MINERAL WEALTH. ROMANCE AND ACTUALITY.
Forced labour in the mines--Silver and bloodshed--History of
discovery--Guanajuato--the _veta Madre_--Spanish methods--Durango--
Zacatecas--Pachuca--The _patio_ process--Quicksilver from Peru--Cornish
miners' graves--Aztec mining--Spanish advent--Old mining methods--
Romance of mining--The Cerro de Mercado--Guanajuato and Hidalgo--Real
del Monte--Religion and mining--Silver and churches--Subterranean
altars--Mining and the nobility--Spanish mining school--Modern
conditions--The mineral-bearing zone--Distribution of minerals
geographically--Silver--The _patio_ process--Gold-mining and
production--El Oro and other districts--Copper--Other minerals--General
mineral production--Mining claims and laws.
"Grant me, oh! rock-ribbed matrix, here to know
Thy minerall'd sanctuary;
To none but me the sesame disclose,
Un-oped since chaos fled!"
There is much of interest and something of pathos and romance attending
the old mines of Spanish-American countries--Mexico, Peru, and others.
They are so interwoven with the history of these countries, so redolent
of the past, and of the hope, despair, piety, greed of the old
taskmasters who worked them, and of the generations of toiling Indian
workers who spent their lives in wresting treasure from the bowels of
the earth. Religion, superstition, cruelty have marked their
exploitation in past ages, and as we explore their grim abandoned
corridors, and pass half fearfully their yawning pits, our imagination
might conjure up some phantoms of those who toiled amid these old
scenes of man's sweat and avarice.
The cruelty innate in the Spanish race has been shown in their mining
methods, and the native population of Mexico, and in a larger scale of
Peru, suffered severely at their hands. Guanajuato, one of the most
famous and richest of the mining centres of Mexico--in past times as
to-day--bears in its archives the stories of oppression which marked
the methods of the Spaniards, and may be taken as a concrete example.
It was a system of slavery under which these mines were worked--an
atrocious system of forced labour which took no heed of Indian life,
save as it might most cheaply extract a given quantity of gold or
silver ore from the pits and adits beneath the ground. Thousands of
_peones_ were impressed into this forced labour; armed soldiers were
stationed at the entrances of these labyrinths to see that each
wretched serf deposited his sack of rock, under the load of which he
had toiled up fathoms of notched pole, or ladder, from the infernal
regions below, panting, sweating, expiring, and presently driven down
again by the brutal taskmasters, jealous lest he might enjoy too much
of the light of day and so sacrifice some moments in the delving amid
the rocks which furnished the wealth. In 1619, a law was promulgated in
Guanajuato--it remains upon the archives to this day--prohibiting the
branding of slaves upon the face!
But these inhuman methods brought about their own punishment. The great
Valenciana mine, opened in 1760, which for fifty years was worked at a
sacrifice of human life by these methods, producing more than 300
million dollars, became at last the scene of a terrible vengeance, for
the serfs rose in rebellion and massacred every white man upon the
place. Indeed, the brutalities practised by the Spanish mine-owners
largely influenced the revolution and secession from the mother
country.
For more than three centuries there flowed from the mines of Mexico and
Peru, millions and millions of silver and gold, which went to fill the
needy coffers of Spain, to enrich a distant and callous or careless
monarch, and to prop up a moribund nation. The appalling system of the
_mitad_ and the _encomenderos_, by which silver and gold were extracted
with indecent haste, form such pages as can never be erased from the
history of metallurgy in the New World.
Yet there is another light in which to regard the picture of Mexican
mining, and remembering that mining operations, whether in the
sixteenth or the twentieth century, whether in Spanish-America or
elsewhere, ever embody conditions of usury and oppression, we may turn
to this more pleasing aspect. For unless under grave oppression, the
native miner, be it on the plateau of Anahuac, or in the Andine
Cordillera, has been a zealous worker. His picturesque surroundings,
simple mode of life, and easy-going disposition, together with the
pervading sentimental attributes which his religion lent, and the sunny
skies under which he toiled, took from mining much of the material
brutality and grey atmosphere which enshroud it in Anglo-Saxon
communities.
Mining was a source of enrichment which appealed strongly to the
Spanish nature, and it must not be forgotten that to the efforts of the
men of Spain the science of mining owes much. And, indeed, these remote
waste places of the earth owe the civilisation they possess to the
early work of these _Conquistadores_. The Anglo-Saxon world prides
itself on the great discoveries and exploitations which have marked
epochs in its gold- and silver-getting history, Australia, California,
Nevada, Africa; but we shall not forget that Mexico and Peru were
yielding up stores of gold and silver centuries before Captain Cook
sailed, or before those historic nuggets were found by accident in
Sutter's mill-stream, in the Californian Sierra region. Scarcely six
years after the Conquest the silver of Mexico was being eagerly sought,
and easily found, with that remarkable _olfato_ possessed by the
Spaniards. Shakespeare was at work, and Drake was voyaging under the
Elizabethan aegis at the time when the great silver mines of the
Mexican Sierra Madre were giving up their rich ores to treatment.
At Guanajuato, one of the most famous of the silver mining centres,
prospecting was begun in 1525, only a few years after the Conquest, and
the mining regions still further away to the north, as those of the
famous Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, had already been discovered.
History relates that the silver deposits of Guanajuato were discovered
as a result of a camp-fire, made by some muleteers, who found refined
silver among the ashes, melted from the rock beneath! Shortly after the
middle of the sixteenth century the great _Veta Madre_, or "mother
lode," of Guanajuato was pierced, with an ore-body 100 feet wide. This
place, which to-day boasts a population of fifty thousand souls, had
begun to grow and was granted a charter as a _Villa Real_ at the
beginning of the seventeenth century. This before the sailing of the
_Mayflower_! So, as we look back upon those strenuous times of Mexican
mining, we shall see much of good arising from the metallurgical
conquest. We have a vision of fair cities, established within mountain
fastnesses, within fertile plains, long centuries before the advent of
the locomotive, cities whose wealth came from the fabulous riches of
the great silver mines, whose ore was quarried from its lodes and
deposits, cities where fine cathedrals arose, built from the taxes
levied upon the product of these mines, by which fortunate national
trait some good at least was perpetuated for the inhabitants and
toilers who produced it. Does the mining director and shareholder of
to-day loosen his greedy and capacious pocket for such works? We might
ask the toiling nigger--Kaffir, or Chinese, and his Jewish employer in
the mines of Africa. The Spaniards did not suck out the wealth of
Mexico's soil only to enrich a decadent monarch and his coffers,
thousands of miles away, for which we have reproached them. Some of the
wealth their enterprise produced formed beautiful cities and made the
desert blossom where, before, savage tribes of Indians roamed; and
stimulated great thoughts and actions in men whose historic names
remain upon the country's history.
