Few events in the history of modern times have been so universally recorded as the discovery of the mines of Potosí. In the middle of the sixteenth century, when the ships of Spain arrived with the first treasure from the silver mountain, all Europe became interested, and excitement grew as the abundance of the marvellous Cerro proved apparently unlimited and inexhaustible. It became the theme of courtier and poet, and eclipsed every other event for a time. The victories of the Holy League, the proclamation of His Catholic Majesty’s coronation, and even more important occurrences of the latter part of the sixteenth century, were hardly welcomed with greater éclat than the announcement of a new cargo of treasure received from the American mines; and the fame of the wonderful land beyond the sea continued to increase, as each arrival of silver-laden ships brought fresh stories of the marvellous mountain called Potosí, out of which the precious white metal poured in never-ceasing streams. Fabulous tales and fanciful legends were related everywhere regarding this famous mine. All the world talked of its riches, poets wrote stanzas inspired by visions of its opulence, and lovers dreamed of bestowing its abundance on their dear ones. It was an extravagant serenader who offered his lady love the wealth of Potosí for a kiss:

At the time when Spain found her new treasure in America, chivalry had not yet lost its romantic influence and charm, and many a knight made his way across the sea and over the snow-covered passes of the Andes in search of adventure by which to prove his devotion, or, perhaps, to find riches that would mend a broken fortune and entitle him to sue for the hand of some noble lady of his choice. For, in the unwritten law of chivalry, poverty was counted, as it is to-day under a more modern code, if not a crime, at least a bar sinister on the escutcheon of sentiment. In the written romances of those days, the popular hero returned unexpectedly from Potosí with untold treasures, which he laid at the feet of the queen of his heart after destroying his rival and achieving renown by many brilliant deeds of valor. The author of Don Quixote naturally refers to Potosí as a synonym for fabulous wealth, and there was hardly a writer of the time who did not find occasion to use the name of the silver mountain to illustrate the idea of lavish abundance. The news that the city of Potosí, which received the name of Villa Imperial by order of King Charles V., spent ten million dollars in the festivities of the coronation of his successor, Philip II., created no surprise, since millions were supposed to roll like pebbles into the lap of that famous city. A chronicler of the sixteenth century estimates at six million dollars the amount of the “royal fifth” paid in taxes annually, and, knowing the facilities that existed for evading the tax, he adds: Y que seria lo que se dejó de quintar!—“And what must that have been on which the ‘fifth’ tax was not paid!” Improbable as some of the stories related of the Cerro appear, there is more truth than fiction in the accounts of extravagance and luxury that have been handed down to us in the Annals of the Imperial City. It is recorded that the amount of silver which was taken out of Potosí from the date of the discovery in 1545 until the beginning of the nineteenth century was three billion three hundred and ninety-four million dollars, and a liberal estimate gives nearly four billion dollars as the total output of silver from the Cerro de Potosí up to the present day. Curious old documents relating to the history of this great silver mountain have been collected and published by Señor Don Vicente Ballivian y Rojas in a volume of fascinating interest. In one paragraph we are told that “in 1566 a Spanish noble, who was entering the Cotamito mine with his Indian laborers, stumbled against an object which proved to be a magnificent crucifix of pure silver, the arms and legs being of rosicler, evidently formed by nature under divine direction.” It became the subject of much speculation, and was held to be a sign that the powerful hand of God would work for the future prosperity of this particular mine. The crucifix was sent to Spain and placed in the church of San Agustin, of Barcelona. Another chronicle relates that one of the rich owners of the Cotamito mine, Don Antonio Lopez de Quiroga, paid in fifths to the King of Spain not less than fifteen million dollars. According to this authority, the great millionaire was once paying a visit to the viceroy at Lima, when an officer of the household remarked that the expenses of the viceregal establishment amounted to the exorbitant sum of four hundred dollars a week, which in those days was considered a great extravagance. “Well, I spend the same sum for candles in my mines of Potosí,” responded the visitor!

