea, “in proportion to the magnitude of the service, the treasure of Venice and the mines of Potosi would be too small a recompense.”

The discovery was made by an Indian herder, named Gualca, who was pasturing his drove of llamas when he came upon what seemed to be a white metal cord. It was silver. The cerro, or conical hill, of Potosi at the apex is 4,780 metres, 15,675 feet, above sea-level. The configuration is volcanic. The veins run from north to south, with an average inclination of 75 degrees crossing to the east. The igneous rock which composes the interior mass of the cerro is impregnated in all directions with metallic substances,—lead, tin, copper, and iron. It is distinguished principally by the abundance of silver in the state of chlorides and sulphides. The great system of lagoons or canals was finished in 1621, and cost $2,500,000, or what would be equivalent to-day to $12,000,000. Originally there were thirty-two of these canals.

A chain of authorities from Humboldt to Soetbeer have estimated the silver production of the Potosi district through different periods. From 1545 to 1800 these mines rendered to Spain $163,000,000, which was the tribute that the Crown exacted of one-fifth of the production. This would fix the taxed output at more than $800,000,000, but historians are agreed that this was far from the actual amount. In 1611 the Spanish authorities tabulated 160,000 inhabitants in this district. In 1905 the population was 12,000. This measures the decadence of the industry.

The carved stone head which marks the entrance to the old mint, the one established by the Spaniards in 1585 and kept in operation for more than two centuries, now grins on the few Indians who gather around the fountain under it with their droves of llamas. The grinning head seems to mock their present meagre burdens with the memories of the silver caravans of the past. But it does not follow that those days have gone forever. The Potosi mines await the railway to replace the llama, and they want also modern methods to restore the riches that defy the old processes of mining.

The most productive silver mine in South America is the Pulacayo. It is located in the Province of Porco in the Huanchaca district, and is operated by the Huanchaca Company. The height is 15,153 feet, and the entrance is through a tunnel, or socavon, known as the San Leon. The claim is made that this mine as a silver producer is the second in the world, the first being the Broken Hill of Australia. From 1873 to 1901 the production was 4,520 tons of silver, and the value of the output was estimated at $116,000,000. Formerly the ore was smelted at Huanchaca, Asiento, and Ubina, but now much of it is carried down to Playa Blanca, near Antofagasta. The company employs 3,200 laborers.

In the Chorolque district is said to be the highest mine in the world, 18,696 feet above sea-level. The altitude of the colossal conical peak is 21,156 feet. In this mountain and its environment are veins of silver, tin, bismuth, lead, copper, bronze, kaolin, and wolfram. It is in the region of eternal snows, of never-ending winds, of intense cold, and of rarefied atmosphere. It is operated through a tunnel known as the San Bartholomew and an aerial railway, half a mile long, by means of which the workingmen descend and return to outer earth. A drawback to the exploitation of this region is the lack of transportation facilities, the nearest railroad junction, at Uyuni, being 95 miles. This difficulty will be overcome when the railway is built from Uyuni to Tupiza, as a short spur will enable connection to be made with Chorolque.

The mines in the neighborhood of Oruro were discovered in 1575. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, just before the War of Independence, in three years they paid to the Spanish Crown as the tax of one-fifth, $40,000,000, which would mean an admitted production of $200,000,000. In the district of Oruro are said to be nearly 5,000 abandoned silver mines. In the immediate vicinity of the city a score of silver and tin mines are in operation. The most important of these is the Socavon of the Virgin. This is owned by a Chilean company. The smelting, or amalgamation, works are located at Machacamarca. Since 1898 the process employed has been the use of hyposulphide lixiviation. The San José mine is located in a basin two miles from Oruro. It is controlled by a Bolivian company, is electrically lighted, and has a smelting establishment employing the Wetherill system by means of electro-magnetism. During several years the value of its annual output amounted to $1,000,000.