It was a laborious journey from Spain to Mexico in those days, and
mining was marked by difficulties due to the remoteness of the region
from means of communication, and also from the hostile Indian tribes,
who resented the advent of the white man into their territory. An
example of the tenacity and courage of the invaders against these odds
is shown in the founding of the fine city of Durango, 350 years ago. At
that time this region was the home of savage tribes of Indians, who
continually made raids upon the Spaniards. A marvellously rich mine,
the Avino, worked as a huge open quarry, which exists to-day, was
deeded by its owner to those white inhabitants there who would consent
to build their houses together for mutual protection. Thus the
beginning of the city of Durango was made.
Another famous mining centre in those early days, just as it is at
present, was Zacatecas, and its name alone conveys the idea of silver
and gold. In 1546 it was, that a lieutenant of Cortes, traversing the
country, arrived there, observed its promise of mineral wealth, and
formed a settlement. So rapidly did the place become renowned that,
forty years afterwards, a Royal Charter was given to the city, and a
coat of arms, with the title, "Noble and Loyal." The curious archives
of the Alvarado Mines--they were worked by Fernando Cortes--which were
kept, and which show the care in these matters exercised by the
Spaniards, still exist; as is the case, indeed, with the records of
many of the great mining centres of Mexico and Peru. Here it is shown
that an enormous output of silver was made, the total from 1548 to 1867
amounting to nearly eight hundred million dollars.
The great lodes of the famous mining centre of Pachuca, which at the
present day are the most productive, were discovered by the companions
of Cortes soon after the Conquest. But knowledge of the great wealth in
silver there was held by the Aztecs, who, in fact, showed the main
veins to the Spaniards. It was here that Bartolome de Medina discovered
the famous method of treating silver ores by amalgamation with
quicksilver, known as the _patio_ process, in 1557. An improvement on
his invention came from Peru, in 1783, which was the use of mules
instead of men in treading out the crushed ore. From far-away Peru
other matters had come, as the quicksilver from the great Huancavelica
mines, the mercury necessary for the process. And the beautiful
Peruvian pepper trees, which were brought to ornament the _plaza_ of
Pachuca by one of the last of the Viceroys from Lima, form another
reminiscence of the sister land of the Incas, in Mexico. There is at
Pachuca a link with the world of Anglo-Saxon mining--the cemetery where
to-day lie the bones of clever Cornish miners, who, in the time of the
British revival of Mexican mining, taught the native their more useful
methods. There lie these hardy sons of Cornwall, "each in his narrow
cell," within the foreign soil whereon he had laboured.
What is the earliest time at which man began to dig for minerals in
Mexico? It is not possible to determine this, as it is involved in the
obscure history of the races of prehispanic days. But it has been
affirmed that the method of recovering gold by amalgamation with
quicksilver must have been known to the Maya civilisation which
preceded the Aztec times. This is adduced from the discovery of a
vessel containing quicksilver, during the excavations, in 1897, of the
celebrated ruins of Palenque, in Chiapas. The native miners of Mexico
have always won gold from the rocks, it is stated, by the method of
crushing ore and treating it with quicksilver in amalgamation, and it
is considered that the method has not been derived from the white man,
but was handed down from the Mayas. Be this as it may, the early
Mexicans carried on regular mining operations, extracting metals and
metallic ores from the rocks by means of pits and galleries, and these,
in some cases, furnished the Spaniards, after the Conquest, with the
first indication of the existence of mineral-bearing veins. Gold was
taken, however, among these prehistoric people, mainly from the
stream-beds, or _placer_ deposits, where it had been concentrated by
nature. Gold was used more as a decorative or useful material than as a
medium of currency, among the Aztecs, as among the Incas of Peru.
However, in Mexico, transparent quills full of gold-dust were used as
money. Gold ornaments figured largely in the military pomp and domestic
decoration. The wonderful representations of animals and plants which
they fashioned, and the remarkable presents of gold and silver which
Montezuma made to Cortes, among them two great circular plates "as
large as the wheel of a carriage," attest the relative abundance of the
precious metal which the early Mexican possessed. How similar were
these objects to those which figured in the dramatic scenes enacted in
the Andes of Peru nearly three thousand miles away, a few years later,
the student will recollect. Cortes told Montezuma that the Spaniards
"suffered from a disease, which only gold could cure," and the Aztec
monarch sent supplies of the yellow metal to alleviate this!
In addition to the mining and reduction of the ores of the three noble
metals, gold, silver, and mercury, which these people understood and
practised, were similar operations regarding lead, copper, and tin. Of
the two latter they formed an alloy, and made tools of the bronze.
Small T-shaped pieces of tin, moreover, were used as a medium of
exchange or currency. As to iron, it appears to be the case that they
were unacquainted with its use, notwithstanding that the ore of the
metal is exceedingly plentiful. Nevertheless, it is stated that iron
was mined and wrought into use at Tula, the Toltec centre, in the State
of Jalisco, long before the advent of Cortes and the Spaniards.
Regarding the subject of the mining and metallurgy of the Aztecs and
their predecessors in prehispanic days, it must be recollected that
historical knowledge about it is exceedingly meagre, and the details of
their operations in this field of industry are buried in much
obscurity.
