THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: SEPTEMBER H, 1003.
Enormous Mineral Deposits Which May Affect the World's Market
(Copyright, jsp. by Frank O. Carpenter.)
ROKEN HILL. N. W. Rhodesia.
B (Special Correspondence of Th
I Bee.) Hsve jrou heard of the
mountain or copper wnicn are
nuw being developed just above
here, In the heart of Cen;ral
Africa? They cover a territory bigger than
the state of Ohio, and they conrlat of two
great belta 2K) miles long. Bo far mora
than 100 copper mines have been till cov
ered, and the mining engineers ray that
there are already more than 2.OUC.O0O tuns
of eoppr In sight. They estimate the value
of the ore exposed at over Il.uoo.OCO.WiO. In
the same reglona there are tin mines run
ning through a belt of more than 150 mlloi.
The tin Is high erode, carrying the value
of $120 to the ton, and that In sight Is est l.
mated at I9.0oo.ooo. In addition to this
there are gold mines there which are now
yielding 1,4 ounces a month and the gold
carries platinum and palladium of high
grade.
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Tanganyika Concession.
These wonderful deposits are in what is
known as the Tsnganjika coneestlJn, a
tract of country In the Congo Free State
Just acrosa the Rhodeslan border. Thry
belong to the king of Belgium and a syn
dicate, of English capitalist, led by Mr.
Robert Williams, who was practically the
discoverer of the mines and who organised
the company eight or nine years ago. Mr.
Williams became Interested in tho mines
of northern Rhodesia and he got from
Cocll Rhodes the right to locate 1,000 min
ing claims with the proviso that the Char
tered company of British South Africa was
to be entitled to 35 per cent of ail the
minerals found. Mr. Rhodes was Induced
to give the concession because he wanted
a steamboat on Lake ' Tan Kanyika to en
able him to rush his Capo to Cairo railroad
scheme, and 1 am tuld that Mr. Will .ni
furnished the boat. Among the first de
posits discovered were thote if the Kln
shanshl copper mines. In Rnodesla. not far
from the Belgian border. These hav al
ready been developed to the di'pth of 4 A)
feet, and It has been decided to ire.t a
smelter there, which in about two years
will bo yielding several million dollars per
annum. In prospecting about Kinshanahl
Mr. Williams got the idea that there rn ght
be Important finds over the bord.T. Hj
took, bis mining eng'.noera and went on lino
tho Conga Free Suite ar.d there found theso
en-r.Tious deposits, which pro ml to r;ro
Ititioclze tho copper markets of Uie world,
lie then went back to London and formed
hia syndicate. A concession waa gotten
from King Leopold by offerinj hlai a id
certain Belgian capitalists S5 per cent of
the stock. Since then the mines have been
partially surveyed and a railroad la now
budding which will connect them with ths
Atlantic In Portuguese West Africa. Thj
capital stock Is only W.COJ.OnO, hut the pos
blbiiitUs of the company are far biyond
those of any other of the great m.ning
kyndlcule.
Continent Roofed-With Copper.
These mighty deposits form a copper roof
to the lower part of the African con
tinent. They lie on the height of land 'be
tween the Congo and the Zambesi, and la
that correspond to the enormous mineral
deposits on the height of land of our con
tinent. The great ridge -ot North America
comes to Us top Just north of Lake Su
perior. A llttlo farther north the ground
beglrjs to fall toward Hudson bay. On that
ridge are the nickel mines of Budbury, con
taining the greatest bodies of that metal
known to tho world. A little further east
are the Immense silver deposits of Cobalt,
the metal lying in veins on the very top
of the rocks, and so close to the surface
that you oan polish it with your heel as you
walk over It. Below on both sides ot Lake
Superior are the enormous deposits of lroni
belonging to our steel trust, and also the
famous Calumet and Hecla copper mines,
which were for a long time the richest
of their kind In the world.
A similar wealth of minerals exists on
this great ridge of South Africa. Northern
Rhodesia Is peppered with copper and Iron.
Here at Broken Hill are hills of lead and
sire, which I describe further on in this
letter, and the syndicate which owns them
has found 6,000 different deposits of valu
able minerals In this colony. The ore seevna
to grow richer and more abundant near
the top of the rldgs, and over in the
Congo possessions the whole country near
the border is highly mineralized. I have been
told that the natives there have been min
ing copper for generations past. They have
melted the ore and have wrought from It
their hoes, spears and axes. Borne of their
Implement made by the natlvea are shown
here. Both handles and blades are made
St solid copper. I have a capper axe be
fore me as I write, and a copper hoe
stand at my aids.