Under the law the mines are obliged to deliver in silver bullion the fifth part of the exploitation to the national mint for coinage, and the price is fixed monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury. When the drop in silver continued, Bolivia lowered its export duty, and finally, in December, 1902, silver bullion and minerals were freed from export payment. The present Bolivian silver production, which is 8,000,000 to 9,000,000 ounces annually, forms a very small proportion of the world’s total output. But with the building of railroads and the assured decrease of transportation charges, it is a safe prophecy that within a few years the output will be doubled, if not quadrupled. Here Mexico again furnishes the illustration. In 1877 Mexico’s total silver production was $25,000,000, while in 1902, or a quarter of a century later, it had risen to $73,000,000, and this increase had been brought about very largely through the facilities afforded by the railroads, causing many old mines to be worked profitably and new ones to be discovered.

The copper deposits follow principally the course of the Andes from the Atacama desert through Lipez, Porco, Chayanta, and Calchas, northeast to Corocoro. The most important field is that of Corocoro in the Department of La Paz, 13,000 to 13,200 feet above sea-level. It is the Lake Superior region of Bolivia. The form in which the copper is most commonly met with is in small, irregular, spongy grains which are called barilla, and which are from 70 to 80 per cent pure. The native metal varies from the microscopic grains, or barilla, to great masses of almost pure copper which the miners call charqui. Other metals are found in combination. An analysis made in Hamburg gave the following results:

At times the mines of Corocoro have been exploited chiefly for the silver deposits, and their auriferous character also has been an element in their value. The claim is made that enough gold exists in the copper ore to pay the freight charges to Europe. The town has 15,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of the Province of Pacajes. The copper layers of this region are known in an extension of 35 miles. The mines are owned by Chilean, French, English, German, and Bolivian capitalists, to whom American syndicates make regular offers.

The production of the Corocoro district, in spite of discouraging markets, has mounted steadily. In 1879 it was 20,240 metric quintals, but in 1886 it had dropped to 10,000. In 1900 it was 25,636, and in 1902, 42,014 quintals, or nearly 1,000,000 pounds. The freight charges have been a heavy drawback to the industry. The two outlets from Corocoro are through Desaguadero River to Nazacara on Lake Titicaca, across the lake to Puno, and thence by the railroad to Mollendo and by ship to Europe; by pack animals to Tacna, and thence by rail to Arica and by ship to Europe. To Mollendo the cost of freight and insurance was 1.87 bolivianos (78 cents), while to Arica it was 2.24 bolivianos (96 cents) per quintal. The ocean freight to Europe from either point was about 2.78 bolivianos ($1.17). The building of the railroad from Corocoro to Tacna will afford the copper mines cheaper freights.

The government exacts a small export duty on the copper ore. The industry has promising possibilities in other regions, in addition to the increased development that may be looked for in the Corocoro district. The best paying of these is in Lipez, where the white native copper is produced and the ore treated simply by concentration.

There are three gold regions. The first extends from the western borders of the Republic, beginning in the basin of the Inambari River, to the upper Paraguay. It includes the mountain zone of Caupolican, Munecas, Larecaja, Cercado, Yungas, Inquisivi in the Department of La Paz, continues through the Department of Cochabamba, and is prolonged through Santa Cruz. There are some famed placer washings in this district, including the Suches and the Tipuani. The Suches is promising both for quartz and for placers. American gold-miners undertook to dive for the gold washings in the Tipuani, and they are said to have had a fair degree of success.

The Larecaja placers of Tipuani are historic. They have been worked since the time of the Incas. The Portuguese began to test them in the middle of the sixteenth century, and introduced negro laborers from Brazil. The Villamil family from 1818 to 1867 obtained 151,000 ounces of gold from the Larecaja properties controlled by them. The placers of the Yani River are also given considerable importance. The best-known mine in this section is the Elsa. The German mining engineer, Stumpff, estimated the quartz here at 61,000,000 tons, giving 36 cents of gold for each ton.

The city of La Paz lies in the gold gulch of the river Chuquiyupu. This is an Aymará name, meaning inheritance of gold.