The Spanish advent wrought a marked change in the history of mining in
the country. The Spaniards began to work mines as early as 1526, and
continued their exploitation until 1810, the time of the War of
Independence, at which period the value of the yearly output was
27,000,000 dollars. There was a general expulsion of the Spaniards in
1829. It was, however, in 1700 that the most marked period of Spanish
mining began. The production of gold and silver from 1522 to 1879,
according to the most reliable authorities, is given approximately as
3,725,000,000 dollars, of which gold formed 4 to 8 per cent. Indeed,
the staple product of Mexico has ever been silver, in those remote
times as it is to-day, and it has been calculated that possibly
one-third of the existing quantity of silver in the world has come from
the lodes of the Sierra Madre of Mexico.
The early Spaniards, whilst they did not despise the indication left or
given by the Aztecs in the discovery of rich mines, struck out for
themselves and found the great lodes which yielded fabulous fortunes in
silver to their fortunate owners. These adventurous spirits spread over
the whole of the country bordering upon the Sierra Madres, stimulated
by the rich finds of silver mines successively made in one region or
another. They have left old workings in almost every region where
minerals exist, and they extracted great _bonanzas_ with their crude,
old-fashioned appliances. Ancient corkscrew-like workings, analogous
more to the burrowings of animals than the excavations of man,
honeycomb the crests of lodes and veins in every part of the country.
After yielding fortunes to their workers these mines were abandoned,
not because they were worked out, but for lack of appliances for
drainage and hoisting, and in this condition, flooded or caved-in,
remain innumerable of their old treasure-chambers to this day.
But not all the Spaniards' workings were of this nature. Magnificent
tunnels were run by them into the bowels of hills, tunnels whose
enormous dimensions excite the wonder of the mining engineer of to-day.
In some instances these _socavones_, or great adits, are of such a size
that a mounted horseman can enter with ease, or a locomotive might
easily traverse them. Indeed, the engineer of to-day hesitates to
attack the mountain sides with such bold adits as the Spaniard, with
inferior materials, drove into them. Similar tunnels were driven by the
Spaniards in some of the famous mines of Peru.[33]
[Footnote 33: See my book, "The Andes and the Amazon."]
Ancient ore-reduction works, _arrastres_, canals, ditches, excavations,
tunnels, pits, ruined buildings, and in some cases falling church
walls, all of this bygone age, are encountered throughout the country,
scattered far and wide. Those who lived and moved and had their being
therein lie mingled with the dust these centuries past, and kind nature
has often covered up the evidences of their handiwork with flower and
foliage.
There was a steady flow of the two precious metals to the City of
Mexico from the innumerable mines of the regions which produced them.
To attempt to describe these mines, even those renowned for their
richness, would fill a chapter alone. Fantastic displays of wealth are
recorded by the owners of some of the great silver-producing mines--the
bridal chambers of a palace, lined by the father of a bride with silver
bars; the footpath from the _plaza_ to the church paved with great
silver ingots, for the bridal party.
A famous hill of iron--standing on the plains of Durango, stands out
also from the historical vista of metallurgical discovery of those
early days. In 1552 Vasquez de Mercado, a Spaniard of wealth and family
in Mexico, living in Guadalajara, heard from the Indians that a great
mountain of pure silver existed on the boundless plateau far to the
north. Arming an expedition he set forth with this vain illusion
actuating him, and travelled on day after day expecting that every
sunrise would gleam upon the burnished slopes of this silver mountain.
Battles were fought with the savage Indians who inhabited the plains,
but vanquishing these the deluded party pushed on. At last, on the
horizon, the hill rose; they approached it: it was iron! Sleeping
sore-hearted at its base that night, Mercado and his companions were
attacked by Indians, various soldiers killed, and he himself wounded.
Returning homeward towards Guadalajara, the unfortunate leader
succumbed to his wounds, fatigue, and the ridicule of his companions,
and he perished. But the great Cerro de Mercado, the hill of iron,
still remains one of the wonders of Mexico.
The long years of the struggle for throwing off the dominions of Spain
wrought a great change in Mexican mining, and even when independence
was accomplished, the warring revolutionary factions of a country
divided against itself destroyed all sense of security, alienated the
labour, and so mining fell into disuse, and the mines into ruins. The
history of the great Guanajuato silver mines is typical of the effect
political conditions exercised upon this industry. The great output of
silver from the Valenciana mine--300 million dollars during the last
half of the eighteenth century--fell, after the first decade of the
nineteenth, to insignificant proportions. The city was attacked in
1810, when in the zenith of her production, by the revolutionary army
of the Republicans under Hidalgo, the famous instigator of
independence. Sanguinary struggles took place in the city, which fell,
and with it the mining industry. Work was stopped; the waters flooded
the shafts and galleries, general lawlessness took the place of order,
and bands of armed robbers helped themselves at will to the silver, and
made forced loans upon the community. Indeed, at the great mining
centres throughout the country, Mexican mine buildings resemble
fortifications rather than the structures of a peaceable industry;
those which were constructed during those turbulent times. Battlemented
walls and loopholes give some of these places the appearance of the
stronghold of robber barons of the Middle Ages, and remind the
traveller, under the peaceful _regime_ of to-day, how rapid has been
the country's progress.
The troubled times of Iturbide followed, and mining operations
practically ceased. The Indians at this period became unruly in some
districts, due to the withdrawal of the Spanish soldiers who protected
the mining communities; and in Sonora, one of the busiest of the mining
states, a great uprising of the savage Apaches in 1825 caused the
abandoning of towns and industries and the inauguration of a long
period of ruin and bloodshed. In 1824 something of a revival had begun,
by the operations of English capitalists in the great silver-producing
centres of Real del Monte, at Pachuca, as already mentioned, and at
Guanajuato. The history of this period at Real del Monte is a
remarkable one, not yet forgotten, and the lavish outlay of funds made
by the London company in Mexico and the extraordinary speculation upon
the shares in London are still pointed to as an example of mining
operations as conducted at that period. After spending twenty million
dollars and extracting sixteen millions from its mines, the company was
wound up in 1848. It was succeeded by a Mexican company, which operated
to the present time, when sale has been made to American capitalists.
