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 HONDURAS: THE NEW ELDORADO 
 
 ^SOMETHING of the wonderful wealth, 
 va^ natural resources and unequaled op- 
 portunities of the sunny Southern Republic 
 of Honduras. An authoritative handbook 
 on its romantic hi^ory, marvelous resources 
 and brilliant prospeds. 
 
 Copyrighted 1900 by 
 L. S. SCOTT 
 

 This edition of HONDURAS : THE 
 NEW ELDORADO, is limited to 
 1 ,000 numbered and signed copies, 
 of which this is No 
 
 )CI.A251768 
 
 J. G. HAU8ER, New Oileana 
 
Fo 
 
 rewori 
 
 So long as the mineral resources of our country remained unexploited, the cry of the seeker after 
 wealth and opportunity was ever "Westward Ho!" 
 
 But many years have now elapsed since the advance-guard of civilization swept Westward to the 
 Rockies, past the great Continental Divide and on to the shores of the blue Pacific. 
 
 Here nature set her impassible boundary to Western enterprise. The vast natural resources of this 
 country have now been prospected; the areas which contain the same, have been ascertained and well 
 defined, and the opportunities which once existed for investment in rich virgin territory has become well 
 nigh exhausted. 
 
 The frozen North has been entered, and its profitable domains are now in the hands of a few great 
 corporations and capitalists. 
 
 If, therefore, the investor who seeks stability coupled with large returns, looks to the West, or to the 
 North, he finds them barren of real opportunity. 
 
 But, turn your eyes to the South — to that vast country exceeding in territorial domain the United 
 States of America; exceeding in natural wealth, not only this country, but all of the British possessions 
 to the north of us; exceeding in fields for profitable investment, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australasia 
 combined. 
 
 The world has moved rapidly in the last ten years, but nowhere else has the stride of progress been 
 swifter than in the Central American Republics. 
 
 Much has been due to the initiative America has taken in the building of the Panama Canal; but 
 if Americans have themselves become educated to the advantages and opportunities in the sunny Republics 
 to the south of us, with their illimitable mineral resources, sufficiency of labor and mild climate, these 
 Republics have also responded to the modern progressive American spirit. 
 
 Where once reigned chaos and political disorder, to-day we find stability, progress cind American 
 enterprise. 
 
 Latin-America has awakened from its long lethargy. The slumber of centuries has been broken 
 by the tocsin of Modem Industry. 
 
 Mile after mile of railroad track is being laid; thousands of Americans have entered these enormously 
 profitable fields and stability, changed sanitary conditions and prosperity are in evidence every^Afhere. 
 
 Now Honduras, the Colder Land, richer, in fact, than was ever the fabled Eldorado, is being 
 exploited by American energy and American capital. 
 
 No country on the face of the entire globe — and this statement is based upon actual facts — contains 
 so great an extent of immensely valuable mineral territory — is so marvellously rich in the deposits of 
 precious metals — and offers so great returns upon such a small expenditure of capital, as will be found 
 in the Republic of Honduras. 
 
 Germany, England, France, and Holland are pouring their surplus wealth into this country for 
 profitable inve^ment. 
 
 America's shrewder financiers — keen to scent inveftment opportunities, have joined hands with 
 capitalists of other countries and are placing at the disposal of Honduras, millions of dollars to be returned 
 to them many thousandfold. 
 
 It is to furnish the man who desires to largely increase his means, upon a comparatively small in- 
 vestment in the moft profitable inve^ment field today open, this book is written. 
 
 It is also the purpose of this book to put into the reader's hands reliable statistics in reference to the 
 enormously profitable industry of Gold and Copper Mining to enable you to arrive at a just '.appre- 
 ciation of the true basis of wealth, upon which not only the greatest fortunes of this country are founded, 
 but upon which hundreds of thousands of people are drawing incomes that enable them to dwell in com- 
 fort and luxury. 
 
 The faifls speak for themselves. They need no comment. 
 
Metal Mining ; The Main Factor in Wealth Building 
 
 There is no field of human endeavor which offers larger returns upon capital invested, in a shorter 
 time, than mining. 
 
 These three statements must be understood as standing together. 
 
 Mining mu^ necessarily make a larger return to the investor, than a commercial induftry. 
 
 The life of a mine is limited, and the net yield must not only pay interest upon the principal; but 
 muft also return the principal itself. 
 
 This is called amortization; which term is merely a brief way to express the idea that the principal 
 invested in an enterprise muSt be returned. 
 
 Therefore, when a mine is paying — we will say 20 per cent a year — 10 per cent of that for the fir^ 
 ten years must be counted on to replace principal. All over that is "velvet." 
 
 V. A. Wilbur, Cashier of the Miners & Citizen's Bank of Yellville, Ark., in addressing the Arkansas 
 Bankers' Convention, at Little Rock, said: 
 
 "The cloud of mystery that has always hung over the mining industry 
 coupled with the abuses to which it has, in the past, been subjected by unprincipled 
 curb operators places its exponent under suspicion, whenever he approaches a 
 conservative banker. However, 1 trust that I shall not startle you when 1 state, 
 that every banker in the State of Arkansas— iiom the officers of the Miners & 
 Citizens' Bank, up in Marion County, down to the humblest bank president in 
 Little Rock — is interested in mining. The word mine is defined by Webster as a 
 verb, meaning to "dig." 
 
 Mining is digging — not stock jobbing. Yet successful mining looks not only to creating a steady 
 source of revenue, but to the increase in the actual market price of the stock itself. 
 
 This is what makes the speculative element — the strong probability — the almost certainty — that the 
 stock you buy this year for a thousand dollars, you can sell next year for two thousand, or five thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Mining is one of the greater sources of wealth of which our country boa^s, and, as was remarked 
 by the New York Commercial, "It is believed by conservative observers to be rather more free from 
 financial risk than most of the approved lines of trade upon our business streets." 
 
 Gold: The Basis of National and Industrial Prosperity 
 
 It is a far cry from "the land of Havilah, where there is Gold, and the Gold of that land is good," 
 the first land commended in the Bible, and which is commended for its Gold — to Honduras; The New 
 Eldorado. 
 
 The voyage of the Argonauts was a Grecian rush to new gold fields; the Golden Fleece, but wooly 
 sheep's hide still used by the natives in the tropics to collect Gold; the Rhine Gold legions relate to the 
 same subject. 
 
 Gold has been the object of man's first search, the means of his civilization, and the inspiration of 
 his grandest poetry and legends, his education, cultivation and the means by which he has been enabled 
 to enter into larger fields of usefulness to others and employment for himself. 
 
 The search has never really ended. If not secured by one people from mines, it was got from another 
 by conquer. As the tide of the Gold supply has ebbed Emd flowed, so has man's prosperity ebbed and 
 flowed. 
 
 At present the tide is coming in. Within limits we can predidt it« arrival and its height. It is, indeed, 
 a flood tide. 
 
 And we predi<ft the flood will come from Honduras! 
 
The Golden Harvest 
 
 For those keen minds with whom Gold is a subjetft of study, there is much interesting information 
 in a series of tables recently published by the Bureau of Stati^ics of the Treasury Department. 
 
 According to the figures presented, the world's ^ock of Gold has increased 50 per cent in the las' 
 ten years and doubled in the last twenty-five. 
 
 The total output of the metal since the discovery of America by Columbus is placed at Thirteen 
 Billions of Dollars. 
 
 The Gold coin of the World is estimated at $7,000,000,000. 
 
 The hoarding of Gold is not practiced alone by men as individuals. The habit is one in which 
 Nations indulge and at times as greedily as by the most grasping miser. The tables quoted give the 
 following as the Gold holdings of the leading nations: 
 
 United States $1,613,000,000 
 
 Germany 1,044.000,000 
 
 France 926,000,000 
 
 Russia 917,000,000 
 
 United Kingdom 565,000,000 
 
 Austria-Hungary 303,000,000 
 
 Italy 258,000,000 
 
 Australia 158,000,000 
 
 Egypt 140,000,000 
 
 Argentina 140,000,000 
 
 Turkey 132,000,000 
 
 India ' 113,000.000 
 
 Japan 96,000,000 
 
 Canada 66.000,000 
 
 BrazU 51,000,000 
 
 These statistics show that the United States has a greater supply of available Gold than any other 
 nation. 
 
 Where has this Gold come from? Not from our borders alone. Much has been brought in from 
 American enterprises to the South of us. 
 
 Of the $13,000,000,000 of Gold dug from the earth since the landmg of Columbus, $2,000,000,000 
 have disappeared and are unaccounted for. Where has it gone? Some ol it is certainly hidden away 
 in old stockings and kettles; some has gone to the bottom of the sea in loft ships, and some, perhaps, 
 lies buried where it was placed by the pirates of romance. 
 
 We frequently hear of the fabulous hoardings of the Gold-hungry nobles of India, and it is quite 
 possible that a large sum of the World's missing treasure is secreted in that land ot misery and myftery. 
 But taking the moft liberal estimates as to the amounts thus withdrawn from the World's product, the 
 total ftill falls far short of the $2,000,000,000 reported as missing. 
 