On the Kongo watershed the copper lies
right on the top of the ground. The
mines can be worked like quarries, , and
they will probably be handled with steam
shovels when the railroad from Portuguese
West Africa Is finished. The ore used by the
natlvea comes from little holes which
have been dug In the mountulns. They huve
their own furnaces and do much of their
smelting with charcoal. One of the chiefs
has a large number ot men and women at
work, and Is producing a number ot ton.
of copper a year.
Speaking ot tho coj per being on the
height of land, while 1 was at KDartum.
In the Egyptian Sudau ' I learned that
there are rich mineral deposits on the
ridge which forms the watershed of the
Congo and the Nile, and It muy be that a
wealth ot copper and Iron exist there. .
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Copper, Uold, Tin and Iron.
Be far the minerals found on the Zara-beat-Congo
ridge are copper, gold, tin and
Iron, There are large deposits of stream
and quarts tin. At Bulawayo I was
shown tin nuggets the rise of walnuts
which came from the Congo Fre Btnte,
and alao bars of pure tin which had been
smelted thure. At the present lime only
the smallest of furreiv can be used, as
the only motive power is men, and the
pieces of machine;;' t ust be rosulaUJ,
by what two men ca. carry. H will be
Inuyotslble to do much with the mines
befuro the railroads are constructed. The
moat ot the gol'i which has so far been
taken out come from placer deposit.
The grains rangn from dust to nuggt Is
the six of one's finder, and they are ab
solutely pure. Some thing like J300.WO worth
ha been washsd out.
A :o the copper, it la ot a high grade.
The average ' la from IS to 16 per cent
pure, and there Is ons place at Katanga
where the ore runa as high as S3 per cent
copper, and there Is said to be any amount
of It which runs 30 per cent.
The ore at the Rio Tinto mine, which
is tb richest In Europe, contains only
about per cent of copper; and It is said
that this African ore, even if it ran as
low a I per cent, would, notwithstanding
the great cost of transportation and treat
ment, yield a profit wherever copper sells
ore 80 pr ton. Bo far all estlmat
mad as to the value of the oopper her
take Into account tuly that above water
level and If half the statements are true
the deposits muit be worth far more
than any others on the globe.'
The king of Belgium and his associate
( this syndicate are now building a rs.ll-
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road from Portuguese West Africa across
the continent to these mines. This road
will be about 1.3C0 miles long and less than
10 mlls of It are already constructed.
It beslns at Lcblto bay, near Benguella, In
about the center of the province of Angola,
and runs through the lowlands a short dis
tance, climbing the hills. The grades go
up almost a mile In the first 200, and the
road will pass over three rang of noun
tains before It gets to the African plateau.
It will cost altogether H5,CO0,CO0 or $10,0 0,000,
but It Is estimated that It will annually
carry minerals cf the value of $50,000,00), In
addition to Its local traffic, which will
probably be considerable.
Loblto bay, where the road starts, has a
wide and deep harbor. There is already
quite a town there. The railroad has Its
offices, and there are warehouses, restau
rants and a hotel. The company has
erected a hospital. It will build steel piers
and will probably make that place one of
the chief ports of entrance for vestcrn
Africa. Half a doien different lines of
steamships are already calling there and
the tonnag entered has doubled within the
past year. The read so far built Is doing
a good business. When It Is completed
there will prebably be an extension to the
Cape to Cairo road, which, at Tanganyika,
will have Its conectlon with the road which
the Germans ore now building from Dar es
Balsam, across German East Africa to
UJIji, so that' one will be able to go across
tho continent from west to east by steam.
Long before this Loblto road IS completed
these copper mines will probably be con
nected with Broken Hill by a branch of
the Cape to Cairo road, and the first ere
Porto Rico Celebrates Its Four Hundredth Anniversary
ERE are some pictures of the
H
pageant and ceremonies with
which Porto Rico ha Just bean
celebrating the 400th anniver
sary ot it settlement by the
Spanish.
It is now Just a little more than 400 year
since Poiue da Leon, conquistador, from
the citadel he occupied as governor ot
eastern Santo Domingo, looked acroe what
was year afterward named the Mona
passage and decided that he liked the look
of tho swelling green hills of the land to
the east of him. What charts and map
the Spanish governor had told him that tho
land should be the. Island of San Juan
Bautlsia de Puerto Rico, . the somewhat
ambitious tltl that Christopher Columbus
gave It when he touched there hastily la
1488.