The turbulent times of Maximilian and the struggles later for the
Presidency of the Republic among its ambitious and unscrupulous
military element in later years told against peaceful industry.
Soldiers and bandits vied with each other in extortions and robberies,
and the fortifications which it was necessary to construct around the
mine buildings attest the state of lawlessness of that period.
Even towards the close of last century life and property were insecure,
and men went armed in daylight in the streets of Pachuca even in 1890.
At Guanajuato the English company which had acquired the great
Valenciana and La Luz mines worked them successfully for years, but
often under difficulties due to the raids of revolutionists--as in
1832. But a disastrous period followed, and during the last decade of
the nineteenth century the end came. The regeneration of these historic
groups of mines which is now taking place is due to American
enterprise--the British _regime_ is over. The Aztec, the Spaniard, the
Mexican, the Briton, and the American--each have had their day in
taking this treasure of the white metal from the mother lodes of
Anahuac. Whatever their operations, good or evil, they have in
succession done service to the world--putting into circulation added
means of currency and commerce.
The extent into which religious matters and emblems entered into mining
in these early days in the New World was remarkable. In many cases the
entrances to the mines were through elaborate stone doorways, with
pillar, capital, and pediment, carved figures of saints, and surmounted
by a cross. Such are often encountered in Mexico and Peru, and they
seem rather the portals to a temple than the entrance to a mine. There
was some virtue in work which lavished its sentiment and artistic skill
upon the surroundings of a purely industrial enterprise. Churches and
chapels, in many instances, surmount the hills whose bowels are pierced
by shaft and gallery, and upon the walls of these hang strange
pictures, depicting, in some places, incidents of mining life and
accidents, placed there perchance by some devout one who had escaped
from danger. In some cases these churches were built by fortunate men
who had become fabulously rich by the discovery of some great
_bonanza_, and in token of their gratitude to their patron saint who
had guided them to so fortunate a destiny they raised the temple which
bore his name.
The fine cathedral of Chihuahua, which cost more than half a million
dollars, was built from a tax levied upon every pound of silver from
the rich Santa Eulalia mine--discovered in 1704--of that region; and in
the State of Guerrero, at Taxco, a splendid church was built which
cost, it is stated, one and a half million dollars to construct,
yielded by the famous mine there. A huge gallery, or tunnel, which was
begun by Cortes, forms part of the extensive workings. Another example
embodying this strange medley of silver and piety is that of the
celebrated shrine, or church, of Guadalupe, near the capital, whose
sacred vessels, altar rails, candelabra, and other accessories of a
like nature, are formed of silver contributed by the pilgrims who,
since the time of the vision which made the place famous, journeyed
thither. The weight of the silver contained in these articles is
calculated at fifty tons. In the plateau-city of Durango stands a fine
cathedral, and this was built from the taxes imposed upon the great
Avino mine, and stands as a lasting monument to the great natural
wealth of silver which gave it being and which for 350 years has
enriched the inhabitants of that favoured spot. In some of the rich
mines it is recorded that the miners were permitted to carry out each
day a large piece of rich ore, which they presented as an offering to
the priest, who devoted the total to the building of a temple. At
Catorce a splendid church was so constructed, at a cost of nearly two
million dollars.
The great Valenciana mine at Guanajuato, of which mention has been made
as the scene of ruthless oppression practised upon the natives by the
Spaniards, which terminated in bloody vengeance, left a monument to the
fabulous wealth extracted from it. This was built by a miner, one
Obregon, who, the chronicles of the city state, became the "richest man
in the world." With that almost fanatic and inexhaustible credence and
energy which has often characterised the Spanish miner, he drove his
adit year after year into the bowels of the great "mother lode";
penniless, ruined at last, without credit, and earning by his losses
and persistence the name of _el tonto_--"the fool." But--almost as if
his patron saint had resolved to teach his detractors a lesson--the
reward came. The richest _bonanza_ that the "mother lode" ever yielded
he struck. From the results of this great treasure--a mere fraction of
it--he caused the fine Valenciana church to be raised, whose handsome
facade still draws the traveller's attention and marks the romantic
episode of mining lore which gave it birth. The building of the temple
was begun in 1765; its cost was a million dollars.
Ancient and, in many cases, ruined churches, especially in some of the
northern states, lie scattered throughout the regions where great
mining communities dwelt--now dead and gone. But religion--or the
barbaric custodian of religion, the Inquisition--claimed her victims
among the workers of mines. At the beginning of the seventeenth century
it was that a rich mine--the Monoloa, in the State of Jalisco--was
being worked by one Trevino and his partner, who, having been denounced
to the Holy Office by jealous neighbours, they were accused of invoking
the aid of the devil in their work. The unfortunate mine-owner was
brought to the capital in consequence in 1649 and burned alive!
The Mexican miner, like his brothers of Peru or Chile, not content with
the churches and shrines above ground which his religion afforded,
often formed chapels and set up images in the subterranean caverns to
whose habitation his daily toil condemned him. Shrines and crosses are
frequently encountered in the galleries and chambers of Mexican mines
now, as ever. Often, candles are kept burning before them throughout
the eternal night, which they illuminate, and in some cases the devout
among the miners go through these underground labyrinths in their daily
toil in the dark, saving their candles to light the shrine! As they
pass this bright spot their accustomed hand comes up to make the sign
of the cross, and wearied knees humble themselves in a genuflexion. In
one of the mines at Guanajuato there is an elaborate underground shrine
where as many as two hundred candles burn at times, shedding a radiance
which contrasts weirdly with the gloomy depths of worked-out caverns
which surround it.
Such vast wealth as was extracted from some of these mines brought not
only material riches, but royal honours and State positions to their
owners. Titles of nobility were given by the Spanish sovereigns to
fortunate mine-owners, some of whom had afforded loans or rendered
other services, and they received the high reward of being admitted
into the ranks of the Spanish aristocracy. Thus the builder of the
great church of Valenciana at Guanajuato, which has been described in
this chapter, from plain Antonio Obregon became Count of Valenciana.