 A Digression 
 
 "The supply of Gold has increased 50 per cent in the last ten years," says the Bureau of Statiftics. 
 Mark that and ponder it well. 
 
 Truly a man who has not doubled his means has not kept pace with our National prosperity. 
 
 In homely terms it is "up to him" to find the reason why. 
 
 Lack of confidence in self; lack of that quality the successful man calls "nerve "; want of discernment 
 
to distinguish real opportunity from the sham article; inability to properly discriminate; these are promi- 
 nent {a(5tors that make up individual u^prosperity. 
 
 Opportunity knocks at every man's door, but woe to the man who will not heed it! 
 
 The man who is always suspicious — the man who is always skeptical — the man who never sees 
 good faith in anyone, or anything — ^who knocked out once, stays knocked out — who deceived once, 
 looks upon all men as rogues — becomes subject to the worSl of all deception — the deception of the self 
 deceiver. 
 
 Apply to a mining inveftment those plain, ordinary principles of common sense you exercise in 
 your every day affairs. 
 
 All capital lor growing enterprises must come from the public in one channel or another. 
 
 Men with large capital naturally wish to control the destinies of enterprises in which they inveft. 
 
 But put yourself in the place of men who are not large capitalists; but are and have been successful 
 and who desire to expand a business, which has demonstrated for years its ability to return largely upon 
 money, brains and energy put into it — would you wish to part with the control of your business? 
 
 No! You would do like everyone else does — you would place your matter squarely, honestly, 
 truthfully before the public and say: 
 
 "This is what 1 have done in the past — this is what 1 absolutely know 1 can do in the future," and 
 you would intere^ public capital by proving down to the ground the stability of your business, the larger 
 possibilities for you and those associated in the enterprise. 
 
 Corporations seek additional capital not because they are philanthropies, but from a cold business 
 standpoint. They need you — but you need them more! Without the opportunity to inve^ there is not 
 the opportunity to make money. 
 
 And that need of a legitimate corporation makes the opportunity of the investor. 
 
 "Opportunity knocks at every man's door" — hackneyed, abused, misused as this phrase has been, 
 it nevertheless is true — absolutely and unqualifiedly true — because it is based upon an everlasting principle. 
 
 Truly we may ask, not why men inve^ in miningj^ock — but how can they help it? 
 
 Avenues of Wealth 
 
 New fields for investment are continually being opened up; new opportunities created. 
 
 There are many forms of inveftment. 
 
 No man wants to invest in a prospedt of any kind — whether it be a prospe<5live bank, or a proi- 
 pecftive mine. That is never an investment — that is speculation. Every man who puts his money into 
 such a prospecft, be the nature of the business what it may, muft be prepared to take a larger percentage 
 of chances. 
 
 There is, however, an intermediate Sate where an investment can be made, which has a known 
 and well ascertained speculative value. Let us take a concrete example — not of a mine, but of a Truft 
 Company. 
 
 In one year the Union TruSt Company of Pittsburg, Pa., earned 302 per cent. In one year the 
 Chemical National Bank paid 150 per cent. The Fifth Avenue Bank of New York City paid 100 
 per cent. 
 
 B®"One hundred and twenty-four banks and trust companies in five of our cities alone are paying 
 from 10 per cent to 100 per cent annually on the par value of their flock. Not one of them is paying 
 less than 10 per cent! 
 
 The man who bought in any of these flocks when the enterprises were in a prospective stage wa« 
 not an investor, but a speculator. 
 
 The man who buys in all these stocks now, is not a speculator, but an investor. 
 
 For a man who wants safety in his investments and speculative profits as well, there is only one form 
 
in the known world, and that is where an enterprise has demonstrated for years by absolute test its 
 ability to make returns with sufficient money inve^ed. 
 
 Such an investor is not only sure of a fair return of interest upon the money inve^ed, in a short time, 
 but is reasonably assured of a much higher price for his ^ock when the rate of intereft upon his inve^ment 
 increases. 
 
 This is a facft which is called to the attention of every thinking man, and when all the facfls are 
 stated in connection with it, he is able to form an intelligent and correct conclusion. 
 
 The Gold Production of the World 
 
 Estimate the yield of Gold at 21,000,000 lbs., which it is in round numbers, and all the Gold in 
 the world might, if melted into ingots, be contained in a cellar twenty-four feet square and sixteen feet 
 high. 
 
 It is said that all the boafted wealth already obtained from California and Au^ralia would go into 
 an iron safe nine feet square and nine feet high — so small is the cube of yellow metal that has set popu- 
 lation on the march and aroused the whole world to wonder. 
 
 Gold is an aristocrat. It doesn't need to work. So long as people can survey the steel vaults of the 
 Banks of England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, the United States Treasury, and the re^ of 
 the depositories and know the Gold is there, they are happy and content. It's a sort of mind cure. Imagine 
 piling up all the coal in a dozen big heaps, letting nobody carry any of it away, and expecting the com- 
 munity to keep warm by reason of knowing it's there, and you will have a parallel which Gold bear* 
 to commerce. 
 
 The discoveries of Columbus might have amounted to as little as did the earlier adventures of the 
 Norsemen in the American hemisphere, but for the facft that the early Spanish explorers found Gold 
 in Mexico, Honduras and Peru. That was what induced the wanderluft in the mediaeval European* 
 and led them to seek out and explore and at length to colonize the new lands of the We^. 
 
 The world's Gold mines produced in 1908 at the rate of approximately $425,000,000 per annum. 
 
 Prior to 1 700 the world's production averaged $5,000,000; from 1 700 to 1 750 it averaged $1 0,000,000 
 a year; from 1750 to 1850 it averaged $12,000,000.': With the discovery of Gold in the United States'in 
 1849 and a little later in Australia, the world's production increased ten-fold, the annual output of Gold 
 mines averaging $100,000,000 per annum from 1850 to 1890. 
 
 From that time forward the growth was still more rapid, exceeding $300,000,000 in 1899. 
 
 As a result of the rapid growth in Gold produtftion in recent years, the Gold output of the world'* 
 mines during the 10 years ending in 1908 aggregates $3,400,000,000, while the producfl of the preceding 
 15 years aggregated $2,400,000,000, making a total of nearly $6,000,000,000 worth of Gold produced 
 in the laft 25 years. 
 
 In twenty-five years the world's produdl of Gold has increased about 425 per cent. That is, it ha* 
 grovsm from $95,392,000 in 1883 to $404,000,000 in 1907. This latter figure is furnished by Frank A. 
 Leach, Director of the Mint. 
 
 In twelve short years the increase is over 100 per cent. 
 
 In 1908 producfl was probably close to the $425,000,000 mark, and by the laft year of this decade 
 of the new century, we shall see a round half billion in value of gold added to the world's stock. 
 
Profits in Gold Stocks 
 
 What have been the returns to holders of Gold stocks? 
 
 Let us take those whose mines are situated south of the United States. 
 
 We will confine ourselves to Latin-America. 
 
 Thirty-seven companies operating in Latin-America have already paid shareholders in dividends 
 $58,307,432. They returned 66 per cent on their outstanding capitalization. 
 
 Where the companies operate gold, silver and lead properties, they have to their credit in dividend 
 disbursements $42,614,388, which is equivalent to a return of 85 per cent upon their issued capitalization. 
 
 Three copper properties have returned 38 per cent on issued capitalization. 
 
 These are, of course, only a portion, and a very small portion, of the returns on Latin-American 
 mines. There are a great many properties in Latin-America paying tremendous dividends which are 
 close corporations and which do not publish returns. 
 
 Compare this with a return made to railroads. This calculation was made a short time ago. 
 
 Railroads 
 
 Dividends Paid 
 
 Capilalization Since 1901 
 
 Pennsylvania $400,000,000 $93,736,422 
 
 New York Central 250.000,000 40,504,668 
 
 Chicago Great Western 119,000.000 81,140,028 
 
 Erie 197,000,000 10,959,840 
 
 Sanu Fe 283,486,000 56,172.573 
 
 Union Pacific 396,178,700 63,659,286 
 
 Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 282,838,300 44,698.871 
 
 Chesapeake and Ohio 62,790,700 3,699.612 
 
 Southern Railway 180,000.000 17,400,000 
 
 Reading . . . . • 140,000,000 16,240,000 
 
 Rock Island 150,000.000 21,324,294 
 
 Wabash 200,000.000 735,000 
 
 Frisco 100,000,000 4,613,484 
 
 Southern Pacific 300,000,000 10,485,556 
 
 Baltimore and Ohio 212.750,000 40,724,334 
 
 Total $3,274,043,700 $506,012,608 
 
 Fifteen per cent of dividends of Capitalization, where Latin-American Gold, Silver and Lead 
 Properties have paid 85 per cent. 
 