For centuries Bolivia occupied third place among the silver-producing countries of the world, the annual production at one time amounting to ten million ounces of silver. Even with such an enormous yield, the mines were only superficially worked by very primitive methods; and of the ten thousand abandoned silver mines which are to be found scattered throughout the country to-day, not one was exhausted, the obstacle to continued production being in every case a lack of means to protect the mine from inundation, or insufficient capital to buy new machinery, etc., as was the case after the War of Independence.

While the exploitation of the mines was at its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the most absurd and fantastic extravagance prevailed; and no provision was made for a possible period of depression, which came later in the form of plagues, inundations, a lowering of the price of silver, increased cost of transportation, and similar contrarieties. Although the famous Cerro de Potosí no longer produces the enormous quantities of metal which history records of former days, it is not by any means exhausted, the value of the silver taken from its mines from 1895 to 1902 being nearly four million dollars in gold. It is claimed that about seven thousand mines have been opened in the Cerro since the discovery of its wealth, and the records show that up to the middle of the nineteenth century five thousand mines were registered as being in operation at some time on the famous mountain. About seven hundred are worked at present for both silver and tin, and five thousand laborers are employed. The Cerro presents a unique spectacle as seen from a distance, towering behind the city in the shape of a carefully chiselled cone, of the dark red-brown color that suggests metallic composition, and marked at intervals all over its surface by gray and yellow patches that show where a boca-mina, or opening to a mine, is located. In the early hours of the morning when the Indians are on their way to work, the Cerro is alive with moving colors, the bright yellow, red, or green skirts and ponchos giving a kaleidoscopic effect to the scene. Both men and women work at the mines, the women being engaged in pounding and sorting the ore which is deposited in sheds for the purpose. Although most of the mines are located at an altitude of seventeen thousand feet or more, the people seem to be so accustomed to the rarefied atmosphere that they do not notice it, and it is a remarkable fact that at the altitude of twelve thousand five hundred feet at Lake Titicaca one suffers far more difficulty in breathing than at the much greater height of Potosí. There is something quite picturesque in the appearance of the Potosí miner, whose garb is a mixture of European and Indian dress, and even the little tallow dip which he wears in his cap attracts attention, not only by its shape, which is like a tiny tin jug with the wick lying over the spout, but because it is invariably ornamented by a small cross which stands up from the rim as a conspicuous adornment.