And, again, another miner of that city, Sardaneta, who drew millions
from the famous Rayas mine, from the _bonanza_ which his persistent
adit upon the "mother lode" laid bare, received the title of Marquis of
Rayas. Still another--marquis and viscount--this wonderful city and its
silver mountains afforded in Francisco Mathias, the owner and worker of
mines upon this mighty ore deposit. To some of these men, as related,
there have remained monuments in the great churches they built. The
Marquis of Sardaneta raised up the massive and enduring structures
which form the buildings of the Rayas mine at Guanajuato, whose
striking architectural features of flying buttresses, massive walls,
and sculptured portals arrest the traveller's attention. No sheds of
props and corrugated roofs are there; but arches, pillars, and walls of
solid stone, cut and carved, defying the centuries--and above their
portal is the sculptured image of Michael the archangel.
Pachuca, the wonderful silver-producing city not far from the capital
of Mexico, produced a Mexican noble. This was Pedro Romero de Terreros,
who, in 1739, having discovered a great _bonanza_, enriched himself by
this characteristic stroke of fortune. He rendered some service to the
King--presenting a battleship to the Imperial Navy--and was created a
count--Conde de Regla.
It is not to be supposed that the Spanish Government did not recognise,
in its demands for bullion from its colony of Mexico, any necessity for
scientific advancement in mining. A petition sent to Carlos III. in
1744 by various prominent persons, and originated by one of the
foremost miners of the country, secured the Royal assent to the
creation of a "Mining Tribunal," and towards the close of the century
this was established, with a school where the sons of poor miners
received gratuitous education in mining, without distinction of caste
or colour. Indeed, the sons of Indian chiefs of the Philippines were
brought over and instructed here, and returned later to stimulate gold
mining in their native land. A special tax on miners was then imposed
for the purpose of raising an adequate building, and this was completed
in 1813, and it has been considered one of the best architectural
features of the capital. It contained a special chapel, where services
were held for the students up to the time of the Reform, after which it
was turned into a library.
Important as mining has been in the past history of Mexico, it is, and
must remain, the most important of the industries of the country--in
the sense of wealth produced. This does not mean, of course, that it is
the most beneficial to the interests of the country and its inhabitants
at large, for agriculture is that by which the bulk of the native
Mexicans earn their means of subsistence.
The mineral-bearing zone of the country is a very extensive one, and
includes all that portion of the Republic traversed by the Sierra
Madres and their offshoots. From the State of Sonora in the north, the
boundary with the United States, to that of Chiapas in the
south--bordering upon the neighbouring Republic of Guatemala--minerals
are found. The region in which the most important mining districts
exist, and in which the historic mines of Mexico lie, forms a great
zone 1,600 miles long--between the States of Sonora in the north to
Oaxaca in the south--and 250 miles wide. These more famous and
largely-worked mines are chiefly upon the western slope of the Eastern
Sierra, and their elevations above sea-level range from 3,000 feet to
9,000 feet, and more. The minerals which are found throughout this
great region include almost all those known to commerce, and, more or
less in relative order of their importance, are as follows:--
Silver, copper, gold, lead, quicksilver, iron, coal, zinc, salt,
antimony, petroleum, sulphur, tin, bismuth, platinum; and others more
rarely, as nickel, cobalt, &c. Onyx, marble, opals, emeralds,
sapphires, topazes, rubies, are found, and other precious stones,
whilst diamonds are said to exist in certain localities. Agates,
cornelians, obsidian, are also among the products of this nature.
The following table shows the principal distribution of minerals in the
various states:--
+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| | MINERALS. |
| +----------------------------------------------------+
| STATE. | Silver. | Gold. | Copper. | Lead. | Tin. | Mercury.|
+----------------+---------+-------+---------+-------+------+---------+
|Aguascalientes | " | | " | | " | |
|Campeche . . . | " | | " | | | |
|Chiapas . . . . | " | " | " | " | | |
|Chihuahua . . . | " | " | " | " | | |
|Coahuila . . . | " | " | " | " | | |
|Colima . . . . | " | " | " | | | |
|Durango . . . . | " | " | | | " | |
|Guanajuato . . | " | | " | | " | |
|Guerrero . . . | " | " | " | | | " |
|Hidalgo . . . . | " | | | " | | |
|Jalisco . . . . | " | " | " | | " | " |
|Lower California| " | " | " | | | |
|Mexico . . . . | " | " | | | | |
|Michoacan . . . | " | " | " | | | |
|Nuevo Leon . . | " | | | " | | |
|Oaxaca . . . . | " | " | | " | | |
|Puebla . . . . | " | | " | " | | |
|Queretaro . . . | " | " | " | " | " | " |
|San Luis Potosi | " | " | | | | " |
|Sinaloa . . . . | " | " | | | | |
|Sonora . . . . | " | " | " | " | " | |
|Tabasco . . . . | | | | | | |
|Tamaulipas . . | " | | " | " | | |
|Tepic . . . . . | " | " | " | " | | |
|Vera Cruz . . . | " | " | | | | |
|Zacatecas . . . | " | " | " | | " | " |
+----------------+---------+-------+---------+-------+------+---------+
+----------------+------------------------------------+
| | MINERALS. |
| +------------------------------------+
| STATE. | Iron. | Coal. | Petroleum. | Zinc. |
+----------------+-------+-------+------------+-------+
|Aguascalientes | | | | |
|Campeche . . . | | " | " | |
|Chiapas . . . . | " | " | | |
|Chihuahua . . . | | " | | |
|Coahuila . . . | | | | |
|Colima . . . . | | | | |
|Durango . . . . | " | | | " |
|Guanajuato . . | | | | |
|Guerrero . . . | " | | | |
|Hidalgo . . . . | " | | | |
|Jalisco . . . . | " | | | |
|Lower California| | | | |
|Mexico . . . . | | | | |
|Michoacan . . . | " | " | | |
|Nuevo Leon . . | | | | " |
|Oaxaca . . . . | " | " | | |
|Puebla . . . . | " | " | | |
|Queretaro . . . | | | | |
|San Luis Potosi | " | | | |
|Sinaloa . . . . | | | | |
|Sonora . . . . | " | " | | |
|Tabasco . . . . | | " | | |
|Tamaulipas . . | | | | |
|Tepic . . . . . | | " | " | |
|Vera Cruz . . . | " | " | " | " |
|Zacatecas . . . | | | | |
+----------------+-------+-------+------------+-------+
+----------------+-----------------------------------------+
| | MINERALS. |
| +-----------------------------------------+
| STATE. | Antimony. | Sulphur. | Bismuth. | Salt. |
+----------------+-----------+----------+----------+-------+
|Aguascalientes | | | | |
|Campeche . . . | | | | |
|Chiapas . . . . | | | | |