So Pono de -Leon put an expedition on
board of ship and called the narrow
passage ovtr to the island. It waa In 1508,
In the mlddlo of the summer, that he
landed there on the north coast, and the
Spanish conqueror conceived a most favor
able) Impression of the place.
The faot ot his having been the first per'
on to lead to the island an expedition of
foreigners In a determined attempt to wrest
the place from the Indians and to put It
with the rest of the new world that Colum
bus gave to Castile and Leon is what Ira
palled the Porto Rlcana last month to hold
a celebration over the bones of the con
queror. About all that most folk knoa
I .- , - - .'-a . a '
Lt.ut Pi nc 4 Leon 1 that he tried te
discover a fountain of eternal youth.
Tb general Impression 1 that h started
out from Spain or lomewheri a a very old
maa looking for this fountain and acci
dentally ran Into Florida on the way. To
this day tb writer ha been unable to rid
hlicaelf ot an lmpresslun. formed la early
youth, that Florida water waa tba thing
m.H?k I I llm
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LOAD MINORS AT BROKEN HILL.
will be shipped out over that road by way
of Cape Town or Belrta, The Cape to
Cairo syndicate has already surveyed the
line of track from Broken Hill to Mabaya,
an Important point on the Congo frontier.
This Is 20? miles from Broken Hill, and the
understanding Is that the copper syndicate
will continue the line from there through
the copper belt to Ruwe.
Frospecttnc In Rhodesia.
The Rhodesia Copper company, which
operate the Broken Hill mine, ha a
large number of properties scattered here
and there over this part of the world. Not
long ago It had 10C0 claims registered, and
these were mostly lead, copper and (Inc.
There te plenty of Iron about here and
many of the streams carry some gold.
Broken Hill has several mining engineers
and a number of prospectors.
Prospecting In Rhodesia Is far different
from the same business In our 'country.
Our mineral region are usually broken
and mountainous. In northern Rhodesia
the country Is comparfatlvely level and
there are but few outcropplngs. From
December to May the land Is covered with
grass; which reaches so high that a man
riding on horseback through It cannot be
seen at a distance of 100 feet. This Is In
the wet seafen, when it rains so heavily
that It Is Impossible to travel rapidly or to
examine the surface of the ground. It Is
only when the rains are over that the
prospecting begins. The grass, which is
soon parched and dry, la then fired, and
tho flames sweep over the country burning
everything close to the ground. The fire
scorches - the bushes and trees and makes
A,. i a.
Wilt s W--'vtVf ' iV--V-i' ; .'r.t -tRm
. kM"rf if m '. I
vj ;..v:t . o fi 'll ' -x- ' ''W''f1
tofts' JQfiJZSS&D JS TVS or jQJVtgti ;
Pone discovered and that Indeed was a
toolo against old age.
But Ponce d Leon waa something more
than a tourist taking the waters In the
new Americas and Indies. He started a
settlement In Porto Rico in 1510 on the
site ot what la now the city of Ban Juan
aad ha Introduced negro slav Into the
Island, (or which the present inhaaitaul
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the earth black. It thus expose any out
cropplngs or rocks and enable the pros
pector to see the various formations. The
stream are first panned, and any mineral
found are traced to the mother lode.
Broken sitll Mines.
Take, for Instance, these great mineral
deposit at the end of the Capo to Cairo
road. They lie right out on the prairie.
The land I almost dead level, and with
the exception of a few hills That run up
to a height ot less than 100 feet there la
no sign of minerals. The most of these
hills aro so low that they cannot be seen
at a great distance, and they are usually
covered with grass. They rise right ' up
out of the plain like mounds, each Inde
pendent of the other. There are seven In
sight of Broken Hill, and they all consist
of great bodies of sine and lead. Take
hill No. 1, over which I have Just gone
with the miners. It has at the base a
diameter of about 800 faet, and It rises to
the height of a four-story house. It la
pear-shaped, rather than round, with the
lower half of the pear below the surface.
This mighty pear is composed of nothing
but lead and tine ore. Two cross cuts or
tunnels have been run through It on a level
with the plain, an'd there Is nothing but
lead and tine all the way. The lead In the
main tunnel Is 68 per cent pure, and the
sine runs over 8 per cent, the whole con
taining high values throughout. .By means
of a diamond drill the mine has been
tested for 100 feet below the surface, and
the drill Is still In the ore. Borings In
the plain two miles to the southeast and
northwest have disclosed ore equally rich.
After leaving the hill I went with Mr.
noises' or1 rowt n
Z, n ess-.
may be gratefu! or net. Just 1 they like.
