Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1913 — WEALTH OF THE INCAS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WEALTH OF THE INCAS

PERU is conceded to be the third richest country in the world. Its own leading men believe positively it is the richest, and no one can say just how great is the wealth of its unexplored hills and canyons. The effort of its statesmen to redeem it, as recently reported, by land concessions to immigrants and railroads to carry the products of the fields and the mines, which are now carried on the backs of natives, has attracted more attention in Europe than the United States, which, is godfather to it

Peru is said to be the one country in South America where there is no racial antipathy to Americans, as this country did Peru a good turn probably before that spirit was born among the Latin races to the south. It was in 1858 that the United States restored to Peru the Lobos guano islands, to which some adventurous Americans had laid claim. The fairness of this government has since then been something of a tradition down there. Wealth Back of Desolate Coast

Much of the wealth that Spain has dissipated, her gold and silver that was made into ornaments as well as money, and the precious stones belonging to the royal houses are reputed to have been largely carried back from Peru by the Conquisadores. For a thousand miles the coast of Peru presents a bold, unspeakable barren appearance. Mountains tower up toward the cloudless skies day after day as one pursues his slow way down the coast. Not a tree or a green bush can be seen, but back of the is the wealth of the Incas — gold and silver, coffee and cotton and spices and fruits and rare woods. Nowhere does the desert run back for more than 80 miles from the coast, and usually not so Then there is the long stretch of'gradually rising plains, the foothills and then the great interior table lands. From 1630 to 1824 Jesuit priests are credited with taking 27 tons of pure silver out of a single valley, while other mines are said to have yielded hundreds of millions of dollars, and even with the primitive system employed by the monks and the native Indians. But for nearly half a century or more Peru went backward, and became so poor that her richest citizen lived on the pawnshops. But.that period has passed, and with permanent peace the country is slowly recovering its prosperity. Silver is one mineral that is, perhaps, most abundant, and that is to be found in every- section of the republic. In many places it is found in a native state, an<j the deposits are of great richness. Copper mining is comparatively a new industry in Peru, as not until the depreciation of silver, did miners turn their attention to copper, when it was found that it existed In paying quantities In the great silver districts. Within the last few years the Haggin-Guggenhelm copper mines at Cerro de Paseo have produced enormous quantities of ore, and modern smelting works have been established at several of thtf more important centers.

Cerro de Paseo and Yauli are the two best'known copper regions of Peru, but others are known to exist. The ores of Peru are always found* in various combinations with different metals. Gold, which constituted the great wealth of the nation before the conquest by Pizarro, was not mined to a very great extent by the Spanish conquerors, who, for pome reason, gave all their attention to silver mining. For this extraordinary reason the gold mines from whence tlje native Incas derived their fabulous wealth remained more or less abandoned for three centuries, and it is only now that there is a revival of gold mining. . Gold is found in several parts of Peru. There is alluvial gold generally on the Amazonian slopes and throughout eastern Peru the rivers have all, gold bearing gravel beds, so that hydraulic mining, the' most inexpensive method known, is likely toassume some magnitude.

The Germans are showing the same enterprise and aggressive policy la Peru that they have shown in Brazil and other parts of South America. They are elbowing the British out. and are absorbing the export trade, in almost every city throughout Latta America the retail shops, the commission business, the manufacturing interests, and all kinds of enterprises are owned or controlled by Germans. They have recently gone into Peru. The United States might have had the best of everything, but Americans do not show any disposition to go out into other countries. There are, however, several large American enterprises in Peru. Mines Forgotten. In the northern part of the republic it is proposed to rebuild and extend two lines of railway in order to reach valuable deposits of coal, copper and other minerals, and open up tracts of land that are suitable) for vineyards, fruits and general agriculture. One of these roads will be an extension of a short line now running out of Pascasmayo to the ancient town of Caxamarca, where Atahulpa, the “Last of the Incas,” was “strangled in the most treacherous manner by Pizarro, after he had filled with gold the room of the palace in which he had been confined.” The mines from which that gold came have been forgotten, but are believed to lie somewhere back in the mountains, and, what is more to the point, there are known beds of coal of good quality, almost inexhaustible, it is said, and much needed in South America. It is also proposed to build about 100 miles of road from Ho to. Moquega through a rich agricultural where .the soil is especially adapted for vineyards. An English corporation holds a concession to build a line a distance of 200 miles from the port of Chimbote over the mountains to the town of Huarez, capital of one of the northern provinces, which is the center of a mineral region with large deposits of copper, silver and coal. An American syndicate obtained a concession ‘a few years ago, and deposited a forfeit of |60,000 for the extension of a railway from Payta to the Maranon, one of the largest branches of the Amazon. The proposed line was to cross both ranges of the Andes and open up an agricultural country and vast rubber forests. It was surveyed and is yet to be constructed.

MUNICIPAL PALACE, LIMA