GOLD MINING. 28 1 



We have already spoken of the gold mining that for several years was 

 carried on with such vigor in certain portions of this region. Although 

 of late years this industry has declined and is now almost abandoned, it 

 should be remembered that, so far, this has been limited to placer mining 

 entirely, and to the region immediately adjacent to the coast. Almost no 

 attempt has been made at prospecting the hundreds of mountain valleys 

 that lie along the eastern front of and within the Andes, to the northward 

 of the Straits of Magellan. While so little has been done toward devel- 

 oping this, the most simple and primitive form of mining, it is needless to 

 say that nothing has yet been attempted in the way of prospecting the 

 region for the veins of ore which must somewhere exist, and which have 

 given origin to those deposits of placer gold that have already been so 

 successfully worked, as well as to others that doubtless still remain to 

 be discovered. This want of energy in prospecting and developing the 

 mineral resources of this country is due, not so much to the dilatory 

 habits of the mining population, as to the discouraging, indeed almost 

 prohibitory, laws at present prevailing in Argentina at least, which are 

 intended to regulate, but in reality rather tend to prohibit, the mining of 

 the precious metals within her territories. While the placer miner can, to 

 a certain extent, evade such laws, it is evident that in the working of 

 bodies of ore this question becomes a much more serious one. When 

 the boundary line shall have been definitely fixed between Chili and Ar- 

 gentina, and the latter country have enacted laws regulating her mining 

 industries in harmony with twentieth centuiy ideas, then will the capital 

 and experience of the practical miner be employed in determining just 

 what are the mineral resources of this little-known region. Until such 

 time, however, these will of necessity remain unknown, for miners and 

 mine operators, among whom are the shrewdest business men of the 

 world, will be reluctant to invest either experience or capital in an enter- 

 prise which, at best, has connected with it a considerable element of chance, 

 when, added to this, there are sure to be encountered certain govern- 

 mental restrictions, which frequently become so disastrous as more prop- 

 erly to deserve the name of governmental plundering of private individuals 

 or corporations. 



In the Narrative I have spoken of the coal deposits at Sandy Point 

 and various other places on the mainland and Tierra del Fuego. Several 

 attempts have been made to mine and utilize this coal, which every- 