It waa sjme time after hi activities in
Porto ltlco that Ponce sailed out from the
harbor of San Juan on his voyage after
the fountain of youth which led him In
1612 to Florida. About nine years later, when
be came to be an oldish man about 41, he
started oft agln to wake a conquest of
Florid.
u . .4,,: : - -' A ' . .. ...... a ft aa. JL S rnW I
V,
BAWINO TIMBERS
Donald, the mine manager, to another
about a half mile distant over the plain.
This is known as hill No. 2. It Is ninety
feet high, containing about four times as
much ore above the surface as the hill I
have mentioned. Its ore Is almost al
together sine, the main body containing
85 or 40 per cent of that metal. A wldo
vein or reef takes up the greatest part of
the hill, and the remainder Is composed
ot lcachlngs from this body. Ten thou
sand tons of ore have already been taken
out of the pockets near the reef, and It Is
calculated that the main body has more
than 400.000 tons' of sine, and that there
are 300,009 tons more above the water
level, which occurs at sixteen feel below
the surface. t
In addition to these two hills there are
five others here all cf them mighty nug
gets of lead or sine rising above the sur
face of the plains. Indeed, the managers
of the mines tell mn they have enough
ore In sight to keep them busy for five
years If they were smelting at tho rate of
100 tons per day.
Among the Miners,
I have spent some time bero going about
among the native miners. There nro 6M
at work under the charge of twenty-two
white foremen. The natives aie Bantu
negroes from the tribes of the vicinity.
They are small In stature, but they are
said to be gcod workmen, and they fur
nish yia mineral regions with a steady
supply of cheap labor. Tho wages which
are now pnld are only 8 ceitts per day, to
which must be added the cost of food
and shelter, bringing the labor charge for
re r. r ro 7src ozn
t?E zecs srrs??
Hm and hi men met with stiff resist
ance from a party of Indians when they
landed and Ponce waa wounded In the knee
by a poisoned arrow. The Spaniards at once
hurrlsd to Hivmji and there Ponce died.
According to report, his body . was taken
Lack to Uan Juan and buried there.
That I how the people of Porto Rico were
able to hold a fitting celebration ot the
4(Xth anniversary of the settlement of their
Islatjd laat month. In order to mark it
thoroughly the leaden cuket containing the
remains of the conquistador was taken from
the Church ot Baa Joo, wber report ha
FOR THE MINES THE HILL BEHIND
each miner up to 25 cents.
These natives have a village cf their own
some dlntance from the European quarter.
It consists of a hundred of so clay huts
running around a court of five aci-ps.
Each hut accommodates fiye or six na
tives, and not a few of them have their
wives with them. Their food Is comment,
each man being allowed three pounds per
day. The meal Is made from Kaffir corn
and It Ifi ground by a portable engine right
at the mines.
White Setleinrnt In Mid. Africa.
As to the white oflclnls and their as
sistants, . they live quite comfortably,
away off her In the heart of the black
continent. Their town Is right In the
wilds and a half day's ride will give them
almost any kind of big game. They have
comfortable bungalow built of brick nnd
native huts made of limbs " hlnked with
clay from the white ant hills nearby.
They are thatched with straw. I under
stand that these native huts are more
comfortably than the bungalow. They
have only holes for windows, bo that the
air cun always blow through. Their roofs
are cone shaped and so thick that the sun
cannot penetrate them. They rise fifteen
feet above the walls and extend out over
them so that there is ny danger of the
rains coming In. Tho bungalows have
roofs of galvanised Iron, which make
them hot at midday. '
Many of the native huts are equipped
with hammock, beds and easy chnlrs.
Some of them have other little huts near
by which serve as kitchens and as the
homes of the black servant. Compara-
rmcss our or
R they had repoaod for many year and
taken to the Cathedral of San Juan. The
procession between the churches was In
the nature of a religious and historical fes
tival combined.
Even the Porto Rlcana have not escaped
the pagentry habit, which ha hit the Eng
lish apeaklng countries very hard recently.
In the procession which escorted the bones
from church to cathedral were horsemen
encased In a representation of tho armor
of the period.
Horse and foot were accoutred as the in
vading Spaniards of the armies of Cortes,
&f&m
fH"Mv 'WjWs'st' TmmfrrWT'm oj
AV'MMr 1-.-"fcj--.'-.T!'f.. .'
IS SOLID ZINC.
tlvcly few of the miners board at the
hotel. Several have their wives with
them, but they are housed in thr hnriT'i
lows, which are surrounded by Knrdens.