A traveller riding up the winding heights of the Cerro de Potosí is at once struck by the prevalence of great masses of petrified lava that are seen everywhere around the base of the mountain, and at each turn the impression grows stronger that the huge pyramid, constituting a solid mass of metal, is an upheaval from the very centre of volcanic energy. Though the Spaniards mined only for silver, the Cerro contains also quantities of copper, iron, and lead, and it is to-day one of the chief centres of the tin-mining industry, which, by the enormous abundance of this important metal, promises to make Bolivia as famous commercially in the twentieth century as Alto Peru was in the sixteenth. Although only a few mines have been opened, Bolivia already ranks high among the tin producing countries, and new discoveries of the deposit are constantly being made. Many mine owners of Potosí are devoting special attention to the tin ores and are treating the silver production as of lesser importance for the time being until conditions become more favorable to resume this mining as the principal industry. There is an abundance of tin in the Cerro, where it is found in layers between the veins of silver, as, for instance, silver is found near the summit, then, lower down, there are tin mines, and below them again are veins of silver. The mines of the Real Socavón, or Royal Silver Mines, are located near the base of the mountain and yield both silver and tin. There are only two important mines near the foot of the Cerro, the Real Socavón, which is the property of an English company, and the Socavón Porvenir which belongs to Señor Don Juan M. Saracho, the Bolivian minister of public instruction. These two mines perforate the mountain from east to west, having the great advantage that they cut through all the veins, which run from north to south. Though the work has been delayed through lack of sufficient capital and because of the more rapid returns which the mining of tin brings at present, they offer great promise with the investment of larger funds. The Royal Silver Mining Company owns, in addition to the Real Socavón, the old mines of Cotamitos, Forzados, and Candelaria, higher up the Cerro. In fact, nearly all the mines now in operation in Bolivia are the same properties as those worked under the Spanish viceroyalty, except that the present system is more modern and the mining is not so superficially conducted. The Real Socavón has all necessary conveniences for the work, such as a railway through the various galleries, and air tubes for ventilation. It is possible to ride on horseback through the principal corridors, so high is the tunnel. The rich vein in this mine produces daily three cajones, equivalent to five thousand pounds each, of silver metal of a standard of fifty to sixty marcos, a marco being equal to seven and one-half ounces troy, and about twenty per cent tin, and the output will be increased, with the completion of certain improvements, to eight to ten cajones of a standard of fourteen to fifteen marcos and eight to ten per cent of tin. The same process of treatment for extracting the silver and tin is in vogue in all the more important ingenios, or mining establishments, with variations according to the predominating quality of ores. When the ore is taken from the mine it is transferred to the furnaces or kilns, where the excess of sulphur is extracted, and the process of crushing facilitated. After being calcined in the furnace, the metal passes to the crusher, from which it is taken to another furnace to be chloridized. For very high grade ores, which show a large percentage of precious metal, smelting is the preferred process, but where the grade is lower the system of lixiviation or concentration is used, as in the ingenios of Velarde and Huayllahuasi, where both silver and tin ores are treated. These establishments, which are owned by Messrs. Soux and Hernandez, are worked in connection with the company’s mines, which are counted among the richest of the Cerro. In the ingenios of Bebin Brothers, known as Santa Rosa and Huayra, the smelting process is used in the former, and concentration in the latter establishment. The minerals from the mines of Señor Matias de Mendieta are treated by concentration, as are also those of the Ingenio San Marcos, owned by Mr. Robert Scott. In the establishment Quintanilla, the property of Señor Juan Rubarth, both smelting and concentration are used in the treatment of the ores. These firms are all engaged chiefly in the exploitation of tin mines, but they regard the silver production as an assured source of wealth, only held in reserve for the time being, while tin is so much more in demand and brings better prices. Señor Don Juan Ugarteche, managing director of Bebin Brothers, mines, estimates the entire production of the Cerro de Potosí, at present, as four million bolivianos annually, and he places the gross average grade of the metals as twenty per cent pure, though he says a great deal of it is sixty per cent pure, and is exported to Europe without previous treatment of any kind.

It is interesting to visit an ingenio and to follow the various methods by which the ore is treated before it comes out of the last ordeal a shining block of silver or tin, ready to be loaded on the backs of the mules, llamas, and donkeys, to be carried to the railway station or to the seaport of Antofagasta for shipment. The large sacks which contain ore to be shipped in crude condition, just as the mineral is taken from the mines, are sometimes loaded on muleback, but the square blocks, weighing about twenty-five pounds each, are generally carried by llamas. The courtyard of an ingenio presents a busy sight on shipping day. It is particularly entertaining to see the arrieros being photographed at the Huayra and Santa Rosa establishments before they set out with their cargoes. One after another, they face the camera, with their numbers held in plain view so that there may be no mistake. The purpose of this is to enable the company to identify an arriero in case of his absconding or deserting his cargo. There is no danger of his stealing the silver or tin blocks, but there is always the possibility that he may grow tired of his task before he gets to his destination, and leave cargo, mules, and llamas in the road while he seeks more congenial employment. By means of the photograph, such a delinquent may be easily traced; at any rate, it has proved to the employers an excellent system for keeping informed regarding the whereabouts and conduct of these Indians. The delinquents furnish a sort of “rogues’ gallery” as a safeguard to mining establishments. But usually the arrieros are faithful and dependable, arriving sooner or later at their destination, whether it is ten leagues or five hundred, no matter what may be the condition of the weather or the roads. They do not make record-breaking journeys, as the llama and the Indian have a common aversion to speed, the llama’s nine or ten miles a day being quite in accord with his driver’s ideas of pedestrianism. When noon comes the load is taken from the animal’s back, and he strolls away to find forage on the mountain sides, while his master stretches himself on the ground for a nibble at his handful of parched corn, after which he takes a siesta. It may be one hour or three before the caravan moves on, but nobody is disturbed about so trifling a difference in the schedule, and a few days more or less on the road are not to be considered. Naturally, the mining companies are glad to know that a system of railways will soon give them an improved freight service, but there will no doubt always be enough business to keep the llama and his driver as much occupied as these leisure-loving companions care to be.

