1 POSO DE LOS MUERTOS A Short Story By George Pararas ...

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sure of that. But indeed we have to hide the animals before we go into Rosariofrom this side. And don’t worry about savages coming close to Nivel Siete orPoso Ricco”, he added. They believe there are ghosts running in there and theyare scared of this section of the mine. None of them would dare to come close”.The “Nivel Siete” DisasterEnrique was referring to the disaster that had occurred the previous year, rightafter the big rains. A sudden flash flood had raced down Nivel Siete, completelyflooding it and killing the native workers. This section of Rosario had been thebest producer of silver and gold. A large pocket of high-grade ore had beenfound at the seventh level and a vertical shaft was sunk to hit an even largerpocket of good sulfide ore, rich in both silver and gold. The vertical shaft wasnamed "Poso San Eduardo”, because it was on San Eduardo's day that this richdeposit had been discovered. Poso San Eduardo was the best pocket deposit inRosario until another richer vein was encountered at the northwestern end of theshaft, right below the seventh level. This was a huge “bolsa”, a large pocketdeposit; sulfide rocks rich in silver, lead, copper and gold. Poso Ricco turned outto be the greatest find of a major ore-bearing vein in Rosario - and this was thereason for its name. The vein itself was more than two meters wide and got overten meters wider further in.Don Carlos had ordered the opening of a ventilation shaft to provide aircirculation for the work taking place at Nivel Siete, a good 250 meters below inthe guts of the mountain. But even with the ventilation shaft opened on this sideof the mine, air circulation was still very bad. The shaft intersected the seventhlevel of Rosario from the south at a cross-section named “Crucero General”.This section of the seventh level was an area that had been always plagued withflooding during the rainy season in July and August. Many of the workers haddied from cave-ins and sudden flash flooding in earlier years. The problem wasthat this section of Rosario was very close to the water table which would greatlyrise in height after the summer rains.Don Carlos had given strict orders to Armando Miranda, the mine supervisor,to put to work at least 100 natives at that well. He called it "Poso Ricco,” asseveral tons of high-grade ore were taken out of the large pocket at the bottom ofthis shaft. This was the highest-grade ore that had been processed at the LasGollondrinas smelter in the last two years. A good portion of the gold and silverthat had been cast in bars for shipment to Veracruz had come from this section.The bars of gold and silver that the mules were now carrying had come from this18
well. But working Poso Ricco during the rainy summer months was extremelydangerous as the lower end of Nivel Siete was frequently flooded. Only duringwinter, spring, early summer and late fall this section of Rosario could be workedwith some degree of safety.The deeper mine workings in this section of Rosario had created also seriousproblems with ventilation, lighting, and drainage. Conditions had beendeplorable. In addition to the bad air, the deeper shafts were very hot. The heathad forced the natives to work almost naked, wearing only loincloths. There hadbeen many accidents as the work was carried almost in darkness using forlighting only a few oil lamps. Many of the natives had died or had gotten reallysick by the foul, full of sulfur air.There was also the fear of repeat floods in this low section of Rosario.Armando had warned of the possibility of flooding at Nivel Siete, but Don Carlosdid not want to hear anything about stopping work at "Poso Ricco". He wantedmore natives to work there, but finally agreed to have a drainage shaft dug at theend of the tunnel. The only problem was that there were not enough workersavailable to complete this task, so he decided to wait. He ordered the workcontinued through the summer months until one morning, in early September,hell broke loose. After a big rain that lasted nearly three hours, water begunracing down Nivel Siete, flooding everything. Only a few of the Indians managedto escape. More than fifty workers drowned in the dark turbulent waters, mostnear the bottom of "Poso Ricco", where they were working. The few that survivedwould not return to recover the bodies of their dead comrades – even when thewater retreated. They left the bodies to rot at the bottom of Poso Ricco and alloperations had stopped for fear of more flooding. ”Poso Ricco” remained floodeduntil the end of the year.“Poso Ricco” - “ Poso de los Muertos”After this appaling disaster, the natives would no longer refer to this bolsa ofrich ore as Poso Ricco. They renamed it “ El Poso de los Muertos” – a graveyarddeep inside Cerro Colorado. Some of the workers claimed that it was ghostriddenand that they could hear screams of drowning comrades echoing fromNivel Siete, even at the higher levels. Some of the Indian workers even claimedthat they had encounters with ghosts, even in the far reaches of Rosario. To allnatives of the region, Nivel Siete, Poso Edwardo and Poso Ricco were cursedplaces. All at Rosario, Indians and Spaniards alike, avoided the seventh level.Common sense dictated that work at the mine should not progress below the19
Page 2: As much as a ton of silver would be
Page 5 and 6: and-conquer strategy of Cortés and
Page 7 and 8: orders. It was a hard life and Don
Page 9 and 10: Guadalupe y Calvo and the Rosario M
Page 11 and 12: The “arrastre” he designed,comp
Page 13 and 14: The best he could do was to wait it
Page 15 and 16: “That’s good, that’s very goo
Page 17: “We’ll find a place to hide it
Page 21 and 22: than five hundred of the savages at
Page 23 and 24: Immediately, Felipe screamed loud t
Page 25 and 26: The ventilation shaft was humid and
Page 27 and 28: The natives did not move until some
Page 29 and 30: Satisfied that everything had gone
Page 31 and 32: Fuerte”, continued Don Carlos and
Page 33 and 34: him and managed to turn around in t
Page 35 and 36: My own private bathtub on a mountai
Page 37 and 38: Lunch of tortillas and frijoles at
Page 39 and 40: Taking a brief restContinuing on to
Page 41 and 42: My camp near Guadalupe y Calvo offe
Page 43 and 44: It is amazing how quickly one can b
Page 45 and 46: The bandits in these mountains were
Page 47 and 48: At the entrance of the ventilation
Page 49 and 50: Old Maps of Underground Tunnels (mo

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