 Par Value and Selling Price 
 
 Here is the par value of some Latin-American stocks, and their market value at various times when 
 sales were made: 
 
 Name of Mine Par Value Market Value 
 
 Blanca y An $200.00 $430.00 
 
 El Barreno Avtada 10.00 120.00 
 
 El Barreno Avadoro lO.CO 120.00 
 
 Dos Estrellas 100.00 7,300.00 
 
 Fraternal 10.00 620.00 
 
Green Con . 10.00 30.62 
 
 Guadalupe, F. y Eno Not known 200.00 
 
 Lustre 10.00 36.00 
 
 Lux de Borda Avida 10.00 20.00 
 
 Lux de Bordia Aviadora 10.00 24.00 
 
 MaraviUas y San Eugenio 50.00 210.00 
 
 Naica 100.00 15,000.00 
 
 Natividad Aviadora 30.00 650.00 
 
 Natividad Aviadas 30.00 650.00 
 
 Novias de Ba Jan 20.00 850.00 
 
 Penoles 100.00 1,400.00 
 
 Real del Monte Not known 830.00 
 
 Providencia, S. J 15.00 235.00 
 
 San Pablo 50.00 115.00 
 
 San Ratael 50.00 2,375.00 
 
 San Ratael Aviada 50.00 760.00 
 
 Sta. Maria de Gaud 2.00 103.00 
 
 Soledad 40.00 1,075.00 
 
 Supressa 40.00 490.00 
 
 Esperanza 5.00 2,400.00 
 
 El Oro 5.00 1.200.00 
 
 Grand Central 5.00 75.00 
 
 Carmen (Pachuca) 25.00 320.00 
 
 Carmen Guanajuanto 5.00 15.00 
 
 Candelaria de Pinos 1.00 120.00 
 
 Union Mill 180.00 550.00 
 
 Victoria y An Unknown 125.00 
 
 Elsta Maria la Paz Unknown 235.00 
 
 MaraviUas, el Lobo 50.00 180.00 
 
 Amislad y Cordia 50.00 240.00 
 
 It mu^ be borne in mind that such stocks are often so closely held, so seldom change hands that it 
 is difficult to get their records. 
 
 These are reliable and as complete as possible. 
 
 Some Latin-American Profit Payers 
 
 An interesting statement showing the growth in value of Latin-American mines was issued not long 
 ago by a New York statistician. This table includes the following paying companies: 
 
 Norias de Bijan Gold Mining Company's stock sells at $425 a share; its par value is $10. B^^One 
 hundred shares purchased for $1 ,000 are worth $42,500. 
 
 The Carmen Gold and Silver Mining Company's stock is $25 par, and it sells for $120; fl@"$l,000 
 invested at par is now worth $4,800 and has received $3,786. 
 
 Dos Estrellas Gold and Silver Mining Company's stock is $50 par; 8@"$| ^000 purchased 20 
 shares, and is now worth $70,000. The stock is selling for $3,500 a share, and has received in dividends 
 $7,640. 
 
 El Barreno Gold and Silver Mining Compan)'s stock is $5 par, and now sells for $62.50 a share; 
 S&°a. thousand dollars invested in this company is now Vi^orth $12,400, and has received $5,800 in 
 dividends. 
 
 The Fraternal Silver Mining Company's stock is $5 par, and now sells for $310 a share; SS^a 
 thousand dollars invested is now worth $62,000, and has received in dividends $17,756. 
 
 Naica Mining Company's stock is $300 par, fi@°' three shares of this company bought at par for 
 $900 are worth $21 ,000 for the stock sells at $7,000 a share; the Naica Company pays dividends, but 
 we have no record of the amount that has been^paid. 
 
Penoles Gold and Silver Mining Company; stock of this company is $25 par; BS^a thousand 
 dollars invested at par is now worth $140,000 and has received in dividends $1 ,051 ,000. 
 
 Providencia, S. J. De Luz Company's stock is $15 par; B@°'$1,000 purchased 66 shares; the 
 shares sell for $122.50; that amount of money invested is now worth $8,085, and has received in 
 dividends $1,980. 
 
 San Rafael Gold and Silver Company's stock sells at $1 ,1 87 a share; the stock is $25 par; S®" $ 1 ,000 
 invested in this company at par is worth over $45,000, and has received in dividends $8,850. 
 
 Soledad Silver and Lead Mining Company's stock is $20 par and sells for $528; 8®°"$! ,000 
 invested at par is now worth $26,400, and has received in dividends $22,400. 
 
 Will an investment of $1 ,000 in a Latin-American mine pay? 
 
 The above list answers that question. 
 
 The investor who can buy stock in a going, shipping, Latin-American mine at the par value oi 
 its stock is indeed a favored individual. And it can only be gotten when such a company is in need of 
 large improvements upon which it can make still larger returns. 
 
 -B^^One hundred dollars invested in the San Carlos Mine, of Minillas, Zacatecas, Mexico, three 
 years ago, grew $4,200. The mine has paid $224,079 in dividends. 
 
 8®" One hundred dollars invested in the Santa Maria de Guadalupe y Anexas, of Minillas, Zaca- 
 tecas, Mexico, four years ago, grew to $46,000. The mine has paid $377,918 in dividends. 
 
 Figure out what a $1,000 investment would have done in these mines — and what $10,000 would 
 have done — has done in many cases, as a matter of fa<5l. 
 
 More Latin-American Returns for Investors 
 
 Here is a list of Dividends and Profits to Investors that almost stagger us. It is a lisl printed in the 
 Minini World. It is absolutely reliable and authentic. 
 
 Authorized Number of 
 
 Capital Shares 
 
 Stock Issued 
 
 Amistad y Concordia $ 480,000 $ 9,600 
 
 Amparo 3,000,000 2,520,000 
 
 Bartolome de Medina Mill 50,000 2,000 
 
 Batopilas 9,000,000 446,268 
 
 Dolores 2,000,000 400,000 
 
 Dos Estrellas (El Oro) 150,000 300,000 
 
 ElOro 5.750,000 1,147,500 
 
 Esperanza 2,275,000 450,000 
 
 Fraternal 5,000 1,000 
 
 Greene Gold-Silver 3,000,000 300,000 
 
 Greene Con 10,000,000 864,000 
 
 Greene Con 5,000,000 450,000 
 
 Guanajuato Con 3,000,000 540,000 
 
 Guanajuato Dev 1,000,000 10,000 
 
 Guggenheim Exploration 22,000,000 170,000 
 
 Hinds Con 5,000,000 5,000,000 
 
 Las CabriUas 10,400 1,040 
 
 Mexican 1,250,000 12,500 
 
 Mexico Con 2,500,000 240,000 
 
 Mexican Mill & Trans 2,000,000 12,500 
 
 Mexico Mines of El Oro 900.000 180,000 
 
 Minas Pedrazzini 1,000,000 1,000,000 1 248,907 
 
 
 Total 
 
 'ar Value 
 
 to Date 
 
 $50 
 
 $ 429.358 
 
 1 
 
 186,000 
 
 25 
 
 103,591 
 
 20 
 
 55,870 
 
 5 
 
 391,300 
 
 0.50 
 
 3,780,000 
 
 5 
 
 5,333,260 
 
 5 
 
 10,207,500 
 
 5 
 
 206,288 
 
 10 
 
 194,871 
 
 10 
 
 6,137,800 
 
 10 
 
 300,000 
 
 5 
 
 600,000 
 
 100 
 
 124,356 
 
 100 
 
 7,385,277 
 
 1 
 
 88,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 482,800 
 
 100 
 
 787,500 
 
 10 
 
 660,000 
 
 100 
 
 65,858 
 
 5 
 
 438,300 
 
Mitchell 8.000,000 500,000 10 92,318 
 
 Montezuma 500,000 5,000 100 297,500 
 
 Montezuma M. & Sm 500,000 500,000 I 80,000 
 
 Penoles 125,000 2,500 50 4.366,685 
 
 Peregrina 1.000,000 10,000 100 223,656 
 
 Pinguico 2,000,000 20,000 100 240,000 
 
 Providencia 90,000 6.000 15 963,360 
 
 San Carlos 500,000 500,000 1 40,000 
 
 Securities Corporation 200,000 2,000 100 42,000 
 
 San Francisco Mill 150.000 6,000 25 445,086 
 
 San Rafael 60,000 2,400 25 3,179,938 
 
 Soledad 19,200 960 20 773,471 
 
 Sorpresa 19,200 19,200 20 347.438 
 
 Sta. Cert, y Guadalupe 3,000,000 60,000 .... 3,960,000 
 
 Sta. Maria del Paz 9,600 sh. 9.000 .... 2,436,659 
 
 Teziutlan 10.000,000 8,000 100 1,955,000 
 
 Union Mill 150,000 10,000 50 656,386 
 
 About forty years ago Julia A. Munson made a deposit of $1 50 in the National Savings Bank of 
 New Haven, Conn. At her death, no one knevv' she had this deposit, and it was only recently one of 
 the bank employees learned of this dormant account. Relatives were informed of its existence. Today 
 that deposit with accrued interest amounts to $850. 
 
 It has taken 40 years for that $1 50 to grow to $850! 
 