|Chihuahua . . . | " | | | |
|Coahuila . . . | " | | | |
|Colima . . . . | | | | |
|Durango . . . . | | " | | |
|Guanajuato . . | | | " | |
|Guerrero . . . | | | | |
|Hidalgo . . . . | | | | |
|Jalisco . . . . | | | | |
|Lower California| | " | | " |
|Mexico . . . . | | " | | |
|Michoacan . . . | | " | | |
|Nuevo Leon . . | | | | |
|Oaxaca . . . . | | | | |
|Puebla . . . . | | | | |
|Queretaro . . . | " | | | |
|San Luis Potosi | | " | | |
|Sinaloa . . . . | " | | | |
|Sonora . . . . | | | | |
|Tabasco . . . . | | | | |
|Tamaulipas . . | | | | |
|Tepic . . . . . | | | | " |
|Vera Cruz . . . | | | | |
|Zacatecas . . . | " | | | |
+----------------+-----------+----------+----------+-------+
The geological formation of the country does not bear special relation
to the deposits of metalliferous minerals, which are distributed in
many parts of the great zone. In general terms it may be said that the
abundance of the ores rather than their richness characterises the
mines of Mexico and is the source of their wealth. Those which have
most steadily produced bullion generally consisted of a main lode
containing enormous quantities of low-grade ore of about 60 ounces per
ton; and typical of these are the mines of Guanajuato, Pachuca,
Queretaro, Zacatecas, and others. The ores, however, are not always
low-grade, for great _bonanzas_ of exceedingly rich ore were
encountered, making rapid fortunes for their discoverers.
_Silver_.--The main lodes in those places enumerated have ranged up to
hundreds of feet in width, and form the most potent silver-ore deposits
upon the globe. Their extensions in length and depth bear out their
importance as metal-producing sources. Thus the Mellado vein, of
Guanajuato, measures, in places, more than 300 feet in width; with
workings ten miles in length, and extending to a present depth of
nearly 2,000 feet. The _Veta Madre_, or "mother lode," ranges from 30
feet to 165 feet in width; whilst others of the famous lodes reach 50
to 100 feet. As to the ore-values, Humboldt, who visited Guanajuato in
the height of its production, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, assigned as his calculation a value equal to about 80 ounces
of silver per ton _for the whole lode_. For portions of the ore-bodies,
and for many of the great _bonanzas_, much higher values have obtained,
silver up to 7,000 ounces per ton having been encountered; whilst ores
of 1,100 ounces have been frequently exported to Great Britain.
The almost fabulous wealth obtained from the silver mines has been
shown in the foregoing pages, and these mines are far from being
exhausted at the present day. The importance of the Pachuca mines is
shown by the statement that they produce six million ounces of silver
and 30,000 ounces of gold yearly. Of the population of the city, of
forty thousand souls, seven thousand are employed underground.
All of the Mexican states are silver bearing, although those which
contain the famous mines are the most important, as:--Sonora,
Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato, Queretaro,
Hidalgo (Pachuca), Mexico. All these states contain numerous mining
districts--cities, towns, camps--which it would take too much space
here to enumerate. With the exception of the few modern installations
most of the mines are worked by the primitive Mexican system of winding
up the ore in raw-hide sacks, hauled by means of cables made from
_maguey_ fibre, upon a mule-actuated windlass--the _malacate_. In some
cases the miners carry huge pieces of ore on their backs, from 100 lbs.
to 200 lbs. in weight, along the galleries to the shaft. Interior
transport and haulage are primitive.
The principal ore of silver is the sulphate, although native silver is
also freely encountered in some districts. The ores were very generally
decomposed to a depth of about 300 feet. Argentiferous galena is
plentiful, and silver is freely found in conjunction with copper ores.
The _caliches_, a chalk-like substance, easily worked, is another rich
form of occurrence of the metal, and there are others less important.
Various different methods of separating silver from its ores are used;
the prevailing ones being those of smelting, lixiviation, and the
_patio_ process, which last has accounted for 90 per cent. of the
production. Indeed, the recovery of silver by the _patio_ process has
always been one of the most important industries of Spanish-American
countries, especially in Mexico, Peru, and Chile. In Mexico it has been
employed continuously since the year 1557, when it was invented by
Medina at the _hacienda_ Purisima Grande. This was the first
application of amalgamation to silver ores, and permitted the treatment
of the vast quantities of low-grade ores, which did not pay to smelt.
To-day great quantities of ore are still treated by this method. The
process is too well known to require much description here. Its main
points of advantage are the simplicity--in practice, for its chemistry
is complicated in theory--of its methods and appliances. The principal
agents employed may be said to be mercury and horseflesh, or rather
mule-flesh; the mercury forming an amalgam with the precious metals
under the incorporation brought about by the trampling hoofs of the
mules. The trampling and incorporation of the _torta_, or charge of
pounded ore, mercury, water, salt, copper sulphate, and other
constituents, mixed into a paste, was originally performed by
barefooted natives, but the practice of using mules for the purpose
came from Peru, in 1783, as before mentioned. The _patio_, as its name
implies, consists of a paved yard upon which the crushed mineral is
treated. This is in some cases of very large capacity, one of the most
important in the country, that of the Guadalupe works at Pachuca, which
treats nearly a thousand tons of ore a week, being as large as the
_plaza_ of a city. Upon this the _torta_ is spread, and bands of a
dozen mules, or mules and horses, harnessed together, are driven up and
down from morning till afternoon, through the slushy mass. The animals
are then bathed to remove the chemicals, but notwithstanding this the
work is deleterious, and they last but a few years--the old ones but a
few months--as they become poisoned by the copper sulphate. At some of
the _haciendas_ of Pachuca six hundred horses are employed in this
work, and the total throughout the country is considerable. Constant
efforts have been made for the use of mechanical appliances, to take
the place of the equine mixer, but these have not been found to give
the same efficiency. The process is typical of the country and the
race--time, space, and material are plentiful, and labour is cheap, and
horses--well, they were made for man's use! The innate tendency of the
Spanish-Americans to do without mechanical appliances also is indulged.
