You're listening to American History Tellers, a podcast I host to bring you some of the most

fascinating, engrossing, and important stories from American history. But of course, important

events happen all over the world, and history is made every day. So I'm pleased to tell you that

I have another podcast, History Daily, where every weekday I take you back in time to explore

a momentous event that happened on this day in history, all in 20 minutes or less. You're about

to hear today's episode of History Daily. And moving forward, we're going to give you another

episode of History Daily here on American History Tellers every other Monday. So if you're stuck

in traffic, bored at work, or wherever you are, History Daily will remind you that something incredible

happened to make this day historic. And to get more daily history, follow History Daily on Amazon

Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

It's 1902 at the base of Wina Pichu, a mountain in South Peru.

Smoke fills Agustin Liza Raga's eyes, is vision blurring as tears streak down his cheeks.

Agustin is a local farmer who has just set fire to the foothills of the Andes,

hoping to clear a path to fertile ground. As the last embers die out, Agustin carefully

treads over the sooty ground, the scorched shrubbery crunching under his heavy footsteps.

He climbs higher and higher up the peak, surveying the uncharted terrain stretching before him,

and then catching sight of something that stops him in his tracks. Up ahead, barely visible behind

thick foliage is a flight of roughly-cuned stone steps disappearing around the side of the mountain.

Wheelting a small knife, Agustin crouches low to slash through the tangled mesh of undergrowth,

clearing a path toward the mysterious staircase. He rushes forward and eagerly clamors up the steps,

and by the time he reaches the last landing, Agustin is exhausted. He can barely catch his breath

before it escapes him all over again. All struck, Agustin looks out at the unbelievable scene

...