 We know of actual cases where $1 invested in mining enterprises in 18 years was worth from $890 
 to $2,400. 
 
 We know of five mines where this was done. 
 
 Can these fads be for an instant doubted when it is remembered that the Silver mines of Zacatas 
 have yielded about $1,000,000,000. The Santa Eulalia have yielded $400,000,000. Valenciana has 
 paid royalty on more than $1,000,000,000, and the Rosario Mine is estimated to have an output of 
 $75,000,000? 
 
 Copper: Its Value and Economy 
 in Modern Industrial Life 
 
 No permanent mining industry is established, and no substantial commercial development is secured 
 until the mining of the base metals and of the bulky materials, especially coal, is begun. 
 
 Base metal mining is distinguished by the growth of permanent towns, often cities, and an enduring 
 population. This has been the history of the United States — it is becoming the history of Honduras— it 
 will be the history of South America. 
 
 Copper : A Base Metal 
 
 The history of copper is lost in the mists of antiquity. It was known to the ancients thousands of 
 years before the discovery of iron. It was one of the six metals mentioned in the Old Testament— and 
 Tubal Cain was the firft known artificer of iron and brass. 
 
 'J' Historical discoveries recendy made in Egypt have shown that the Egyptian had a knowledge of 
 copper so early as 7,000 B. C. and at a date considerably more remote. 
 
 By 5,500 B. C. copper was in general use in Egypt. 
 
Copper mines were fir^ worked on Mount Ida and Asia Minor and on Mount Sinai. These latter 
 mines must have been worked for many thousands of years, because we know that they were in operation 
 as late as 1,300 B.C. 
 
 , Copper with its alloys entered not only at a very early date into the ornamental uses of the people 
 of antiquity, but into their daily economy. 
 
 Bronze was used for making tools and weapons and for inscriptions antedating the great pyramids. 
 The olde^ piece of bronze to which we can establish a date is a knob from the scepter of Peti, the Firft, 
 Pharaoh of Egypt, around the year 3,000 B. C. Surely in the days of Pharaoh, Copper was Kingl 
 
 Copper was used in those dim lit times for statues, money, armor and farm implements, household 
 utensils, nails, locks, butts, hardware, for chariots and boats, for jewelry and general decorative pur- 
 poses. And while the Pharaohs were mining copper on Sinai at "Ur of the Chaldees," copper was 
 being gathered from Northern Arabia. 
 
 The Greeks were familiar with its use from their earliest known history. The Phoenicians mined 
 copper at Cypress and later brought it from Iberia and still later from Cornwall. 
 
 Spain has been furnishing copper to the old world for nearly — or quite — 3,000 years, and remains 
 one of the principal sources of the world's supply. 
 
 Hoary with age — with a wealth production so fabulous no man can hazard a guess — with a history 
 that runs back a thousand years before the Christian Era — is a copper mine — the Rio Tinto of Spain, 
 now belonging to the Rothschilds. 
 
 Think of a mine that has produced for over 3,000 years — that had been turning out wealth for a 
 thousand years when Julius Ceasar was subduing the Gaul — when Antony and Cleopatra were floating 
 down the Nile — when Augustus Caesar was establishing the Great Roman Empire! 
 
 This mine has endured all the changes of time and fortune — the vicissitudes of the human race, 
 and to-day with thirty centuries back of it, it one of the world's great copper producers. 
 
 The Rio Tinto may well be called Mother of all Mines. 
 
 The Rennelsburg's Mines in Germany were opened about 933 and have been producers for nearly 
 a thousand years. 
 
 The Mansfield of Saxony, Germany, was opened up in the year 1 199 and became immensely 
 profitable. 
 
 Yet after all these years it is now producing an increase of ten fold. 
 
 In 1228 the mines of Falun, Sweeden, were opened up and are still producing. 
 
 In 1 799 Norway was producing 480 tons of fine copper and the copper mines of Norway are pro- 
 ducing to-day. 
 
 Copper is a sturdy King among metals to-day. As the age of steel followed the age of iron, so the 
 succeeding industrial epoch is to be the age of Electricity, whose foundation is copper. Already this 
 metal adds five hundred million dollars each year to the wealth of the world, and its reign is still in its 
 sturdy youth. 
 
 The Uses of Copper in the World's Economy 
 
 Few people realize the many new uses to which copper is being put. 
 
 The opinion seems to be general that all of our copper goes into electrical apparatus. The fact of 
 the matter is that the favorable showing in the matter of consumption, over the last several years, has 
 
 12 
 
been the result of the enormous amount of copper going into buildings, the arts, etc. Copper for''roofing 
 purposes is becoming more and more general. Take the new buildings going up, the amount of copper 
 used is enormous. Copper is being substituted for sheet iron and steel for protecting wood work. I 
 could name a thousand different articles now made from copper that several years ago were made from 
 steel, wood, etc. 
 
 This country is to-day consuming close to 600,000,000 pounds of copper a year, or not far below 
 normal consumption. We all know that the electrical companies have not been active. They have 
 been consuming about 50 per cent of the normal amount of copper used by them. The good show- 
 ing in the matter of consumption in a depressed period, therefore, must be due to sources of consump- 
 tion other than electricity. It is my belief that when the railroads and other corporations become active 
 in construction work, there will be a scramble for copper. Next year the stocks on hand in this country, 
 as well as Europe, should be wiped out. 
 
 Yet to electricity copper owes its greater demand. 
 
 Electricity is not the power of to-morrow- it is the power of to-day. It will continue to grow. 
 
 Electrical engineering trades of to-day, with $3,000,000,000 of capital and an annual output of 
 power apparatus valued at $275,000,000, stares us in the face. 
 
 These are figures that will not down. 
 
 Periods of depression may come— months of financial unrest — even panics — but nothing can stay 
 the march of progress. 
 
 The Bell telephone wire, overhead and underground, if strung out into one length of copper wire, 
 would reach thirty-seven limes as far as the moon, or 360 times around the earth. And the telephone 
 lines are being extended at an amazing rate. They have doubled in the last four years. Last year 
 the wiring increased from 7,500,000 miles to 8, 600,000 miles; it has since grown beyond 9,000,000 miles. 
 The amount of copper in Bell lines increased from 320,000,000 pounds in 1905, to 375,000,000 pounds 
 in 1906, to 430,000,000 pounds in 1907, and now it is close to half a billion— a million pounds of new 
 wire a week, more than all the mines of the country produced when Anaconda was opened up, thirty 
 years ago, more than the whole world produced sixty years ago. The independent telephone lines also 
 consume many millions of pounds of copper. For instruments and switchboards, millions of pounds 
 more copper are used by the telephone lines. One manufacturing company, controlled by the Bell lines, 
 uses 80,000,000 pounds of copper a year making wire and intsruments. The companies making telephones 
 for the independent lines use many millions more. 15,000,000 miles of copper wire are to-day in use. 
 
 For twenty odd years we have been constructing trolley roads, and the wires that carry the electric 
 power over nearly 50,000 n|iles of track contain more than 100,000,000 pounds of copper. Now, there 
 is a mile of electric railway for every five miles of steam road, but before many years, in the opinion of 
 electrical engineers, the proportion will be reversed. A million miles of trolley in this country is no wild 
 dream. In the meantime many steam locomotives will be sent to the scrap heap. We have already 
 seen the beginning of this revolution in the casting aside of the locomotives on the New York elevated 
 railways and the substitution of electric for steam locomotives at the New York terminals of the New 
 Haven and New York Central Roads. 
 
 The heavy power lines at the Grand Central terminal aie big users of copper, and this is only the 
 beginning of the era of steam road electrification. It will not be long before all trains running out of 
 New York to Boston, Albany and Philadelphia will be driven by electricity, and then will follow the 
 electrification of other zones of congested steam traffic. 
 
 The copper mines of the world confidently look forward to the electrification of the steam roads to 
 give a great impetus to copper mining in the course of the next few years. The consumption of copper 
 
in electrifying the railroads will be enormous, for the metal will be used in making dynamos and motors, 
 as well as in stringing the heavy conductors. There's a ton of copper in the motors of every big electric car. 
 
 With the spectacular harnessing of Falls of Niagara, started another revolution. A few years ago the 
 ordinary waterfall away from manufacturing towns was appreciated only by the artist and the nature 
 lover. There was occasionally to be found beside these falls picturesque ruins of abandoned sawmills, 
 long since superceded by steam-driven mills, and the big overshot wooden wheels were reminders of the 
 wonders ot the age of steam. But this is the age of electricity. Water power has come back to its 
 own. Nearly all the water powers in the East, and many in the West have been acquired by private 
 capital, for immediate use, or as a speculation until they are needed. 
 