The growth of the silver-producing industry of recent years is shown by
the returns, giving approximately a value of seven million Mexican
dollars for 1890 and fifty million for 1902, for export alone. The
total value of the silver production for 1907 was eight million
sterling, which was more than that of the United States, and so Mexico
led the world in that year.
_Gold_.--The gold which was formerly produced in Mexico has come
principally from the silver ores, with which it is generally
associated, and has been obtained from the amalgamation of these. More
recently gold-bearing quartz lodes are being worked, and are producing
important quantities of gold. Among the foremost of these are the mines
of the district of El Oro, in the State of Mexico, somewhat less than a
hundred miles to the north-west of the capital. They produced in 1905
about ten million dollars in gold, or about 800,000 dollars per month.
Whilst Mexico has not generally been looked upon as a gold-producing
country, it is undoubtedly the case that it will, under the present
rate of development, rank among the foremost of these. At present
Mexico holds sixth place with a production for 1907 of 3-3/4 millions
sterling. Gold-bearing lodes are being discovered and worked in most of
the States, and thousands of such deposits are being prospected, or
awaiting such, whilst numerous crushing plants are treating ores in
those districts most accessible to the railways. The enterprise known
as El Oro Mining and Railway Company may be looked upon as a
well-managed and prosperous concern, controlled by British capital. It
was first acquired by a British company in 1815, and it is stated that
it yielded five or six million pounds sterling of gold. Later it was
abandoned, taken up in 1870 by native capitalists, and at the end of
last century purchased by an American company, to be again acquired by
British interests in 1899. The enterprise controls a large area of
ground of more than 500 acres, a short railway to the Mexican National
Line, and some valuable forests which afford fuel. With its battery of
200 stamps and large cyaniding mills, it has a capacity for ore
treatment of 20,000 tons per month. The yield per ton of ore is given
for 1900 at slightly under 3 pounds sterling per ton, at a cost of
about 25s., and for 1907 35s. per ton, at a cost of slightly under 20s.
The tonnage treated for these years were 53,500 tons and 263,000 tons
respectively, and all the intervening years show the steady increase.
The output for 1907 was more than a million tons of ore, due to the
added capacity of the new stamp mill, whilst the monthly profits for
that year and for 1908 fluctuated between 14,000 and 18,000 pounds
sterling.
Other successful enterprises of El Oro region are the Somera Gold
Mining Company, affiliated with the foregoing, and the Mexico Mines of
El Oro. The latter company's mill has a capacity of 250 tons of ore
daily, and the recent monthly profits have been, it is stated, upwards
of 15,000 pounds sterling. These are also controlled by British
capitalists, as is the "Esperanza" Mine of El Oro, it is stated, which
has produced since 1895 a value of 4-1/2 millions sterling, with a
profit of nearly 2-1/2 millions. The "Dos Estrellas" Mine is yet
another example of this successful district. It is said to have made
profits since 1902 of 2-1/2 millions sterling, and to have ore for
future work in large quantities. It is interesting to note that this
excellent performance has been made on ground which had been condemned
by mining experts![34]
[Footnote 34: These figures are from the Mexican Year Book, 1908.]
Other prosperous mining concerns in different parts of the country,
generally owned by native capital, include the "Real del Monte" Mines
of Pachuca, elsewhere described: the "Maravellas and Anexas Mining
Company," principally silver producing; the "Santa Gertrude Mines," a
silver property; "La Blanca and Anexas," gold and silver--all of which
are in the Pachuca district. The Parral mining district, in Chihuahua,
is one which has recently received attention, although it is not new,
having yielded silver from the middle of the sixteenth century. Some
six millions sterling represent the investments in the district during
the last fifteen years in these mines. The famous Penoles Mine is among
the most prosperous in the country. This is a
lead-gold-silver-producing enterprise in Durango, at Mapimi, worked
first in Colonial times. Now it owns large smelters, a line of railway,
and an extensive property. In 1907 this enterprise produced 58,000
kilograms of silver, 504 kilograms of gold, and has an annual output of
some 20,000 tons of lead.
In Sonora various gold-mining properties are at work. Among them is the
Consolidated Goldfields of Mexico, Ltd., British capital: the
Creston-Colorado Mines, worked by American capital, including the old
British-worked Minas Prietas mines: there are other gold mining
companies old and new under British enterprise, and the Bufa and the
Trinidad Companies, producing gold, silver, and copper. In fact, the
State of Sonora is a rich field for the working of the precious metals,
and offers great possibilities.
In Chihuahua are some important gold and silver-producing enterprises,
among them the Greene Gold-Silver Company, owned by Americans, and the
Palmarejo Mines, a British enterprise. Indeed, with its numerous
important mining centres, this State is held to be the foremost in
Mexico, and a large output of the precious metals is being made.
Lower California contains a great deal of resource in gold-quartz
lodes, and some important _placer_ deposits. This territory is one of
the richest mineral regions of North America.
The principal gold-producing States are Chihuahua, Sonora, Zacatecas,
Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico, Lower California, Hidalgo, Chiapas, Coahuila.
No less than eighteen of the States of Mexico contain gold-bearing
districts.
Hydraulic, or _placer_, mining for gold has not been much considered as
a source of supply, as there are no great alluvial deposits, so far
known, such as exist in other parts of North and South America.
