The old and the new Peru

by Marie Robinson Wright

Although the fame of the Chicama valley outshines that of other sugar-growing districts of Trujillo, there are large and rich plantations also in the valleys of Jequetepeque, or Pacasmayo, to the north, and in Santa Catalina and Moche to the south. A railway connects the seaport of Pacasmayo with the sugar lands and rice fields of the interior, extending fifty miles to Guadalupe and Yonan, on the road to Cajamarca. The province of Pacasmayo, which adjoins that of Trujillo, has about five thousand acres under cultivation in sugar-cane, and its rice harvest yields one hundred thousand sacks annually. The valleys of Santa Catalina and Moche are connected with Trujillo by a branch of the main railway from Salaverry, which extends from Trujillo to Laredo, Galindo, and Menocucho, passing through plantations of sugar, rice, and other products. The annual exports of sugar from the port of Salaverry amount to about fifty thousand tons and those from Huanchaco average between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand tons. An important share of these shipments goes to North American ports.

PARK OF LA LIBERTAD, TRUJILLO.

The Department of La Libertad is composed of six provinces, those of Trujillo and Pacasmayo bordering the Pacific Ocean, while the remaining four—Otuzco, Santiago de Chuco, Huamachuco, and Pataz—are situated in the region of the sierra. The Marañon River divides the province of Huamachuco from that of Pataz, and in its lower valleys the climate of the Montaña prevails, coffee, sugar, and cacao being produced. Coca is one of the important products of this department, and cocaine is manufactured in Trujillo for shipment to foreign ports. On the high puna, abundant pasture is found, and, in the lower sierra, wheat, barley, maize, and potatoes are cultivated. The southern districts of the province of Trujillo contain saline deposits of importance.

ADMINISTRATION HOUSE OF A SUGAR ESTATE IN THE CHICAMA VALLEY.

Not only is the Department of La Libertad rich in agricultural products of every zone, but the mines of its sierras abound in precious metals. For the past few years, especial interest has been taken in the mineral wealth of this region, small lots of gold, silver, and copper ores being exported with most satisfactory returns. Quiruvilca, sixty-six miles beyond the terminus of the railway which connects Trujillo with Menocucho, is a mining district covering about a hundred square miles rich in copper and silver. Veins having an average width of fourteen inches contain from fifty to sixty per cent copper, and silver veins of sixteen inches in width produce as much as a thousand ounces of silver. The Quiruvilca mine is two days’ ride on muleback from the end of the railway, which is twenty-seven miles from the port of Salaverry, where all the steamers of the west coast call for cargo. Although the property has not been developed on the large scale necessary to make it a famous copper mine, it is worked successfully and yields good returns for the small capital employed. Two hundred tons can now be exported daily, the high and low grade ores together averaging forty-five per cent copper. It is the purpose of the present owners, who are also the chief proprietors of Casa Grande, to place this enterprise on a gigantic basis, by constructing a railway, not only to Quiruvilca, but to another mine, Araqueda, also enormously rich in copper and silver, and by establishing smelting works and other improvements for which large capital must be employed. The easy accessibility to a good port and the mildness of the climate of this mining region, as compared with the severity of the puna where many of the most valuable mines of Peru are located, are strong points in favor of its rapid development.

The subjects of the Incas worked the mines of the sierra throughout this region and had thriving villages in the various mountain districts of the present Department of La Libertad. The town of Huamachuco, now the capital of the province of the same name, was a populous Indian settlement at the time of the Conquest, when Hernando Pizarro discovered it while leading his army southward from Piura in search of the treasure which Atahuallpa had said would be found in the temple of Pachacámac. The Conquerors were too intent on collecting the gold and silver of the Inca’s palaces and temples to occupy themselves at that time with the question of mining and of the wealth to be gained by such a laborious process; they saw the coveted metal within their reach without having to dig for it, and they little guessed the hidden treasures over which they marched on their way to plunder the sacred halls of Pachacámac. Perhaps the source of the rich gold and silver ornaments of the Chimus is to be found in the sierras of Otuzco, Santiago de Chuco, Pataz, and Huamachuco, the fountain-head of that precious stream down which the peje grande floated to lose itself among the huacas of Chan-Chan and Moche.

A SUGAR FACTORY OF THE CHICAMA VALLEY.