The history of the discovery of the Potosí mines is associated with the records of the still older mines of Porco, which, tradition says, were discovered by the Inca Maita-Ccapac, when that great Peruvian emperor conquered the Charcas tribes, centuries before the Spaniards came to the New World. The annals of the Imperial City record that in 1462 Huayna-Ccapac, while on his way to the mines of Porco, spent one night within view of the now famous Cerro de Potosí, and was so impressed by the belief that the great mountain contained riches in silver that he ordered his servants to go there and dig for the precious metal. In obedience to the royal command, they approached the Cerro and were about to begin their task, when a terrific peal of thunder held them spellbound, and a voice from the silence that followed called to them: “Touch not the silver of this Cerro, because it is for other owners!” Terror-stricken, the servants of the Inca fled, and, seeking their royal master, told him of the extraordinary occurrence, repeating the word potojsi! which is Quichua, meaning “it made a loud noise!” This story is another instance of Garcilaso de la Vega’s picturesque philology, and its naïve transparency is like many other interpretations from his fanciful pen.

The thunder that rolls over the Cerro de Potosí is sufficient to suggest the still, small voice forbidding approach even to-day, and there are few places on the globe where an electrical storm is more magnificent and startling. A less imaginative authority derives Potosí from a Quichua word, potojchi, meaning “fountain of silver.” It is further related that Atahuallpa, the last of the ruling Incas, who came to Porco to collect an army for the conquest of Chile, also passed the Cerro de Potosí, but did not approach it because of the command the mysterious voice had given to his royal ancestor. Yet it was an Indian, after all, who first discovered the precious silver of Potosí. A shepherd named Guallca, after searching in vain for hours to find one of his flock, caught the truant animal on the Cerro just as night came on. He tethered the sheep and prepared to spend the night on the mountain, lighting a fire to protect him from the bitter cold. The next morning he was surprised to see that a stream of silver had flowed from the place where the fire was built, and formed a white stripe on the dark red of the Cerro. The Indian reported the matter to the Spanish captain, Don Juan de Villarroel, who, in company with Don Diego Centeno and Don Alonso Santandia, founded the first mine in Potosí in 1545, the famous “Descubridora,” out of which fifty million dollars’ worth of silver was taken in an incredibly short time, and which continued for two centuries to be one of the richest mines in the world.

If the Cerro de Potosí is noted as the site of the most famous silver mines of Alto Peru, Huanchaca can claim the honor of being the centre of the richest silver mines of Bolivia; for what the wealth of Potosí was to the viceroyalty, the enormous treasure of Huanchaca has been to the republic,—one of the most important sources of its revenue. And the Huanchaca mining company has been a potent agency in developing the industrial and commercial interests of the country, by taking the initiative in the construction of its railways, telegraph lines, and other public improvements.