 Water power can now be economically transformed into electric power and carried hundreds of miles 
 away on copper wires to drive machinery, light towns, and run electric cars. This development of 
 electrical engineering in the past ten years has been as rapid as it has been amazing. But the revolution 
 has only begun. Mighty cataracts in the heart of Africa have been harnessed to drive machinery of 
 mines many miles away over the mountains. In Mexico and South America where waterfalls have been 
 neglected since the world began, American engineers are installing big power plants, and stringing the 
 copper conductors through virgin forests, and across mounlains,to mines and towns, sometimes two hundred 
 miles away. One of the biggest power dams in the world has been constructed on the ypper waters of 
 our own Hudson, and the electrical power is carried mile after mile up the beautiful Mohawk Valley to 
 light the streets, propel the trolleys, and run the mills of the towns on the old Indian trail. 
 
 The mountain torrents of the Sierra Nevadas, the Rockies, and the Cascades, are being harnessed 
 to electric dynamos, and electricity is transforming the West. Where twenty years ago an electric power 
 station was a curiosity to-day more than a tenth of all power generated in the country is carried by copper 
 wires. This progress has been possible because of the ability of the electrical engineer to can 3' 50,000 
 or 100,000 horse power on a copper conductor 300 miles with scarcely any loss. Some day it may be 
 cheaper to burn coal at the mines and carry the power away in the form of electricity than to transport 
 the coal. And perhaps we will develop so much water-electric power that we don't need the coal. To 
 carry electric power from generating stations for light, heat and power 200,000 miles of wire are now 
 in use. This wire contains 500,000,000 pounds of copper. The consumption is increasing enormously. 
 
 The telephone, the trolley, electric light, and electric power are the big consumers of coppper wire — 
 and all these inventions have been developed within the memory of the young man of to-day. The 
 telegraph is becoming yearly a larger user of copper, for copper, though much more costly, is a much 
 better conductor than iron, and lasts longer. On the telegraph poles along the big railroads now may 
 be seen the glistening strands of copper taking the place of the familiar iron wires. Ocean cables use 
 a good bit ot copper. The 200,000 miles of cable contain nearly 100,000,000 pounds. TTie new 
 Phillippine cable laid by the Government contains 3,600,000 pounds of copper. Millions of pounds 
 of copper wire are used in minor electric commucations, in messenger call systems and fire alarm and 
 burgular alarm s) stems. 
 
 For all these uses of copper wire in carrying electricity we are now consuming more than 200,000,000 
 pounds of copper a year. About 150,000,000 pounds of copper are used in the electric industry in 
 other terms than wire. These figures, it is to be noted, represent the top-notch of activity in the electric 
 industry before the panic crippled the mills. Just now consumption is at a reduced rate, but this is only 
 a temporary lull. In the boom we are now entering upon, the electric trades will need 500,000,000 pounds of 
 copper a year. The big consumers of copper in electric manufacturing are the mushroom growth 
 shops at Pittsburgh and Schenecftady, founded respectively, by Weftinghouse and Edison. They each 
 use more than a million pounds of copper a day when running full time. They account for 
 120,000,000 pounds of American copper consumption. 
 
 Next to the electric industry in copper consumption stands the brass industry. One-quarter of all 
 the copper mined in the country goes to the brass mills in the Naugatuck Valley, Conn. In that valley one 
 company, a combination of the leading rolling mills bought in 1906, upwards of 125,000,000 pounds 
 
of copper. The valley uses not far from 200,000,000 pounds a year— very nearly all the copper that 
 is used in brass rolling in the country. When the industry was founded in that valley a century ago by 
 the Phelpses, Goes and Hungerfords, the chief uses of brass were in making kettles and buttons. It 
 uses as much copper in a month as the whole world produced when the Yankees began building roll- 
 ing mills. 
 
 Varied are the uses of brass. There is the Yankee clockmaker. He is a big buyer of brass. One 
 mill in the Naugatuck Valley stamps out a hundred thousand brass watch dials a day. Nearly all the 
 works of clocks and watches are made of brass. The engineering trades consume huge amounts of 
 brass in building engines, boilers, machines, and shops. Millions of pounds of brass are now going into 
 motor cars and boats. Millions more are used in munitions of war. Cartridge cases for war and sport 
 are a big item in the copper industry, and when war begins anywhere in the world, the copper mines 
 look for trade. One Connecticut factory uses 12,000 pounds of copper daily in making eyelets, balls, 
 etc., for shoes. Hundreds of tons of copper go into the metal tips on lead pencils. One talcum manufac- 
 turer uses 6,000,000 brass cans a year. A few thousand tons of copper are used every year by tinmakers. 
 Brass, copper, or bronze valves, faucets, boiler tubes, roofs, brewing ketdes, sugar pans, gates, doors, 
 locks, electroliers, beds, lamps, scientific instruments— an endless variety of articles of commerce consume 
 the great copper output. 
 
 From the remotest days of antiquity copper has been used in coins. Copper has at times been 
 a standard of value, as gold is now, but now it is often "token" money. Our bronze cent coin contains 
 only a fraction of a cent's worth of metal. The Government uses upwards of 800,000 pounds of copper 
 a year in coinage. The slot machines are big consumers of copper. The guess is made that in England 
 alone $5,000,000 in copper pennies is constantly locked up in these machines. Our Government has 
 had to increase its copper coinage to keep pace with die appetite of penny-in-the-slot machines. 
 
 But China is the big buyer of copper for coinage. Four years ago shipload after shipload of copper 
 left the port of New York for China, and the world was mystified by this sudden demand from the 
 Orient. All sorts of queer stories got afloat. One story persistently circulated here and in Europe, 
 was that a crowd of millionaire speculators was attempting to raise the price of copper by shipping 
 it off to China, and cable news came from the Orient that mountains of American Copper were piling up 
 in the interior. In three years 100,000,000 pounds of copper were actually shipped to China, although 
 some people believed it was nearer 300,000,000 pounds. A good many million pounds came back 
 from China in the boom copper market two years ago, but the bulk of the enormous shipments remained 
 here. 
 
 What did the Chinese do with all this copper? Its a funny story. Some of the Chinese provincial 
 officials got the get-rich-quick fever from America, and concluded they couldn't get rich any easier than 
 by buying American Copper around 13 cents a pound and coining it^into "token" money— just as 
 the free silverites wanted to coin their millions of mined silver every year into twice as many millions of 
 dollars' worth of token "dollars." The Governors of the mints of Tien Tsin, Wuchang, Canton, and 
 Foochow bought 30,000,000 pounds of copper in 1904, and coined it into 372,000,000 ten-cash pieces 
 and 4,000,000 twenty-cash pieces. 
 
 But the Chinese money makers killed the goose that laid the golden egg. They tried to make 
 millions of dollars over night, and were buried under their own copper deluge. In 1905, China bought 
 70,000,000 pounds of copper from us, and the next year only 50,000. When copper went up to 20 and 
 25 cents a pound two years ago, there was a good profit in reshipping the Chinese purchases back here 
 for resale. 
 
 From out of the shafts of our copper mines more ore is raised now every twenty-four hours than was 
 mined in a whole year in the early 50's. 
 
 Without copper we would have no telephones, Broadway would be lighted by gas, and we would 
 still be riding on horse cars. 
 
Honduras: The New Eldorado 
 
 Honduras is the third largest of the five Republics of Central America. 
 
 It is the second Republic South of Mexico. 
 
 It lies between the Golden Caribbean — on the East Salvador and the blue Pacific on the West; 
 to the South is the Republic of Nicaragua, and to the North, the Bay of Honduras and Guatemala. 
 
 It has a sea coast of more than 400 miles, and an area of 46,250 square miles — equal to that of Penn- 
 sylvania and Rhode Island, or about the size of Ohio; with a population estimated at 745,000, or a little 
 over 16 persons to the square mile. Its area somewhat exceeds that of Louisiana or Tennessee, and 
 almost equals that of Alabama or Georgia. 
 
 Honduras is nearer to Washington than Colorado. 
 
 It is 700 miles nearer Chicago than San Francisco. 
 
 It is 1600 miles nearer New York City than California, and the Pacific Coast points. 
 
 It is nearer New Orleans than Cincinnati. 
 
 It's mineral wealth — wealth absolutely virgin and untouched — is probably greater than that contained 
 in all the states East of the Mississipppi, or any three states West of the same. 
 
 During the Spanish occupation of Honduras, this country produced in Gold alone, over $300,000,000. 
 
 Does the reader realize what this enormous production means, from this comparatively small 
 territory? 
 
 It is nearly as large as the present Gold holdings of India, Japan, Canada and Brazil combined. 
 
 It is nearly three times as large as the present Gold holdings of Turkey. 
 
 It is far in excess of the present combined Gold holdings of Egypt and Argentina. 
 
 It is nearly double the Gold holdings of Australia. 
 
 It is equal to the Gold holdings of the enormously wealthy Empire of Austria-Hungary. 
 
 It is twice as large as the production of the famous Alaska Placers from 1895 to 1904. 
 
 It is twelve times greater than the annual production of the enormously wealthy placers of Siberia. 
 
 It is more than the entire Gold production of the United States for the 61 years trom 1792 to 1853. 
 
 It is 75 per cent of the annual production of all the Gold mines in the world to-day! 
 
 These figures give us some idea of the enormous wealth confined in the small area of this sunny 
 Republic to the south of us. 
 