The second gold-producing region, generally called the Chuquisaca, commences at Atacama and Lipez on the border of Chile, and runs through the southern section of the district of Chayanta, Sur Chichas, Mendez or Tarija, and Chuquisaca, extending to the plains of Santa Cruz. The best-known placers are in the bed of San Juan River, known as the Gold River of St. John. A large amount of money is invested in dredging machinery for the exploitation of this river. In the Province of Chayanta many gold-mining claims have been filed, but few are worked.

The third auriferous region, and the one believed to be the richest, is in the far north of the Republic, along the limits of Peru, and following the watercourses of the Madre de Dios, the Acre, and the Purus Rivers. As this zone is occupied entirely by savages, its wealth of gold has not been exploited and is more or less fabulous.

The gold production of Bolivia which is accounted for is very small, though the calculation of Humboldt and others is that from 1540 to 1750 it amounted to £420,000,000. No reliable statistics regarding present production are obtainable, for, notwithstanding the very light export duty, which is 20 cents per ounce, there is reason to believe that full reports are not made by the mines. In 1901 the output of which the government had account was 550 kilograms, and in 1902, 580 kilograms.

In the production of bismuth Bolivia claims to lead the world. The King of Saxony takes the product in order to protect his own monopoly. The geological formation and the geographical distribution of bismuth follow the same direction as tin, the deposits being in the transverse folds of the eastern slope of the Andes. It is found mixed with the veins of tin and silver, and occasionally it is encountered in the native state. The tin and silver beds of Chorolque contain bismuth. The deposits in this district have sulphurs of copper and iron which are easily separated. The most recent discoveries have been in the Province of Inquisivi. The production in 1901 was 4,925 metric quintals; in 1902, 3,450. The value the latter year was about $350,000. The government imposes a very slight export duty.

Among the mineral substances not metallic, which Bolivia counts as a source of wealth, is borax. The chief deposits are situated in the Province of Carangas, in the Department of Oruro. The principal field there is the Chilcaya, which has an extent of 30,000 acres. The Chilcaya borax is said to be of the best quality, with 47 per cent water. Its exploitation is quite primitive. Chilcaya is 120 miles from Arica, which is the export port for it.

Geologically, and in general terms, the carboniferous zone is described as extending south toward the Pilcomayo. Bituminous coal and petroleum exist, but their commercial possibilities have not been established. Petroleum is found in the peninsula of Copacabana and other points along the shores of Lake Titicaca, but these deposits are not important. Coal veins of uncertain value exist in the northern chains of the Cordilleras, extending from the Tinchi River to the border of Peru. In the Province of Caupolican the crude petroleum is used by the local population.

Coal and petroleum also are found in some districts of Tarija, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz. An analysis was made in 1904 by the French geologists, under direction of the government, of the coal beds in the Chimoré and Apilla-pampa districts. It showed for the Chimoré samples volatile substances, 24 per cent; carbon, 47.5 per cent; ash, 28.5 per cent. In the Apilla-pampa specimens an appreciable quantity of sulphur was found. Specimens from both districts burned well, although not free from slate. Preference was given the Chimoré coal as containing a greater quantity of coke and volatile substances. It was declared to be capable of utilization in industries and particularly in the production of gas. Since the central plateau and the most thickly populated regions are above the timber line, and recourse has to be had to the llama droppings for fuel, if further exploitation of the Chimoré region shows the presence of coal in large quantities, it will be a decided economic gain to the country. But the indications do not favor it.

As regards tropical agriculture, Bolivia is also similar to Mexico. Rubber was a great fount of prospective income until the value was compounded in the form of a cash indemnity of $10,000,000 from Brazil, when all title to the Acre territory was yielded. But there are other regions yet left, and Bolivia may still look upon rubber as a source of national wealth. She retains some gum forests in the Madre de Dios zone, which has its outlet through Villa Bella at the confluence of the Beni and Mamoré Rivers, and which includes the Madidi, Orton, upper and lower Beni, and Manuripi Rivers. Another region is comprehended in the districts of Chalanna, Songo, Mapiri, Huanay, Coroico, and a part of the Province of Caupolican. This district has its outlet through Puerto Perez on Lake Titicaca. Its rubber product already is exploited to a fair degree. The Germans have large interests in this region.