The usual element of romance, which is associated with the discovery of mines everywhere, is not wanting in the history of Huanchaca, and the reward of long and patient search is as beautifully illustrated in the case of its discoverer as in the experience of other famous treasure seekers, to whom Fortune has come with her hands full of riches just as Fate was about to throw over them the pall of despair. Don Mariano Ramirez had been looking for gold and silver for twenty years before chance led him to the treasure which has made his name famous, and his discovery great, as one of the most important industrial events of the nineteenth century. Everyone who lived fifty years ago in the district of the now famous Huanchaca knew Don Mariano. He worked for years in the mines of Ubina, twenty leagues from Pulacayo, with little success, but with constant hope that some day would see the realization of his dream of discovering a rich vein. He won the devotion of the Indians of that region by his kindness to them, and there was not a native for miles around who would not run to do him a service. While his white companions made him the butt of their jokes and ridicule, the Indians held him in the greatest respect and affection. Finally, one day, an old Indian woman, whom he had cured of a wound, sought him in his little hut at Ubina and told him that if he would follow her she would take him to a place where plenty of precious metal could be found, without the hard work that was killing her patron at Ubina. Don Mariano permitted himself to be conducted by her across the country, though secretly blaming himself for such absurd credulity, and frequently stopping to ask his guide where she was leading him and what reason she had for believing there was treasure there. At last, as they reached the heights of Pulacayo, she turned to him, and, pointing ahead, said: “Now, patron, you have only to go over there and begin to dig; you will find silver enough to build a city.” This occurred in 1837, and from that day Ramirez began to realize his fondest hopes, for all that the Indian had told him proved true. He died, however, without reaping the full reward which this great silver mine promised, and it was not until many years later, when the present Compañía Huanchaca de Bolivia was formed in 1875, that the mines began to yield the enormous riches which have made Pulacayo famous as the second silver-producing district in the world, Broken Hill, Australia, being entitled to preëminence.

Within the past quarter of a century these mines have given to the world nearly five thousand tons of silver, worth twenty-five million pounds sterling. The mountain from which this enormous wealth has been extracted is one of the scattered cerros apparently belonging to the Cordillera de los Frailes, near the southwestern border of the republic. The mining towns of Pulacayo and Huanchaca are situated on the opposite sides of the Cerro, at an altitude of fifteen thousand feet above sea level, and about nine miles in a direct line from Uyuni, where the Huanchaca railway forms a junction with the Antofagasta and Oruro line. A ride on the Huanchaca railroad is an experience to be remembered, as the train follows a succession of rapid curves, travelling fifteen miles on its circuitous route. The ascent is sharp in places, as Pulacayo lies fifteen hundred feet higher than Uyuni. The road leads up the side of the mountain, through several cuts between great rocks twenty or thirty feet high, and at an elevated point it passes through one of the longest tunnels in the world, eleven thousand feet in extent, which required five years for building and cost over half a million bolivianos. The scenery is magnificent all along the route, a distant view southward showing the white summit of Chorolque against a blue sky, while a nearer prospect gives glimpses of the snow range of the Frailes and the brown slopes of lesser peaks. As soon as the present company was organized, the work of building a cart road from Huanchaca, where the ingenios for the treatment of ores from the mine of Pulacayo were then located, to Cobija on the Pacific coast, at that time a Bolivian port, was undertaken and carried to successful conclusion in a remarkably short time. The product of the mines was shipped to Europe from the port of Cobija until the War of the Pacific closed this outlet, and it became necessary to seek an Argentine port. With this object in view, the company constructed a telegraph line, the first in Bolivia, to connect Huanchaca with the official headquarters which were then in Sucre, extending it to Potosí and Tupiza, to facilitate communication with that section of the country and through Tupiza with Argentina. The company still owns this line, as well as an additional service to Ollagüe on the border of Chile, an extension, in all, of about five hundred miles. As soon as Bolivian traffic was reëstablished through Pacific ports, the Huanchaca company, realizing the necessity for railway transportation to the coast, began the construction of the Antofagasta and Oruro Railway, which, as previously stated, was sold later to an English company, with the exception of the branch from Uyuni to Huanchaca.

