The Texas Mesquiter. (Mesquite, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, May 13, 1910 Page: 3 of 8
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V
TO11N6AL:
The Lost Mine
of Panama
liJTOWK"
T IS not improb-
able that during
1 the dry season of
1910 some trace
of the once fa-
mous mine of
"Tisingal" will be
found, as by Law
Third of January
2, 1909, passed by
the national as-
sembly of Pana-
ma, the immense savannas and sel-
vas of the Pacific slope of Panama
are thrown open to acquisition on
very favorable terms and already a
number of Americans, especially of
the Canal Zone, have taken up
land there.
In the westernmost part of
Panama, bordering on Costa Rica,
lies the province of Chiriqui. the
richest of the seven provinces con-
stituting the Republic of Panama.
Its north coast is washed by the
Caribbean sea, known to the Span-
ish conquerors as the North sea,
while the island-dotted Pacific, or
South sea, washes its southern
shores. Twenty miles from the At-
lantic side and 40 miles from the
Pacific is the highest crater of the
"Volcan de Chiriqui" or Chtriqui
volcano, rising nearly 12,000 feet
above sea level. Two other craters of lesser
height rise one on either side of the main crater;
then a sheer drop of several thousand feet of sul-
phur-coated rock to the highest signs of vegeta-
tion. Below this on the Pacific slopes stretch
beautiful rolling llanos or steppes, lower and
lower, on down to the palm-fringed coast line.
Somewhere on these immense slopes lies the
lost mine of the Indians, "Tisingal." known to
and worked by the early Spanish settlers, who
changed its name to "La Estrella," or Mine of the
Star.
During the year 1833-34, in going through the
archives at Cartago, Costa Rica, some official doc-
uments pertaining to this mine were found and
permission was obtained from the Costa Rican
government for their publication. Shortly there-
after a company was formed^in Cartago to send
out exploring parties, and although considerable
time and money were wasted and several lives
lost In an endeavor to locate this mine, no indica-
tions of its whereabouts were found.
Reprints of some of the documents referred to
have come into the hands of the writer, in which
is preserved the old style Spanish in which they
were originally written during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Translations of these pa-
pers have been made and the information con-
tained therein summarized, to which have been
added data obtained through a personal acquaint-
ance with the country described. During last
year an unsuccessful attempt was made by the
writer to ascend the highest crater of the Chiri-
qui volcano for the purpose of verifying certain
information purported to have been secured in
•the year 1605 from this point and pertaining to
the Tisingal mine. During the dry season of this
year a second attempt will probably be made.
Among the documents consulted is one that,
literally translated, reads as follows:
"Within the limits of the department of Chiri-
qui, contiguous to the Republic of Costa Rica,
exist places rich in gold, known by the names of
Tisingal, Quebrada Ancha, Quebrada de Oro and
others quite important. The first of these places
was explored some time ago by a Spanish colony,
which in the year 1601 founded the city of Con-
cepcion de la Estrella, near this mine of great
wealth. The excessive stinginess of the conquer-
ors reduced the Indians of the locality to the con-
dition of slaves, they being forced by the Spanish
to work, mining the gold of the Tisingal. These
Indians became tired of the excessive work and
bad treatment and became desperate. In the year
1611 they revolted against their oppressors and
exterminated them; but other Spaniards at the
place of the mutiny again compelled the Indians
to resume the working of the mine and made
harder for them their state of slavery. This al-
most eliminated the Indians from this stretch of
country.
"On the twenty-eighth of September, some
years after these happenings, the Indians re-
turned, and without pity or consideration took
the life of every foreigner living in the country;
and not only this, but, carrying stones from dis-
tant localities, they covered up and destroyed all
traces of the workings of the mines, and they
also razed all houses and churches belonging to
the Spaniards. The only traces remaining of
these ancient buildings today are the foundations
of the church and a bell belonging to it.
"At last the news of the new rebellion reached
Cartago in Costa Rica, where Immediate prepa-
rations were made for revenge. It is known that
at. the beginning of the year 1710 the government
. at Cartago sent "200 men by the way of Boruca
and Tula to San Jose Cabecar, a town to the east
about 15 leagues from Concepciou. This expedi-
tion took 500 Indians of both sexes prisoners and
reduced them to a state of slavery, and as such
consigned them to the inhabitants around about
Cartago upon their return to that place. These
prisoners and all other Indians they met along
the way were massacred shortly thereafter.
