Chap. VI . LAYCAYCOTA SILVER-MINE. 07 



Laycaycota mine iu the middle of the seventeenth century a 

 very curious history is attached ; which is always talked of 

 by the people of Puno as one of the principal events in the 

 annals of their city. 



In about 1660 an exceedingly rich vein of silver had been 

 discovered on the hill of Laycaycota, by one Josd de Salcedo, 

 which was called the " Veta de la Candelaria." One account 

 says that the secret of its existence was revealed to Salcedo 

 by an Indian girl. Jose de Salcedo, and his brother Gaspar, 

 continued to work this vein, and several others which were 

 opened on the Cancharaui and Laycaycota hills ; enormous 

 quantities of silver were extracted ; and the fame of his 

 enormous wealth, and its source, attracted crowds of unruly 

 people to the spot, from the various towns of Peru.^ Salcedo 

 is said to have been generous and open-handed in finding- 

 employment for applicants, but, from some unex2:)lained cause, 

 tumults took j)lace at the mines in 1665, which, from first to 

 last, are said to have caused 450 violent deaths. The governor 

 of the district, Don Angelo de Peredo, seems to have taken 

 part against the Salcedos, Avho retired to the village of Juliaca, 

 with a body of armed followers, in November, 1665. In March, 

 1666, they attacked the governor's people who had posses- 

 sion of the mines ; Salcedo neglected repeated orders to come 

 to Lima ; and was accused of having threatened to extort 

 a general pardon from the Viceroy, at the head of a thou- 

 sand men. Salcedo himself, however, appears to have been 

 absent at Cuzco when the attack was made on the mines. 

 These tumults, accompanied by much bloodshed, continued 

 until 1669, when the Viceroy Count of Lemos came to Puno 

 in person, and settled the question by sending Jose and 

 Gaspar de Salcedo to Lima, where Jose was tried, condemned, 



^ In 1663 the mines of Laycaycota, 

 Cancharani, and San Antonio de 

 Esquilaclie, near Pimo, produced 



1,500,000 dollars' worth of silver in one 

 year ! — SKllers Memoirs, ii. p. 238. 



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