A district which is practically unexploited is in the northern and eastern part of the Department of Santa Cruz, formed by the provinces of the Velasco and Magdalena, and bordering on the Brazilian State of Matto Grosso. The gum forests here are along the rivers Paraguay and Verde. They are very remote and practically unexploited, but in time undoubtedly they will be opened up. In the region of Yuracares, in the Department of Cochabamba, there is also a species of rubber tree.

Bolivia has a complete code of legislation governing the production and export of rubber, including the imposts to be paid. The gum trees are national property, and neither natives nor foreigners have the right to exploit them without special license, preference being given the one whose discovery claim is filed first. In the Territory of Colonias, which included Acre, each person was permitted to acquire 500 trees, while companies could acquire 1,000.

Of Bolivian agricultural products for export, coffee is entitled to a chief place. Its cultivation is carried on chiefly in the district known as the Yungas, or hot lands, but the shipments for the world’s consumption cannot be large in competition with Brazil and other countries. Coffee is exported to northern Argentina and to Chile with profit. The European shipments of late years have been unimportant, notwithstanding that the excellent quality of the exported product had given it a trade standing. With the coffee lands given railroad transportation, the Yungas product, whose flavor is as fine as that of Arabia, may regain its foreign market.

It is a question whether coca is a blessing or a curse to Bolivia. This is the plant from which cocaine is had, and from the similarity in name is often confused with cacao, or chocolate. The natives have chewed the leaves for hundreds of years, and the students of racial atavism profess to see in its qualities stupefying effects which have brutalized the existing Indian race. It is, however, an important agricultural industry. The shrub grows from two to eight feet high. It is cultivated in the lower plains of the eastern slope of the Andes at heights varying from 1,100 to 5,300 feet. Its cultivation is the leading industry of the Yungas district, in which there are many fine plantations. A plantation lasts from thirty to forty years if handled with care and intelligence. The last year for which figures were given, the coca product was placed at 3,450,000 kilograms (7,890,000 pounds), valued at $1,250,000. The government taxes the production, and draws considerable revenue therefrom, since the home consumption is so common. The exportation is through the ports of Mollendo, Arica, and Antofagasta, and also through Argentina by way of Tupiza. France is the chief buyer. The exports amount to 556,275 kilograms on an average each twelvemonth, but the foreign market is uncertain, and in some years the quantity sent out of the country is much smaller.

Sometimes it is forgotten that when the British government secured the cultivation of the cinchona tree in Ceylon and India, the quinine industry was not entirely transplanted from Peru and Bolivia. Annually from 250,000 to 325,000 kilograms, or 715,000 pounds, of cinchona bark are shipped through the ports of Mollendo and Arica. In the eastern Andine region 6,000,000 trees are said to be under culture, there being a large number of the groves on the broken mountain-sides at altitudes of 3,200 to 6,500 feet. The Bolivian product gives from 30 to 32 grammes of sulphate of quinine for each kilogram, and, it is claimed, is superior to other South American bark.

Cotton-growing without question has a future in the Santa Cruz and Chimoré region. It has been claimed that this district can produce 375,000,000 kilograms,—at least, this was the pretension of some enthusiastic railway promoters. They estimated that one hectare, or 2½ acres, would grow 1,600 plants, each of which would yield two pounds of ginned cotton, and that 50,000 families could be colonized in this region who would cultivate each six months 15,000 pounds. While experienced cotton-growers smile at these fanciful figures, the experts who have studied the possibilities of the soil and climate in this region credit it with undoubted cotton capabilities. It is another illustration of Bolivia’s varied resources and of her similarity to Mexico.