"From that time all Indians living in the
mountains in all directions up to a distance of 70
leagues turned bitter enemies of the foreigners
and up to a few years ago would have nothing to
<lo with the white races. Due to theso events all
traces of the villages of Turrialba, Tuis, Atirro,
San Jose Cabecar and other places that lay on
the route to Concepcion de la Estrella and Tisin-
gal were lost and the trails of communication
with the mines were covered with brush and
completely destroyed, so that after 40 years in
Cartago no knowledge was to be obtained as to
the locality of the Estrella and practically no
uyrsoti living knew or had seen the mines at
I
;'#S^
infill
/Avp/svys
■ ' . • ' ' :
.. .. "■* ••
w -.' .v. v- <"•
HUNTING 'EM BOTH.
Tisingal.
"Due to the hostility
and cruelty of the Indi-
ans, together with the
dangers of the trails and
the unhealthiness of the
country, peqple gradu-
ally began to forget
about these mines and
whoever spoke of ma-
king an expedition for
the purpose of discover-
ing these mines was
considered to be com-
mitting "suicide. ..."
The slopes of the
Chiriqui volcano are
traversed by numerous
rivers, in many places
not more than a mile
apart—wild, rushing
mountain torrents that
form navigable rivers
near the coast, many of which are constantly
changing their courses. Along the banks of these
rivers the Spaniards fourtd the richest Indian vil-
lages. The Indians extracted gold from the
sands of many of these rivers and worked it into
weird figures representing alligators, frogs, birds,
turtles, fish, snakes, bells, plates, images and
others, which It was the custom to bury with the
owners thereof in the rock-walled tombs in which
their dead were interred.
Among the documents referred to are found
the records of an expedition that set out from the
city of Garci-Munoz in Costa Rica, in the year
1563, for Quepo, Couto, Boruca and the valley of
Guaymi. Ar extract from this document liter-
ally translated reads as follows:
"Going up the Guaymi valley one arrives at a
place called Couto, where much gold has been
found, and the natives have it worked into all
forms; and on being questioned as to where they
obtained it they stated that they had gotten it
in very big grains from a river four days' Journey
from that place, in the dominion of an Indian
cacique called Ucaraci. Not one day's march
from Couto lies the village of Turucaca, the in-
habitants of which stated that they had obtained
gold in the same river as the inhabitants of Couto.
The provinces of Couto and Turucaca lie 50
leagues from the city of Garci-Munoz at the be-
ginning of the valley of Guaymi, 10 leagues from
the South sea in front of the Golfo Dulce. It is
known that following up the Guaymi valley to
the mountains toward the north there are to be
found numerous villages, such as Quepo, Couto,
Boruca, Aci, Uriaba, Xarixaba, Yabo, Duba, Ca-
bara, Barerto, Tabicte, Arabora, Cabangara, Que-
cabangara. ..."
The following year, 1564, another expedition
set out from Cartago, Costa Rica, to explore this
same country, and the chronicler, writing of their
discoveries, says:
"Crossing the province of Ara and passing the
valley of Coaca, we arrived in the province of
Terbi and made our camp in the village of Co-
curu, which lies in the valley of Duy. And the
Indians having brought to the leader a great
quantity of gold, he sent the slaves to explore,
and they brought back such large pieces that the
leader himself decided to explore. We then ar-
rived at a river called La Estrella, which is the
principal one as to the quantity of gold found.
"... from Cartago the expedition re-
turned to the province of Terbi, to the village of
Cururu, in the valley of the Duy (Indian name
for Quequexque); and from there we went to the
big river which had already been named Rio de
la Estrella."
Since the sixteenth century the land bordering
the Sixiola river, which lies to the north of the
Chiriqui volcano and which empties into the Ca-
ribbean sea, had been in dispute between the
governments of Costa Rica and that, of Panama.
At that time it was claimed by both the governor
of Costa Rica and the governor of Veraguas. The
province of Chiriqui adjoins Sixiola and formerly
formed part of the province of VeVaguas, now one
of the seven provinces of Panama. After the
independence of Panama in 1903 this disputo
again arose, due, to a great extent, to changes
in the names of many of the rivers of this part
of the two countries, some of which still retain
their Indian names, while others have been re-
named. The question was finally submitted to
President Fallieres of Franco for arbitration and
an entirely new boundary line was traced In ac-
cordance with his findings.
