REFLECTIONS ON EMIGRATION--ADVANTAGES OF AMERICA--LAND AND
LABOR.--MINES WROUGHT BY AZTECS--MINING DISTRICTS AND EXTENT IN
MEXICO.--ERRORS AS TO EARLY SUPPLY OF METALS FROM AMERICA--TRUE
PERIOD OF ABUNDANCE--MINES NOT EXHAUSTED--CONDITION--FAMILIES
ENRICHED.--EFFECT OF MINING ON AGRICULTURE.--RELATIVE PRODUCT OF
SILVER FOR TEN YEARS--TABLE OF PRODUCT--YIELD OF THE MINES SINCE
THE CONQUEST.--COINAGE 1844--TOTAL COINAGE 1535 to 1850.
MEXICAN MINES, MINERAL WEALTH AND COINAGE.
It is generally supposed that the mineral wealth of America was one of
the most powerful stimulants of the Spanish conquest and subsequent
emigration; nor is the idea erroneous if we recollect the manner in
which the Castilian power was founded on this continent and the colonial
policy it originated. It will be seen by the tables annexed to this
section, that the results have largely fulfilled the hopes of the
European adventurers, and that the wealth of the world has been
immensely augmented and sustained, by the discovery of our Continent. In
the order of the earth's gradual development, under the intellectual
enterprise or bodily labor of man, we find the most beautiful system of
accommodation to the growing wants or capacities of our race. Space is
required for the crowded population of the Old World, and a new
continent is suddenly opened, into which the cramped and burdened
millions may find room for industry and independent existence. The
political institutions of Europe decay in consequence of the
encroachments of power, the social degradation of large masses by unjust
or unwise systems, or the enforced operation of oppressive laws, and a
virgin country is forthwith assigned to man in which the principle of
self government may be tried without the necessity of casting off by
violence the old fetters of feudalism. The increasing industry or
invention of the largely augmented populations of the earth, exacts
either a larger amount or a new standard of value for the precious
metals, and regions are discovered among the frosts and forests of a far
off continent, in which the fable of the golden sands of Pactolus is
realized. The labor of men and the flight of time strip commercial
countries of their trees, yet, in order to support the required supply
of fuel, not only for the comfort and preservation but also for the
industry of the race, the heart of the earth beneath the soil which is
required for cultivation, is found to be veined with inexhaustible
supplies of mineral coal.
The bounty and the protective forethought of God for his creatures is
not only intimated but proved by these benevolent storehouses of
treasure, comfort and freedom; and whilst we acknowledge them with
proper gratitude, we should not forget that their acquirement and
enduring possession are only to be paid for by labor, economy, and
social as well as political forbearance.
We do not think these observations out of place in a chapter devoted to
the mineral wealth of Mexico. The subject of property and its
representative metals, should be approached in a reflective and
christian spirit, in an age in which the political and personal misery
of the overcrowded masses of Europe, is forcing them to regard all who
are better provided for, or more fortunate by thrift or the accident of
birth, as enemies of the poor. The demagogue leaders of these wretched
classes, pushing the principle of just equalization to a ridiculous and
hideous extreme, have not hesitated to declare in France, since the
revolution of February, 1848, that "property is robbery."[11] We shall
not pause to examine or refute the false dogma of a dangerous
incendiary. The common sense as well as the common feeling of mankind
revolts at it. Property, as the world is constituted by God, is the
_source_ of new industry, because it is, under the laws of all civilized
nations, the original _result_ of industry. "It makes the meat it feeds
on." Without it there would be no duty of labor, no exercise of human
ingenuity or talent, no responsibility, no reward. The mind and body
would stagnate under such a monstrous contradiction of all our physical
and intellectual laws. The race would degenerate into its former savage
condition; and force, instead of its antagonists, industry and honest
competition, would usurp the dominion of the world and end this vicious
circle of bastard civilization.
And yet it is the duty of an American,--who, from his superior position,
both in regard to space in which he can find employment and equal
political laws by which that employment is protected, stands on a
vantage ground above the confined and badly governed masses of
Europe,--to regard the present position of the European masses not only
with humane compassion, but to sympathize with that natural feeling that
revolts against a state of society which it seems impossible to
ameliorate, and yet whose wants or luxuries do not afford them support.
