Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1917 — IS LAND or UNTOLD WEALTH [ARTICLE]

IS LAND or UNTOLD WEALTH

Mountain* of the Various Countries of South America Contain Fabulous Fortunes In Minerals. Fifteen million ounces of sflver Is one of South America’s annual contributions to the world's pocketbook. This would make more than 17,000,000 diver dollars. Silver to the amount of more than $2,000,000,000 has been mined In th* last 800 years from PotoM, the famous “peak of sliver” In Bolivia. The hills of South America are seamed with gold. It la found in every state. All this gold and silver could be studded with precious stones from Colombia. Seven hundred thousand carats of them are dug out of her hills annually. Almost all the emeralds In the world come from there. Our famous copper mines In Michigan, Montana and Arizona are surpassed In richness by those on the west coast of South America. Enough silver la mined with the copper of one Peruvian mine to pay all the expenses of the mining, of shipping the ore over the mountains and up to North America smelters. It also pays the oost of smelting. The Bethlehem Steel works In Pennsylvania could be kept busy for 75 years with the Iron ore of one of Chile’s provinces, Coqulmbo. More tin Is mined In Bolivia than anywhere else In the world except th* Federated Malay states, and only a few of the mines have yet been opened. Although South America Imports most of her coal, there Is enough tucked away in her mountains to supply the needs of both America# for ages to come. But there are no railways to bring it out. Chile’s nitrates fertilize the fields of the world and bring her an annual revenue in export duties of more than $15,000,000. The value of the deposits must be reckoned in ten figures.— World Outlook.