Omaha daily bee., January 24, 1904, Image 28

About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922

Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE

                
Secret of the Ancients at the World's Fair
jksna tonana. who aixne iioldstiie ancient secret of coloring
copper.
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I 1
LABORER OPERATING BELLOWS FOR REFINING COPPER ORE.
u
15
VIEW OF CAN'IZO COPPER MINES, JALISCO, MEXICO,
Q T?IT 1"T (kn Vu. Kw.n n xnf i.ltw
I guarded ever since Plzarro con-
' 1 nnoril Iia InrnM In Trn nrnl
Corte triumphed over the AztecH
in Mexlcu will be illustrated but
not revealed In a unique exhibit In the
Mining dutch at the Louisiana PurchuHe
expoHltion. This secret bus been trans
mitted from Hire to son for centuries. To
day the wonderful secret is known to but
two men one a descendant from the Incas
and the other from tho Aztecs. When
these men are full of years, when the eye
has become dim and the band has lost
Its running; when tho sands of life are
running low, and the old man feelH that
he may at no distant day expect a visit
from the grim reaper, then it la that he
will impart the Becret to his son, Just a
he received It from his father before him.
Jesus Tobano, bale and hearty, deapite hla
66 years, Is one of the two men on earth
in possession of the secret. .The ono who
will inherit It is Maxlmllllano Marlu To
bano, u youth of '21, who is preparing him
self to take up the work performed by
his father and ancestry for unto I cen
turies. These two men, father and sn, will
be the central and moxt lnUresilng llguics
in this wonderful exhibit, which will de
pict copper mining Just as It was carried
on in Mexico and Peru before the Spanish
invasion.
In these countries today certain mining
properties ore operated Just as they were
then, but American enterprise has en
croached upon these romantic old mines,
and the primitive methods wilt be sup
plr.nted by modern appliances. Electricity,
steam and compressed air will in the futuie
accomplish tho tasks that In the ages
agone were performed by peon labor. After
the World's fair at St. Louis, the ancient
ccyper mine of Mexico will be but a mem
ory, for wMIe It Is being reproduced In St,
Louis, In the oilglnul mine Is being In
stalled the American machinery that will
destroy the romantic surroundings.
The mine that Is to be created on -the
World's fair grounds Is the Canlxo n.'n
situated on tho west coast of Mexico In the
tatc of Jalisco. While it has been operated
by the natives for centuries, tt was not dis
covered by Americans until IMS. when an
explorer named Blake acquired a, propri
etary Interest In it. Such was the richness
Of the mine that tt yielded him a fortune
even when operated by the natives In their
primitive way.
A year or two ago, Kent E. Keller, a
young and hustling newspuper man from
southern Illinois, toured Mexico and saw
this mine. He determined to possess It.
Ho organized a company and hus worked
It up to the present time. Now the stock
hus been Increased and modern machinery
Is being Installed and the output of the
mine will be Increased an hundred fold.
Tho Mexlcun government would not per
mit the reproduction of the mine at St.
Louis unless Mr. Keller would agree to
show his working model, illustrating how
the mine is to be manned tn the future.
He readily consented to this, so that visit
ors may see the modern method along with
the manner In vogue since the earliest
uges.
The shaft to the mine is 8x10 feet and 100
feet deep. There Is no hoisting machinery
to this novel mine, as In the mine to
which most persons aro accustom. J, but
' ascent and descent Is made via a Mexican
chicken ladder. This term ne.ds explain
ing. . It is fashioned Komewhat Ilka, a rail
fence, reaching down Into the mine. One
end of a pole Is placed against cne side of
the opening of the mine. The other end Is
secured at a point about twenty feet down
on the oppoHto side of the shaft. Here
another pole is placed and run across anj
down In tho opposite direction and le'ur d.
IVe.p niches ahout eighteen Inches apart
are cut in the poles, iiffiirdlng the peons a
foothold that the vlsi'.or cannot help con
sidering perilous. This string of I ol s
reaches from the lowest level of the in Ire
to the-top of tho Hhaft and constitute
the only means of entrance and exit.
Native miners will (lumber In and out
of the shaft at the World's fair mine ex
actly as they do in the original In the Mex
ican state of Jalisco. The laborer fasteis
to Ills hack a rawhide hack that will con
tain 200 pounds of ore. Attache! to It Is
a wide rawhide band that extends upward
and fastens around Ids forehe. id. Thus the
laborer at tlie bottom of the mine rt Is ihe
poui'h with 2W pounds of ore, and, leaning
forward so that the bulk of the weight is
borne on his hiad, he clumbers up th
"chicken ladder"' more lasily and g.act'.
fully than could the ordinary mortal minus
the 200-pound toad.
Ore from the Mexican mine will be trans
ported to St. Louis and will be t iled In the
bottom of the shaft, so that the exposition