Nevertheless, something has been done in this way, principally in the
States of Chihuahua and Guerrero. The geological formation, however,
does not point the probability of the existence of great alluvial
deposits, and the _placers_ take the form of river bars principally.
The rise of Mexico's gold-production has been rapid. The country now
holds sixth place. In 1893 its value was less than 4 per cent. of that
of the silver output, whilst in 1894 it jumped to 14 per cent., and in
1902, 20 per cent. The export of gold bullion in 1890 was only half a
million Mexican dollars, whilst in 1903 it had risen to 11-1/2
millions. The value of the total gold production for 1907 was 3-3/4
millions sterling.
Among other producing mines is the Providencia, of Guanajuato, yielding
gold, silver, and iron. Yet another is the "San Rafael and Anexas," a
regular dividend-payer, whose net profits for 1907 are given as
three-quarters of a million dollars. The famous region of Tlalpujahua
is once more receiving attention.
_Copper_.--The rise of Mexico as a copper-producing country has been
remarkable. Less than fifteen years ago the Republic was unheard of as
a source of the red metal, now it ranks second in the world's output,
coming next to the United States with a production for the year 1907 of
56,600 tons. The following States are those which are most important as
copper-bearing: Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Jalisco,
Michoacan, Puebla, Queretaro, Tamaulipas, Lower California, and Colima.
In Sonora the following mines are at work: The Bufa Mining and Smelting
Company; the Trinidad Mining Company, upon which large sums of money
have been spent; the Montezuma Mine, an important enterprise, formed
with an outlay of millions of dollars upon its appliances and workings,
and having a daily capacity of 250 tons of ore, belonging to American
capitalists. The Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, a remarkable
enterprise instituted by American capitalists. Cananea is considered to
be one of the most important copper regions in the world, and a
considerable preliminary outlay made has been justified in the results;
the works exporting several thousand tons of copper monthly. It forms
one of the most complete installations of its nature. The Yaqui River
Smelting and Railway Company is a custom smelter, and affords a market
for much local copper ore. There are other copper-producing enterprises
under development, and the State of Sonora is thus a most productive
source of the red metal.
In Chihuahua active development upon copper mines is being carried on,
and the production stimulated by the establishing of smelting works.
There is also an important copper foundry at Monterrey, in the State of
Nuevo Leon.
In Lower California are the large copper mines and smelting works of
Boleo, owned by a French company. This is an important enterprise,
supporting a population of 8,000 souls, and its eight smelters are of a
capacity of 150 tons daily, giving an output of copper of 11,500 tons
per annum. With its own railways, harbour, and town, the enterprise is
a self-centred community of much prosperity.
The State of Guerrero affords some copper ore deposits probably of
great extent, and among these are several mines which are being
developed.
In the State of Zacatecas is the important British enterprise of the
Mazapil Copper Company, with an extensive property, smelting furnaces,
and railway line, with also a long overhead cable system of
ore-carriage.
_Iron_.--Deposits of iron ores are found in several of the states. In
Durango is the much described _Cerro de Mercado_, a hill of iron ore
calculated as containing 460,000,000 tons of iron ore, assaying 70 to
75 percent. pure iron. This remarkable hill was discovered in 1552.
The city of Monterrey, in the State of Nuevo Leon, contains a large
ironfoundry and steel-producing plant, and two iron and brassfoundries,
establishments which are of much importance to the country. Guerrero
has valuable deposits of iron ore near Chilpancingo.
_Quicksilver_.--In the State of Guerrero are the quicksilver mines of
Ahuitzuco, which have produced quantities of mercury. Durango has
deposits of cinnabar at Nazas and El Oro.
_Coal_.--In the State of Sonora are extensive fields of anthracite,
with seams in some cases 14 feet in thickness, and these are being
developed by an American company. Near these are others, equally
important, and the whole area is very considerable. Coahuila contains
perhaps the most important coal-beds in the Republic, and a
considerable output of coal and coke is being made. Other states
contain coal-fields.
_Petroleum_.--In the State of Tamaulipas are the petroleum deposits of
"El Ebano," worked by an American company. In July, 1908, an enormous
"fresher" was struck at San Geronimo, near Tampico, and this became
ignited and burned fiercely for two months, with a pillar of flame
1,000 feet high, which was visible for 100 miles. So rapid was the flow
of oil when this was extinguished that earthen dams were hastily
constructed to save the oil. Several other states have oil deposits.
_Salt_.--In Tamaulipas, on the Gulf of Mexico, the salt mines of
Matamoros and Soto la Marina produce quantities of salt. On the Pacific
side of the country, Carmen Island, off the Gulf coast of Baja,
California, exists one of the largest salt-beds in the world.
_Lead_ is distributed through numerous states. It occurs largely as
high-grade argentiferous galena. The output for 1907 was 73,000 tons.
_Antimony_.--The value of the production of this for 1907 was about
140,000 pounds sterling.
_Tin_ has not been worked commercially, although great deposits of the
ores of this metal are shown to exist, especially in the State of
Durango, where there are several districts, Guanajuato and
Aguascalientes. It was one of the metals used by the Aztecs.
The value of the total mineral production of the Republic, in round
numbers, as shown by the fiscal returns, including the product of
reduction works and the exports of metals, ores, and bullion, is taken
at 15,000,000 pounds sterling--an excellent showing.
The number of mining properties held under title for 1907 are:--gold
and silver, 14,950; gold and silver with other metals, 9,050; other
metals and mineral substances, 2,350, or a total of 26,350, equal to an
area of 873,000 acres. The method of acquiring mining property in
Mexico is relatively simple. As to ownership, the only cause of
forfeiture is default in payment of the taxes upon the title-deeds.
In Mexico the foreign capitalist and miner will find endless scope for
his money and energies. Yet it is a feature of the industry, and of the
excellent conditions obtaining in the financial world of the Republic,
that good mines are easily financed within the country itself. Details
of the conditions of the mining regions are further set forth in the
chapter devoted to the natural resources of the various states.