 Honduras Before the Spanish Conquest 
 
 There are no recoids extant to show the wealth of Honduras before the Spanish Conqueft. 
 
 To all intents and purposes, prior to the year 1521 , Honduras was a part of the Aztec Empire. 
 
 The Aztecs established themselves in Mexico in the Eleventh Century — the Century in which 
 William the Conqueror subjugated England. 
 
 Throughout the Republic are found numerous evidences of the existence of this pre-historic race. 
 They had reached an advanced stage of culture and civilization and were acquainted with many of the 
 refinements and luxuries of life, we know from the sculptured stones of Copan.- 
 
 ^Hieroglyphics adorning the ruined altars and massive idols of Western Honduras are the only records 
 which are now left. 
 
 The Spanish Conquerors were so absorbed in looting Mexico, they found small opportunity to do 
 more than assert a nominal sovereignty over Honduras, and this lauSl account for the fadl that so little 
 has come down to us of Honduas berfore the Spanish Conquer. 
 
The Spanish Conquest of Honduras 
 
 On the 14th of Auguft in the year of our Salvation, 1502, Christopher Columbus, the great Genoese 
 navigator, on his fourth and laSl voyage to the new World discovered what is now known as Cape Hon- 
 duras. 
 
 It is related that after leaving Point Casinas, the great discoverer sailed eastward toward Darian. 
 He encountered many severe storms and was unable to find any anchorage, until he reached the point 
 now knovvTi as Cape Gracias-a-Dios, which forms the boundary between Honduras and Guatemala. 
 Such was his feeling of thankfulness and relief, that in a bur^ of piety, Columbus exclaimed, "Thank 
 God, we have passed those Hondura (deep waters)!" 
 
 From this the present Republic of Honduras takes its name. t~ d^ 
 
 Columbus founded the town of Truxillo on the Bay of Honduras. t^-l^t^^ 
 
 A few years later the country was explored by Pedro de Alvaraddtarfa Christobal de Olid, who 
 came in with the Spanish Conquerors, entered Honduras with sword and fire and commenced what is 
 known as the Conquer of Honduras. 
 
 Then came Hernando Cortez, the Conqueror of Mexico, and one of the greater generals the world 
 has ever known. 
 
 This indomitable leader marched through the untracked wilderness of Mexico, what is now Guate- 
 mala, and from thence he entered into Honduras in the year 1524, from which we date the final Conquer 
 of Honduras and its subjugation to the Spanish Crown. 
 
 A chain of fortresses were established by the Spanish conquerors, and then commenced their search 
 for Gold. 
 
 The Spanish found practically all Honduras one vaSl deposit of gems and precious metals. 
 
 The opals of Honduras are among the moft valuable in the world. The fire-opal of Honduras 
 takes equal rank with that of Hungary. 
 
 The cupidity of the Spanish Conquerors was strongly aroused by the sight of the Gold ornaments 
 worn by the Indians who traded with them on the Mosquito coaft. now known as the department of 
 Colon. 
 
 The distridl now known as the departmenm of Olancho, moft conveniently entered from the port 
 of Truxillo, seems to have been the Mecca of the Spanish adventurers in Central America. 
 
 All its rivers and streams flowed over the precious gold-bearing sands that promised untold wealth 
 to the Castilian. 
 
 It is commonly believed that the only kind of mining done during the Spanish occupation was that 
 designated as placer mining. 
 
 The virgin streams of the north coa^ offered the mo^ remunerative fields to the Gold-hunter, in- 
 volving as they did no special outlay of skill, labor, or capital. 
 
 The discovery of silver was made some fifty-seven years after the fir^ Spanish invasion, but no 
 attempt was made to open up the mines. The work of Conqueft was in hand, and the Gold-bearing 
 streams and surface-veins offered a readier and more profitable venture. 
 
 About the beginning of the Seventeenth Century the opening of the silver veins was undertaken. 
 The mountains around what is now Santa Lucia were the scene of these primary operations. The ad- 
 joining distric5ts, or minerals, as they were called, of Santa Lucia and San Juan de Cantarranos are 
 designated as the lir^ regular mining camps established in Honduras. 
 
 In these mining districts are to be found to-day evidences of the methods of mining employed by 
 the workmen of those early days. These evidences indicate that such natural difficulties as were 
 successfully removed were overcome by mere brute force. No scientific knowledge whatever appears 
 to have been applied to the task; in fadl the degree of intelligence which directed these pioneer efforts 
 could not have been great. 
 
 From the time when miners were accustomed to split rocks by heating and then suddenly cooling 
 portions of the surface, until a very recent date, Honduras has been as far behind Mexico, in the im- 
 
provement of its mining processes, as Mexico has been behind the United States in this respecft. 
 
 While it is probable that no country, in proportion to its area, contains so much mineral wealth as 
 Honduras, yet like many another colony it was for a long time over-shadowed by more populous neigh- 
 bors, continuing to contribute its quota to the wealth of Spain. And this it is known to have done without 
 that encouragement which unquestionably, had it been given, would have brought this region into the 
 front rank of Spain's moft valuable possessions. 
 
 What Honduras produced under the Conquer will never be knowTi, but the moft conservative 
 records place its known production for gold alone, over $300,000,000. 
 
 The history of Honduras from the time of its discovery by Columbus in 1502, until the declaration 
 of its independence in 1821, may be summarized in the statement that it was a period of continued op- 
 pression and occasional massacre of the natives by the Spanish setders. Inhumanity follows inhumanity, 
 until the story of the Conqueft and settlement of the country becomes only another record chapter in the 
 record of Spanish adventure on the American continent. The struggle for Gold, and the erection of 
 what was practically a fuedal system, all but exterminated the Indian race. 
 
 Some idea of its wealth may be gained from Spanish local name and Church Records. 
 
 Tegucigalpa is a Spanish corruption of an Indian word signifying "Mountains of Silver "; and the 
 hills around the city have yielded precious metal in such abundance as to well warrant the appellation. 
 
 According to official statistical records, kept on file among the archives of the city, the mines of the 
 adjacent territory have yielded immense quantities of gold and silver, and that too under the disavdantages 
 of the crudeft systems of mining and processes of reduction. 
 
 Indeed it is believed that in no other known region of equal territorial extent are to be found so 
 many veins bearing the precious metals. 
 
 And the Spaniard with his crude methods hardly "scratched the surface"! 
 
 Seven miles north of Tegucigalpa is the Santa Lucia mine, one of the oldest and in time p&St one of 
 the moft richly productive districts of the whole country. 
 
 The amount of wealth received in the form of royalties from this region by the crown of Spain, 
 seems almo^ fabulous — although the facts are in the records. 
 
 Though scarcely a league square, Santa Lucia is known to contain no less than two hundred distindt 
 veins of ore! 
 
 An old aqueduA, built by the Spaniards, still furnishes the town with its water-supply for all ordinary 
 purposes. 
 
 Twenty miles beyond is the Los Angeles district, where similar conditions exift. 
 
 About the same distance to the southwest is the San Antonio mine, with two settlements, one on 
 either side of a ridge containing die ore-body. In both of these minerals large quantities of ore are in sight. 
 
 The veins of Tegucigalpa vary in width from one yard to ten or twelve yards. The celebrated 
 "blue vein" of Codros runs as high as forty-five to sixty yards in some places. 
 
 Within half a league of the town of Yuscaran, there are thirty-five known gold and silver mines. 
 
 In the department of Olancho, about as large as the State of Maryland, are streams and alluvial 
 deposits heavily impregnated with placer gold. 
 
 In the dry season of the year, considerable quantities of gold are washed from the streams by the 
 Indian women, who by the use of the primitive "Pan System," are accustomed to make their living in 
 this manner, alternately working and Idling. 
 
 The river bed of Guayape has been famous for its yield of gold-bearing sands, from the landing 
 of Columbus down to the present day. 
 
 In the development of the mining industry, there exists no evidence of great undertakings. Wherever 
 the signs of extensive operations appear, they are surrounded by those conditions which make such 
 operations practicable with the simple^ of appliances in the hands of the leaft intelligent of workmen. 
 
 The Corpus Christl mine in the department of Choluteca is said to have produced fabulous sums 
 of Gold. 
 
 To judge from the official records on file among the state and municipal archives of Honduras, the 
 amount of wealth produced by the mines in years gone by was simply enormous. For example, the 
 
Guayabillas mine alone, on the basis of "the King's fifth," a tribute to the Crown always scrupulously 
 exacted, paid taxes on its yield, from 1813 to 1817, inclusive, a period of five years, of no less than 
 $400,000. This shows a production for that brief period of not less than two million dollars. 
 
 Similar fragments of history might be cited with reference to other mines of this and the neighboring 
 districts. 
 
 That the precious metal could not have been exhausted by former workers in the mines is proven 
 beyond the shadow of a doubt. Mining was being carried on in 1820, until the separation from Spain 
 took place. At that time, the laborers of the country were scattered by the Revolution, and later those 
 who engaged in mining operations were utterly ignorant of the principles involved in profitable mining. 
 None of the old mines thus far examined show evidence of having been worked beyond a depth of four 
 hundred feet; nor has any miner been found in the country who knows of any mines showing greater 
 extent of operation than this. 
 