The Indians inhabiting the country lying near
C PANAMA 2.
CARIBBEAN
\'A
the border line of Costa Rica and Chiriqui have al-
ways been hostile and in several instances have
risen against the whites and massacred them. The
Talamanca Indians, who still inhabit these parts,
were especially bellicose.
The existence of the "Tisingal" mine has never
been doubted, nor is it considered the product of
the fertile imagination of the natives of Chiriqui.
At Cana, in the province of Panama, at the pres-
ent time there Is being operated a gold mine for-
merly worked by the Spaniards. Several years
ago. while blasting in one of the galleries of the
Cana mine an aperture was made Into what proved
to be burled the remains of a gold mine worked
several centuries ago. Leather buckets, with
straps that fit around the forehead and around the
shoulders of the mine workers and instruments of
steel were found in a good state of preservation.
The mouth of this mine had been so completely
hidden that mining operations had been carried
on for years almost paralleling the entrance shaft,
without the engineers suspecting Its proximity.
Records of the old Cana mine are in existence, but
its exact location had never been fixed before.
Gold can be found in almost all the rivers of
Chiriqui. In 1859 there were discovered the first
Indian graves, from which were taken gold orna-
ments, stone figures, arrow points, etc. Since this
time there have been found in Chiriqui hundreds
of these Indian graves, known to the present day
natives by the name of "guacas." The writer him-
self opened up one grave from which he took 18
pieces of pottery.
v It is a well-known fact that the half-Indian na-
tives of Chiriqui, knowing the whereabouts of a
rich "guacal," prefer to work it alone and to sell
the gold found only in such quantities as their
needs may require. They are suspicious of the
white man, this suspicion and distrust being inbred
in them and handed down in tradition from their
ancestors, who in truth had cause to hate that
race. A hunting and exploring party that recently
returned from the vicinity of Buenos Aires and
Boruca. in the heart of the Indian country to the
west of David, reported that although they were
not openly attacked by the Indians yet they were
conscious of being constantly watched; that food
was scarcely obtainable, and that, on several occa-
sions they found the water of the springs muddied,
apparently but a few minutes before their arrival.
If this report be true, and there is every reason to
believe that it Is, Inasmuch as it is but a repetition
of former ones of a similar nature, then It. Is quite
evident that the party were not cognizant of the
customs, likings and language of the natives with
whom they had to deal.
Odd inscriptions and decorations are found
carved on volcanic bowlders in many parts of Chi'
riqtii, and these Inscriptions, according to the In-
dians, indicate the burying grounds of the caciques.
Many of these decorations appear on the pottery
found in the graves and in the ethnological report
referred to are classified.
Gold-bearing copper ore has been found in many
districts in Chiriqui, especially In that of Bugaba,
in which "Tisingal" is in all probability located,
the analysis of which has shown 15 per cent, cop-
per bearing two per cent. gold.
The Panamanian government Is at the present
time planning the construction of a railroad from
David In Chiriqui to the city of Panama, which,
when built, will greatly open up this part of thci
country and make it more accessible. The Indians
of Chiriqui will give way before the advance of
civilization and the earth will give up another ol
her treasures so well hidden for centuries by na
ture's barriers aided by the avenging hand of th«
vanquished AmericAa.
Texas Boar (to senator on a walk-
ing trip in the mountains)—Hully geel
la the president after you, tooT
IT WEAR8 YOU OUT.
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of the Whole Body.
Don't wait for serious illness; be-
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John L. Perry, Co-
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Remember the name—Doan's.
For sale by all dealers. 50 cents a
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Hood's
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Picture
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Every small boy—the right kind,
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to me!"—Youth's Companion.
The bottomleHS tan c solves the problem
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Nothing Is there more friendly to a
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A girl Isn'.t necessarily a jewel be-
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Many who used to smoke 10c cigars
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Many a man tries to stand on his
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made
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1
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Thompson's Eyo Wafer
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Davis, John E. The Texas Mesquiter. (Mesquite, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 46, Ed. 1 Friday, May 13, 1910, newspaper, May 13, 1910; Mesquite, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth400450/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mesquite Public Library.