T iiK c r ii A H i: V I !•: w 



15 



i-^ir 



'■'^''■'^Wp' 



The 



Remains of the Old Church which Contains 

 "The \'irKin of Kl Coiirc." 



"EL COBRE" MINES 



These mines are said to be tiie oldest copper mines in trie Western Hemisphere, located 

 in the m.ountains west of Santiao:o, and history says they were first developed in the year 1620, 

 by the Spaniards, who abandoned theT>. to the Eng'is'i in 1837, and were worked until 1865, 

 when they again reor-.ained idle until 1903, when the present American holding company started 

 operations. They are t)est reached from Santiigo by boat across the bay to the mining rail- 

 road station, from which point five trains operate each day to the town of El Cobre and the 

 niines fifteen miles away. Along the rail route to the mines can ])e seen evidences of the old 

 aV^andoned railroad and wrecked bridges used many years ago during the En.glish occupation 

 and as t'le train nears El Cobre can be seen the old location of the mines with the building 

 a})parently intact used l)y the English Comjjany and now abandoned. 



At first sight the town of El Cobre looks the tj^iical mining town and as if it had experienced 

 the usual "mushroom" growth, but it must not be overlooked that this has been a busy and 

 growing communitj^ during the past three years, owing to the unprecedented demand for all 

 grades of copper, due to the European war. The place also strikes one as l)eing unbearably 

 hot — -situated as it is in the canyon with mountains en all sides — l)ut the inhabitants explain 

 that due to this location they get the i)leasant evening breezes which find a way through these 

 canyons or cuts from the sea. 



The visitor to El Cobre for the first time is attracted by the most iniusual sight of an old 

 church in ruins which can be seen on the summit ol one of the distant hills, and wonders how it 

 -remains standing in r.u'ns, as it appears, and we ai-e told that it is tlie wreck of a very old Church 



