292 



A VISIT TO THE PROVINCES 



Next in point of distance are the mines of Tierras Coloradas, situated on the river Andalien, 

 and about half way between Talcahuano and Concepcion. These have produced the best coal, 

 and their position is such that boats can be loaded from the mouth of the mine without incon- 

 venience. The vein runs north and south; it dips to the west, and is above 120 yards long, 80 

 yards wide, and 2^ feet thick. Near the surface it was very indifferent, but has improved in 

 quality as the lode became deeper. There is an analysis of these coals by M. L. Crosnier, in 

 the "Annales des Mines" for 1851, which is as follows : 



A comparative estimate of their merits may also be formed from the investigations of a com- 

 mission appointed by the Minister of the Interior to report on specimens of apparently similar 

 material brought from Port Bulnes, in the Straits of Magellan. They say: " The fossil coal of 

 the Straits of Magellan, though inferior to the fossil coal of Concepcion, differs very little from 

 the latter, and may be used in the same manner. Each three quintals, in the consumption by 

 furnaces, is equivalent to at least two quintals of good English coals, and each six quintals to 

 five quintals of the best Concepcion coal."* Specimens from the Magellan formation afforded 

 thirty-nine per cent, of pure carbon. Samples of both are embraced in the collection brought 

 home, as stated by Prof. Smith. 



Two other veins, on the east side of the bay of Talcahuano, never having been productive, 

 were abandoned several years ago. Those of Coronel and Colcura, a few leagues south- 

 ward of the Biobio, and near the ocean, are even more extensive than those of Tierras Colo- 

 radas. The character of the formation, however, is the same. At Colcura the veins crop 

 out quite close to the sea, beneath which they dip within a very short distance a fact that will 

 probably have great influence in their prosecution. Those of Coronel were found only a short 

 time before we left Chile, and the papers claimed for their products a very high character. 

 When a supply of foreign (English) coal has been scarce at Valparaiso, of necessity the mail 

 steamers have used the Concepcion variety ; but much complaint is made by the engineers of 

 its want of power to generate steam rapidly, and of the quickness w,ith which it destroys the 

 fire-bars. Latterly, small quantities have been taken to the north for the use of the railroad 

 company at Copiapo and the smelting furnaces, the average export during the last four years 

 being about 500 tons. Aided by proper engines to free the mines from water, and facilitated 

 by a railroad to Colcura, there is no doubt that the products of these strata would be a 

 valuable contribution to the domestic economy of a country so poor in combustible material as 

 is all Chile north of the Eapel. 



The presence of similar veins has also been recognised in the province of Valdivia, and on 

 the island of Chiloe ; and Professor Domeyko informed me that in more than one place, during 

 journeys along the secondary formation of the Andes, he had met with small deposits of an 

 inferior quality. Among them the structure of the wood was still quite distinct, and they were 

 not unfrequently accompanied by ligneous petrifactions. 



* Analea de la Universidad de Chile, 1850. See also " Memoria que el Ministro de Estado en el Departamento De Marina, 

 presenta al Congreso Nacional de 1850." 