About three years ago a decline in the price of silver obliged the Compañía Huanchaca to seek means of reducing the expense of exploiting and treating the minerals of Pulacayo, especially in the matter of fuel, as coal cost five pounds sterling per ton, and necessitated enormous expenditure for this item alone. At the same time that the decline of silver came to embarrass the operations of the enterprise, another calamity befell the company in the inundation of the principal galleries of the mine, and at one time the outlook was almost hopeless, the water invading depths of one thousand five hundred feet in some places. Apparently the only way to save the situation was by adopting electricity as a motor power; and this was done, the force being generated by means of water obtained from the Yura River, twenty leagues distant, and conducted through an aqueduct having a fall of thirty-five feet. Electricity equivalent to three thousand horse power was thus transmitted on three wires of one thousand horse power each, representing twenty-five thousand volts, and the problem of draining the mine and establishing it once more on a paying basis was finally solved. This electric installation ranks fifth in importance in the world, and is a credit to the enterprise of the company, which is shown also in many other modern improvements. A huge Corliss engine of one thousand horse power has recently been installed in the mine, with capacity to generate a sufficient current for the electric engines of the establishment; and when the Yura plant is not working, this machinery supplies all the force required. Another Corliss engine, of three hundred and fifty horse power, is used for compressing air with which to ventilate the mines, and for hoisting purposes. Decauville electrical engines are used in some departments, and the machinery for illuminating the offices and mines by electricity is of the latest model and perfection. The machine shops and foundry are the largest in Bolivia.

The automobile has invaded the Huanchaca mines; and although not of a boulevard model, it is quite as rapid a motor machine as the more ornamental specimens. Two North American ladies who visited the mines recently were taken into the interior in an auto, over more than two miles of tracks, the route leading through passages brilliantly lighted by electricity and built of solid stone masonry, constituting a succession of well-arched and well-ventilated tunnels. During this subterranean trip the party passed a little chapel in one of the galleries, in which is a silver image of Christ. It was touching to see the stolid miners remove their caps as they passed, none of them failing to show this mark of veneration for the sacred image. There are twelve miles of galleries in the mine, and nearly ten miles of rails. Seven shafts are used, of which some are a quarter of a mile in depth.

About three thousand workmen are employed by the Compañía Huanchaca de Bolivia, and at least a thousand women are engaged in sorting the ores and arranging them according to quality and properties. It is marvellous how expert these women become in their tasks, and with what apparent indifference they toss the pieces of metal on one pile or another, chattering and gossiping with one another, and seeming not to take the slightest notice of the kind of ore they are handling. Yet they never make a mistake, and the administrator of the mine says they are quicker than an experienced chemist in detecting different classes of minerals. They seem to enjoy their work, to which they have become so accustomed that they will sit for hours in the same position, on the ground, with their feet curled under them, scarcely moving except to reach for a piece of ore that has rolled away from the pile in front of them.

Every system known in the modern treatment of minerals is used in the various ingenios of Huanchaca; and the electro-magnetic method of separation, which has recently been adopted, is probably the first of its class in the world installed on such a large scale as it is here practised. Formerly, the establishments of Huanchaca, Pulacayo, and Ubina smelted all the metal from the Pulacayo mines, but a few years ago a large ingenio for the smelting and amalgamation of the Pulacayo ores was opened at Playa Blanca, near Antofagasta, where machinery was set up on a magnificent scale, costing nearly half a million pounds sterling. The entire plant of the company represents an outlay of four million pounds sterling. The president, Señor Seneschal de la Grange, who lives in Paris, paid a visit to the mines last year, investigated the various institutions of the city of Pulacayo, as well as the mining establishments, and made a note of necessary improvements to be effected in the educational and charitable advantages offered the inhabitants.

Ten thousand people live in Pulacayo, and are supported by the mine and the different industries connected with its exploitation. Everything in the city belongs to the Huanchaca company, and no one can live in the community without permission from this authority. All the officials of the municipality are appointed by the company, and every institution is under its direct supervision and government. There are several churches, schools, and hospitals, and the town has a good theatre. It is a typical mining town among the mountains, built like an amphitheatre on the slope of the Cerro, and the steep, narrow streets present a puzzling problem to the foreigner who makes a first attempt to scale their uncertain heights.