I understand that the climate Is healthy
and that one can live q;ilte a well hem
as In the mining rexlons faither boik',1.
FRANK G. CARPENTIIU.
t Pointed Parng-rnph.
The chesty man usually wears a
;'!
hat.
Many a man baa a kick cnmlni; tint
never reaches him.
Is It the fickleness of women that m.ik a
thorn IntercRtlng?
Where a girl Is smart is to be so pretty
nothing else counts.
Fhittery Is harmless to the wom:n w. o
doesn't flatter herself.
Fiction by any other nntr.o w.nild be
falsi houI Just the same.
No, Cordelia, blunt Bcn'onoes are n t
aiwnys written with a stub pen.
The older a man crows ti-e st:rrr 1-e
feels that he won't be found tut.
Show a disposition to be un easy mark
and everybody will help you make good.
Tho trouMo with too many enple Is
that they meet trouble morn thm hnlfwny.
A cynic la a person who knows he Is the
real thing and that all others aro mere y
indlations.
Beware of the man who never ovvilo'iks
an opportunity to tell you that honcpfy U
the best policy.
A girl may refuse a man lecaime she,
feels sure thai he will prop si ngiin. but
a widow never takes any chain es. ! Tlrngo
News.
Plzarro and the others were habited. Tho
weapons were ns rjear tho nrlslnala as 1ml
Vitlona could attain. It made a grent cun
xast, these He men In the di-ad armor of
an older period.
So with great pomp and rarad? the
basket of the long dead I' . nee was taken
from the church to the cathedral. To the
latter It was placed for the time being on
a prepared platform, whll the rorvlce
were being held. Then It was arranged that
It should he put In another renting place,
where It is designed that it sliall remain
until the end of time.
Ponce's remalrjs are not likely t.t he claimed
y the Spaniards as were the hones of
Columbus, or perhaps the suppjs d b mcs,
whloh were taken In 1M9 fr)in Havana
and sent across to Spain, there to Ho In
magnificence In the Cathedral of Hevillo.
Ot course It Is a matter of considerable
doubt whether the bones In Seville are
those of the great explorer. There Is doubt
whether tho bones In Santo Domingo aro
those of Columbus either. But no one
seem to question that the remains called
those of Ponoe de Leoni are those ot the
man who died In Havana In 1521.
In ono way It Is rather curious to note
the enthusiasm In Porto Rico for the man
who wa responsible for the bad thing that
the Spaniards In general brought to tho
West Indies. When Ponce de Leon came
ver to Potto Rico in lfifls he was brought
partly because he believed that thero was
gold to be found In the new country. In
that he was right, because there was some
to be gained through placer mining.
Ponce after a time got the appointment
to be governor of the Island. Ha returned
to Spain a very wealthy man and with his
Influences was able to obtain permission
to introduoe Into the country slaves from
the African coast. Before that time there
had been only a few slaves who had c me
to Porto Rico, and these as body servants
of the Spaniards who brought them In.
Under the conditions of the Spanish con
quest this was only natural. The Hi. mil ir. Is
were busy with warring on the nut Ives and
tintll they accomplished the conquest
which meant killing off the natives there
was time for little else. ThereTora the
slaves bad nothing to do but personal
service.
But once the pursuits of war were put
aside the lust for gold Impelled (hs Spin
larda to seek for persons who would 1
for them what they were unwilling to d
for themselves menial, manual labor. It
waa with this Idea In view that Pone- ob
tained permission to bring Into the Island
the first Importation of slaves lor other
than personal services.
These were brought there to work f )r
gold, to mln for It. They oould not all
land the climate and at any event It wa
not long before the gold supply guvc cut.
Alao the new of discoveries In M xlci
and other countries took away the g. taU-r
part of tho adwenturerers to the new terrl
lorr. With tho gold gone the Invader turned
their attention to the earth Itself and b.
gan the agricultural occupation. There
tb slave were, Indeed, doubly useful, be
cause In the trying ollmate the Spaniard
wanted to Incur no more exertion than,
pertained to tha duties of an overseer. The
brutalities of those time were beyond e'e
acrlptlon. it might, therefore, be tho ght
that son Porto Rlcan might object to
honors paid to th memory of the man who
wa th prime cause of all ttie hardship
and cruelties.
It 1 recorded that the negro population
Of Porto Rico 1 slightly under that of t'i
white, but that of th negro population,
only about IS per cent, 1 true negro. Th
rest Is of mixed blood. This Is a eondltlott
very like that in other West Jndlun (elands.