 Early Years of Free Honduras 
 
 It was in the year 1812 that the struggle for Independence began to take a tangible form. 
 
 In that year several insurrections took place in Salvador and Nicaragua. 
 
 But the Spaniard was yet a power in the land. He promptly put them down by the simple^ of all 
 repressive measures: He executed the rebels. 
 
 It was not until Mexico had shaken off the Spanish yoke that Honduras and the other Central 
 American States, succeeded in establishing their own independence. 
 
 On the 15th of September, 1821 , the Republic of Honduras declared its independence of the Spanish 
 Crown and assumed its position as a free country with the other Central American Republics. 
 
 For many years Honduras was closely identified with the other Central American Republics. Indeed, 
 these various Republics, while then constantly at strife with one another, to all intents and purpose* 
 formed one State. 
 
 The final separation from Spain had been accomplished without difficulty. It was soon followed, 
 however, by conflicts between the several new governments, caused by the efforts of ambitious politicians 
 to attain personal control of the general government. 
 
 On October 28, 1838, Honduras finally declared its absolute independence from the other States. 
 
 Then succeeded over half a century of crime and barbarity and internal disorder, which disgraced 
 the annals of the Central American Republics. 
 
 We may call these — the preliminary years of anarchy of the Republic of Honduras, during which 
 its people were passing from a state of barbarism to one of high civilization. 
 
 All of this is now changed. 
 
 Honduras — thanks to modem enterprise, foreign capital and American interests — is now established 
 on the rock of National stability. 
 
 Railroads are opening up the country and wherever the railroad goes, it sounds the death knell of 
 revolution, because the Government can pour in troops so rapidly so as to quell any incipient revolution. 
 
 There are no revolutions in Honduras anymore. There are never likely to be again. 
 
 Honduras To -Day 
 
 The language of the Republic's Constitution voices the sentiment, feeling, spirit and life of the Hon- 
 duras of to-day. 
 
 The Constitution guarantees to all the inhabitants of Honduras, whether natives or foreigners, 
 inviolability of human life, individual safety, liberty, equality, and property. 
 
Honduras is a free, sovereign, and independent Nation. Its sovereignty is essentially vested in the 
 Nation, and the exercise thereof in its representatives. 
 
 Firm law is established and all that is required of foreigners in the Republic of Honduras is that 
 they shall be bound from the time of their arrival in the territory of the Republic to obey the laws and 
 respedl the authorities. 
 
 Foreigners in Honduras enjoy a// the civil rights of Hondureans. They can acquire all kinds of 
 property in the country. 
 
 This is not only the voice of the Constitution but it represents the attitude which Honduras con- 
 sistently takes. 
 
 And it is this attitude, founded upon the principles of fairness and justness, that enables Honduras 
 to come to this country and secure capital for its National needs. 
 
 It is this attitude, rigidly adhered to in the letter as well as in the spirit, which is causing foreign 
 capital to pour into the Republic to develop its marvellously rich mineral resources. 
 
 The Political Divisions of Honduras 
 
 The Republic of Honduras is politically divided into sixteen Departments and one Territory, 
 which are again divided into distri(ils. 
 
 The administration of the Department is in the hands of a Governor, appointed by the President. 
 Municipal councils are elected by direct vote of the people. 
 The Departments and their respective capitals, are: 
 
 Department of Capital 
 
 Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa. 
 
 Comayagua Comayagua. 
 
 • Cortes San Pedro Sula. 
 
 Santa Barbara Santa Barbara. 
 
 Copan Santa Rosa. 
 
 ^ Gracias Gracias. 
 
 ^■^ Intibuca La Esperanza. 
 
 La Paz La Paz. 
 
 Valle Nacaomc. 
 
 Choluteca Choluteca. 
 
 • El Paraiso Yuscaran. 
 
 Olancho Julicalpa. 
 
 ' Colon Trujillo. 
 
 Yoro Yoro. 
 
 ^ Atlantida La Ceiba. 
 
 Islas de la Bahia Roatan. 
 
 The Territory of Mosquita, although the second larger territorial division, is but sparsely inhabited' 
 and but little explored, being covered with dense, impenetrable forests. 
 
 The largeft Department is that of Olancho, with abont 12,000 square miles. 
 
 President 
 
 . Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 Minister of Government, Justice 
 Minister of Public Instruction 
 Minister of War .... 
 
 Gen. Miguel R. Davila. 
 
 Dr. Jose Maria Ochoa Velasquez. 
 
 Dr. Marcos Carias. 
 
 Dr. Vincente Mejia Colindres. 
 
 Gen. Rafael Lopez G. 
 
 Minister of the Treasury and Public Credit Juan E. Paiedes. 
 
 Minister de FomentoyAgricultura Ingeniero Rosendo Contreras. 
 
 20 
 

 How Honduras is Developing 
 
 Honduras is decidedly on the upward trend. 
 
 The history of Honduras for the la^ ten years has been one of continuous and increasing prosperity 
 in every avenue of trade and profitable products. 
 
 The public revenues in the fiscal year 1903-4 were $3,380,253.21. The expenditures, including 
 the disbursements for account of the public debt, in 1903-4 amounted to $3,287,349.94. 
 
 The public revenues for 1904-5 were $3,304,362.26, and the expenditures $3,341 ,492.80. 
 
 The municipal revenue of the Republic in 1903 amounted to 503,730.22 pesos, exclusive of the 
 receipts from the department of Choluteca for the months of January, February, March and April, 
 the receipts of Valle in the months of March and April, those from Comayagua for the months of January, 
 February, March, April and May not having been kept on account of the war. 
 
 The expenditures during the same year amounted to 478,773.83 pesos. 
 
 In 1904 the receipts amounted to 683,883.63 pesos, and the expenditures to 672,613.25 pesos. 
 
 Honduras in 1904, according to the United States Bureau of Statistics, exported to this country, 
 Gold to the value of $188,252. 
 
 The exports of silver for the same time were valued at $331,627, equivalent to 571 ,771 fine ounces 
 at 58 cents per ounce. 
 
 Expenditures of the Government during 1906-7 amounted to 4,023,349.94 pesos. 
 
 The American Consul at Tegucigalpa reports that the gold and silver exports from that State during 
 1907 amounted to $260,000, which is considered as the amount produced in that State during that year. 
 
 The United States Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, reports that the 
 amounts of gold and silver bulhon and or^ imported from Honduras during 1907 was as follows; jGold, 
 $258,363; silver, $530,561 vcommercial value;, which represents 12,498 ounces, fine, of gold, and 803,880 
 ounces, fine, of silver, which latter figures are used as the production in the table of the world's production 
 for 1907. 
 
 Imports by Honduras in 1907 were valued at $2,331,517, of which $1,561,855, or 67.7 per cent, 
 were of United States origin, as compared with 63.6 per cent in 1906, and exports totaled $2,012,409, 
 of which $1 ,807,952, or 89.8 per cent, were destined to the United States, as compared with 87.2 per 
 cent in the preceding year. 
 
 General conditions for the year showed a progressive movement, imports for the fiscal year 1907-1908 
 being $500,000 in excess of the preceding twelve months, and although government statistics indicated 
 a shght decline in export valuations, shipments to the United States alone figured for nearly $3,000,000 
 in the calender year 1908. Works of public improvement were undertaken and commercial treaties 
 entered into in furtherance of trade development. 
 
 The population of Honduras is 745,000. 
 
 The exports from the United States to Honduras in 1908 amounted to $1 ,540,280. 
 
 The imports from Honduras to the United States for the same year amounted to $1 ,946,838. 
 
 The entire estimated imports of Honduras for 1 908 were $2,829,979,while its exports were $1 ,834,060, 
 
 Honduras exported to the United States, through the port of Mobile alone la^ year, products to 
 the value of $679,039. During the same period the United States exported to Honduras, through the 
 same port, merchandise amounting to $75,570.19. 
 
 Import values for the fiscal period ending July 31, 1909, amounted to $2,829,979; while exports 
 amounted to $2,012,407. 
 
 The receipts of the Republic of Honduras for the fiscal year 1909-10 are estimated at $4,714,064.92. 
 
 Honduras now conducts an external trade with the world of $7,857,000, of which exports are 
 $5,564,000 and imports $2,293,000. The United States' proportion of this trade is valued at $6,322,000, 
 or much the largeft part, of which exports to the United States are $4,632,000 and imports therefrom 
 $1,690,000. 
 
\; 
 
 Figures do not make veryiinteresting reading, but a country whose revenues have increased in five 
 years 25 per cent, is certainly making a remarkable showing. 
 
 The Mining Industry of Honduras 
 
 The gold output has been chiefly placer gold. 
 
 Every little town and settlement in the interior has its placer miners who work out a few ounces, 
 then dispose of same to merchants. 
 
