factor in its evolution—its mineral wealth. The gold of Co- piapé had first attracted the Incas; the naine of the valley, indeed, is by some authorities derived from the Quechua, “cup of gold."’ Yet the gold of Copiapó was little worked in the early days when Chile as a whole was carning a great reputa- tion for gold production.[1] Climatic conditions, by governing the available supply of water for washing, undoubtedly played a part in the retardation of gold mining in Copiapó. The first gold workings were begun by Hernando de Aguirre, son of the conquistador. Copper also was exploited to some extent, but the mining industry made little progress, in part for the reason advanced above, in part on account of the scarcity of labor and of the vastly superior attractions of Potosi.
In the early eighteenth century a change took place in the gold mining industry: the working of veins supplemented and succeeded placer mining. In Copiapó the new development effected a sudden transformation of the valley settlement. Rich veins were discovered at the old site of Jestis Maria to the north. Copiapó became known as the place where gold was “extracted by the basketful and weighed by the steel-yard.” People came from far and near, almost depopulating some of the neighboring valleys. From a wayside oasis Copiapó grew to the status of a town. In 1744 it was promoted to the rank of “villa’”’ under the title San Francisco de la Selva de Copiapó.
In this new epoch of a fuller life Copiapó began to feel more keenly its restricted water supply. The mines made heavy demands on local resources, and the slow and difficult modes of communication precluded any considerable importation. Cul- tivation expanded to the limit of the water available. To increase the supply was a difficult matter: it scarcely appears to have been attempted, efforts not going beyond such meas- ures as the cleaning and repairing of canals to conserve the existing supply. The records of the Copiapó Town Council present an extraordinarily vivid picture of the dominant con- trol exercised by the water supply. “The eternal question of
- ↑ Alberto Herrmann: La produccién del oro, plata, | cobre en Chile desde los primeros dias de ia Conquista hasta fines de Agosto de 1894, Santiago, 1894. The author makes a critical examination of previous computations; his conclusions as to production are shown graphically.