vlt-ltor may see how easily the peon labor
ers accomplish the difficult task of scaling
tho long "chicken ladder" with their heavy
burdens.
This Is but the begining of the Interest-
ADOBE FURNACES FOR SMELTINO COPPER ORE,
lng process. The ore is crushed at the
mouth of the mine. It is heaped into trays.
The crushing of nine trays of ore consti
tutes a day's work for one man. Thu
trays arc two feet long and ffteen Inches
wide and are scooted out of a log. The
peon sits on the ground with a rock be
tween bis legs. He removes a piece of ore
from his tray and places it on the stona
that welglis about twelve pounds. He
strikes it with a steel hummer weighing
four pounds until the ore Is crushed to
particles the size of a grains of w ho it. Thi.-i
Is brushed off onto the ground until it is
gathered for the concentrator.
Tho concentrator differs materially In
appearanco from the mysterious and gi
gantic concentrators displayed by some
American mine owners. There is a trough
seven or eight feet long hollowed out of
a log. This is set on two benches, one
end being a foot higher than the other. In
the bottom of the lower end of the trough
is a hole three Inches square. Crosswlxe
of tho trough Is placed another trough
about four feet long filled with water. The
crushed ore is placed in the lower trough
and water is allowed to run from above
on the ore. The trough Is shaken and tha
water carries the waste ore to the lower
end, the copper bearing particle becaiu-e
of their greater weight settling at the bot
tom In tho trough. The raw ore contains
7 per cent copper, and the crude concen
trator runs it up to 26 per cent.
This ore Is then tnl:cn to the roaster, a
kiln lOxS feet and li fiet high. This roas.er
is made, of stone line J with fire clay. The
sulphur passes away In the fumes and a
copper matte is formed which Is 10 per
.cent puro copper.
Tho matte Is then- taken to the smelter,
another stone and clay structure with a
circular shaped furnace. The matte Is
mixed with charcoal and one man opera
ting two bellows with both bis hands and
feet succeeds in producing a heut strong
enough to melt the metal. It runs Into a
puddle at the bottom lined with charo.il.
The molten mgtal sefs tiro to the charcoal
and retains the heat. The Impurities llso
to the top and a peon miner with a pair
of long tongs removes the slag and other
waste. Four hundred pounds of the ore
can be smelted In this way tn a day and
the "blister", copper thus produced Is 8
per cent pure. ,
. The refining process is through a blast
furnace and when this Is finished the ore
Is 99 per cent pure and It Is fashioned Into
matt Ingots and la ready for Uie copper
workers, who fashion tho metal Into thos
marvclously beautiful copper kettles and
vases and ornaments that are made no
where In the world outside of Old Mexico
and Peru.
A shed covers the entire plant. It Is
36x55 feet and is built without the use of
a single nail. The timbers are Joined with
wooden pegs and strips of rawhide aro
used to tie the pieces together. So primi
tive is the life around Mr. Keller's quaint
old mine that many of the peons never saw
a nail.
While the process of mining the ore Is
Interesting, and the operation of extract
ing tho copper from the ore more so, it
is In the fashioning of vessels and orna
ments from the metals and the marvelous
colorings Introduced into the articles that
possess the greatest fascination for tho
visitor. And In this coloring Is whero
the great secret lies.
There are many Mexicans who are ex
pert on fashioning kettles, vases and other
articles from the copper Ingots. They
take the small pieces of copper and begin
welding them together, piece by piece,
beating them on anvils until they assume,
the form desired. So skillful are these
workmen that although an article may ba
made from a score or more of these small
corpcr Ingots the finished article is so
smooth as to make it appear that the ves
sel was cast In one piece.
But the work of imparting those mar
velous and Indescribable colors to theso
copper wares is ail done by one man
Jesus Tobano. It Is the secret process and
tt will never be revealed by him to but
. one man, his son. Though the secret has
been kept Inviolate through centuries, this
old man does not do his work in the dark.
At the World's fair, all who desire to
see him impart all the colors of the rain
bow to a dull copper vessel may do so,
and be is never In fear that anyone will
learn his secret. He smokes his cigarette
lazily, walks around carelessly, and tho
rail, bow lints that are so; elusive to tho
painter come to his beck as if by magio
and are indelibly impressed on the sur
face of the vessel he has fashioned. Thero
are no crude figures produced no face of
man nor form of boast. Rather here Is
a great splotch of color wonderfully
bl Mided until alt the colors, shades and
tints' can -be . discerned. These splotches)
. appear at irregular Intervals all over tho
surface of the vessel and they so har
BBonize and mingle that it Is difficult t
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