 They wash with bateas, pans and horn spoons, ju^ as their fathers have done before them for 
 generations. The miners hunt up a place that runs $30 or $35 and up per yard, sit down there with their 
 batea and a spoon, scoop up the sand and gravel with the spoon, load it on to the batea and average 
 an ounce of gold in two or three days. This ground if it were in the United States would cause the bigge^ 
 kind of a stampede — and there is lots of it in Honduras. 
 
 You can find gold in paying quantities in practically all the rivers and streams on the ea^ side of 
 the mountains. 
 
 There are several of the fine^ dredging propositions in the world to be found in Honduras. 
 
 The base mineral resources have not been utilized in the pa^ for want of transportation. There is 
 untold wealth in the minerals of the Republic, which has been waiting only the facilities for shipping 
 the machinery to the mines and the ores to market. This void is now being supplied by the building at 
 this time of the Honduras National Railroad. Within a few months there will be great activity in the 
 mining properties of Honduras, where the great fortunes of the near future lie. 
 
 Copper ores occur in nearly every department of this Republic. . There are copper mines in the 
 departments of Tegucigalpa and Comayagua. In one distrieft there is a vein up to 14 feet in width, 
 traceable for miles, giving ores assaying 15 to 16 per cent copper. 
 
 The placers of this districfl have, for the mo^ part, been worked only in a crude way by the natives. 
 Now, as powerful American financial interests have taken hold of the railway problem of that country, 
 Honduras will rank among the greater producers in the world. 
 
 There has just been found within two miles fiom San Pedro Sula a large silver deposit, and at 
 Villa Neuva, 15 miles away, an American company is about to begin operations on a mine lately 
 discovered there — in fact the work of development at both these mines has already commenced. 
 
 The New York and Honduras Rosario Company, during the fiscal year of 1907, received from 
 the sale of bullion and concentrates the sum of $899,048, the net profits being $122,329. Adding to this 
 the balance brought forward of $283,987, makes a total of $1,406,316, and deducting dividends of 
 $210,000, or 14 per cent for the year, leaves a balance of $1 ,196,316. 
 
 The bullion production of this Company from 1882 to 1907 has totaled 13,214,463, and the output 
 for 1907 amounted to 923,538 ounces of silver and 1 1 ,950 ounces of gold. 
 
 The Government of Honduras has recently granted to the New York and Honduras Rosario Mining 
 Company the Escobales mining zone, situated in the distridl of Tegucigalpa and consisting of 1,000 
 hectares. 
 
 As indicative of the growth of mining in the Comayagua districft, it may be stated that the Antagua 
 Gold-Copper Company of New Orleans, organized for operation in the Republic, is developing what 
 promises to be one of the largeft Gold-Copper producers in the world. 
 
 The Company employs in its mines about 75 men and is now engaged in enlarging its capacity. 
 
 This Company should undoubtedly be able to pay its stockholders in the very near future enormous 
 dividends. 
 
 It has back of it some of the best known citizens of New Orleans. 
 
Railroad Building 
 
 The main railroad is that from Puerto Cortez to Pimienta. 
 
 The Vaccaro Brother's Railroad has recently been completed, extending from La Ceiba, on the 
 north coaA, a distance of thirty miles to the interior. 
 
 A railway in which Ex-Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks and his brother are largely interested, 
 is now being built from Truxillo to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras; with a branch line from Yoro 
 to Jutiacalpa, the capital of the Department of Olancho. 
 
 The extension of the Interoceanic line from its present terminus at Puerto Cortes, a distance of 230 
 miles, is on the point of satisfactory conclusion. 
 
 It is reported that a syndicate composed of prominent railroad men and capitalists of New York, 
 has submitted a proposition to the Honduras Government, involving the settlement of the bond issue 
 in connection with the line, and the completion of the road within two years. 
 
 Other Important Improvements 
 
 Julio Villars proposes to unite the water in the La Tigra and Jutlapa canyons, near Tegucigalpa, 
 for the purpose of bringing it to the latter city for public consumption and in order to generate electricity 
 to be used as motive power and for electric lights in the capital of the Republic. 
 
 The plan embraces the delivery of portable water to all the buildings in Tegucigalpa whose owners 
 may desire the water service. 
 
 A regular line of steamers plies on the Ulua River for a distance of 125 miles, from its mouth to 
 Progreso, owned and operated by the Monte Vists Steamboat Company. The Aguan, Negro, 
 Patuco, and Segovia are navigated by vessels of light draft for short distances. 
 
 The Government is devoting particular attention to the construction of wagon roads and bridges 
 and to the upkeep of those already established, while it has at different times financially assisted the different 
 municipalities in the construction of roads within their own limits. 
 
 There are 2,840 miles of telegraph line in the Republic and 188 offices. The telephone companies 
 operate 100 miles of line and 95 stations in the capital and other towns. 
 
 The President of the Republic has approved the contract for the erection for the wireless telegraph 
 station in the neighborhood of Tegucigalpa and various substations along the coa^ of the Republic. 
 The existing telegraph lines have been extended by the Government and a school of instruction in teleg- 
 graphy for both sexes opened. 
 
 The Wealth that is Pouring into Honduras 
 
 It has juft been reported J. P. Morgan & Co. are about to finance the public debt of the Republic. 
 
 J. M. Fairbanks, the nephew of former Vice-President Fairbanks, is heavily interested in the 
 Honduras National Railway. 
 
 Our former Vice-President, Charles W. Fairbanks himself, is largely interested in a road now 
 being built there. 
 
 The Panama Canal, when it is completed, will result in a tremendous stride of development for 
 Honduras. 
 
 Great firms and capitalists, like Fairbanks and Morgan, do not go into a country unless they are 
 sure of results, and their entrance into this field is the be^ assurance of the value and stability of an in- 
 vestment in Honduras that can be offered. 
 
/ 
 
 3V 28 19C0 
 
 The Rich San Pedro Sula Deposits 
 
 The San Pedro Sula Valley is the garden spot of Honduras. It has an extreme length of some 60 
 miles, with an uneven width of 5 to 35 miles. It runs north and south, and lies between the Mito Quemado 
 Mountains on the ea^ and the Espirito Santo Range on the weft. It is traversed by two large riverf — 
 the Chamelicon and the Ulua, the latter navigable for steamers of light draft for 125 miles from its mouth, 
 the former capable of navigation by the expenditure of a very little money. 
 
 A comparatively small portion of this beautiful valley is under cultivation. Moft of it consists of 
 alluvial land. 
 
 The bulk of the American population is scattered in this valley. The completed portion of the 
 Interoceanic Railroad juns through this valley, giving an oudet to the mines located here. 
 
 San Pedro Sula, a little city of 10,000 inhabitants, is located in the heart of this valley. It is the prin- 
 cipal commercial city of the Republic, though not the firft in size. Here are the large general merchandise 
 stores, transport by mules to the interior towns and cities, and the receiving stations for native products. 
 TTie American colony is strong here. English is freely spoken. The general offices of moft of the 
 American companies operating within a radius of four days' ride by mules are located at this point. 
 Living is cheap. Table board can be had at the American hotel, permanent rates at about $20 per 
 month United States Currency; transient rates, including room, $1.25 to $1.75 per day. Houses of 5 
 rooms and bath bring $12.50 to $15 per month. 
 
 There is plenty of venison, wild game, good beef, poultry, and an endless variety of vegetabsle 
 and fruits. 
 
 The streams are full of fish. 
 
 A family can live here on about one-fourth of the coft in the larger American cities. 
 
 Labor on the fincas, 75 cents per day; house servants, $7.50 to $10 per month to cook and wash. 
 
 The maximum capacity of the sawTnills in this vicinity is 15,000 feet per day. This is the output 
 of six sawmills. 
 
 A modem sawmill of 10,000 to 25,000 feet capacity can keep busy in this valley the year round. 
 
 This part of the country is opening up rapidly. An electric light and power plant is about being 
 installed at San Pedro Sula. There is much activity in timber and mining. In the mining line every 
 boat is bringing prospector!. 
 
 In Conclusion 
 
 An investment in a Honduras mine offers such opportunity to capital as can be found nowhere else. 
 
 The country in natural wealth exceeds that of any other of equal size on the face of the globe. The 
 security offered is of the higheft class and the returns of the largeft. 
 
 We close this book with a quotation from Hon. John Barrett, Director of the International Bureau 
 of American Republics: 
 
 "Without unwarranted enthusiasm, let me point out to you my confident 
 belief that the next ten years will be a Latin-American decade — that all the world 
 will be then studying and watching Latin-America as it now does Japan and the 
 Orient, and that a material, economic, intellectual and political advancement will 
 be witnessed in Latin-America which will rival what has been accomplished in 
 the United States. Were it not for the lamentable ignorance which prevails 
 throughout the United States in regard to the peoples, institutions, resources and 
 governments of this section of America, this statenjent would not seem in the 
 least surprising. Those of us who have traveled from Cuba to Chile and from 
 Brazil to Boliva are keenly aware that this great onward movement has already 
 begun and that Latin-America has entered upon a new era of splendid activity 
 and world-wide influence." 
 

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