It is hard to suffer hunger and to see our dependants die of starvation,
when we are both able and willing to work for wages but can obtain no
work upon which to exercise our ingenuity or our hands. It is frightful
to reflect, says Mr. Carlyle, in one of his admirable essays, that there
is hardly an English horse, in a condition to labor for his owner, that
is deprived of food and lodging, whilst thousands of human beings rise
daily from their obscure and comfortless dens in the British isles, who
do not know how they shall obtain employment for the day by which they
may purchase a meal.
To this dismal account of European suffering, the condition of the
American continent affords the best reply. The answer and the remedy are
both displayed in the social and political institutions, as well as in
the boundless unoccupied and prolific tracts of our country. Labor cries
out for work and recompense from the Old World, whilst the New displays
her soil, her mines, her commerce and her trades, as the best _alms_
that one nation can bestow on another, because they come direct from God
and are the reward of meritorious _industry_. Before such a tribunal the
modern demagogue of continental Europe shrinks into insignificance, and
the laws of labor are effectually vindicated.
The MINES OF MEXICO have been wrought from the earliest periods. Long
before the advent of the Spaniards, the natives of Mexico, like those of
Peru, were acquainted with the use of metals. Nor were they contented
with such specimens as they found scattered at random on the surface of
the earth or in the ravines of mountain torrents, but had already
learned to dig shafts, pierce galleries, form needful implements, and
trace the metallic veins in the hearts of mountains. We know that they
possessed gold, silver, lead, tin, copper and cinnabar. Beautiful
samples of jewelry were wrought by them, and gold and silver vases,
constructed in Mexico, were sent to Spain by the conquerors, as
testimonials of the mineral wealth of the country. The dependant tribes
paid their tributes to the sovereign in a species of metallic currency,
which though not stamped by royal order, was yet the representative of a
standard value. The exact position of all the mines from which these
treasures were derived by the Aztecs is not certainly known at the
present day, but as the natives were often compelled to indicate some of
the sources of their riches to the conquerors there is little doubt that
the present mineral district of the republic is that from which they
procured their chief supplies.
The mines of Mexico may be classed in eight groups, nearly all of which
are placed on the top or on the western slope of the great _Cordillera_.
The _first_ of these groups has been the most productive, and embraces
the districts contiguous to Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, Charcas,
Catorce, Zacatecas, Asientos de Ybarra, Fresnillo and Sombrerete.
The _second_ comprises the mines situated west of the city of Durango as
well as those in Sinaloa, for the labors of engineers have brought them
so close to each other by their works that they may be united in the
same geological division.
The _third_ group is the northernmost in Mexico, and is that which
embraces the mines of Chihuahua and Cosiguiriachi. It extends from the
27th° to the 29th° of north latitude.
The _fourth_ and _fifth_ clusters are found north-east of Mexico, and
are formed by the mines of Real del Monte or Pachuca, and Zimapan, or,
El Doctor.
Bolaños, in Guadalajara, and Tasco in Oajaca, are the central points of
the _sixth_, _seventh_ and _eighth_.[12]
The reader who will cast his eye over the map of Mexico, will at once
perceive that the geographical space covered by this metalliferous
region, is small when compared with the great extent of the whole
country. The eight groups into which the mining districts are divided
occupy a space of twelve thousand square leagues, or one tenth only of
the whole extent of the Mexican republic as it existed previous to the
treaty of 1848 and before the mineral wealth of California and probably
of New Mexico was known to the world. But as that treaty confirmed and
ceded to the United States more than one half of the ancient territory
of Mexico, we may estimate the mining region as covering fully one fifth
of the remainder.
Before the discovery and conquest of the West Indies and the American
continent, Europe had looked to the east for her chief supplies of
treasure. America was discovered by Columbus, not as was so long
imagined, because he foresaw the existence of another continent, but
because he sought a shorter route to the rich and golden Zipangou, and
to the spice regions of eastern Asia. Columbus and Vespuccius both died
believing that they had reached eastern Asia, and thus a geographical
mistake led to the greatest discovery that has ever been made. In proof
of these assertions we may state that Columbus designed delivering _at
Cuba_, the missives of the Spanish king to the great Kahn of the
Mongols, and that he imagined himself in Mangi the capital of the
southern region of Cathay or China! "The Island of Hispaniola," (Hayti)
he declares to Pope Alexander VI., in a letter found in the archives of
the Duke of Varaguas,--"is Tarshish, Ophir, and Zipangou. In my second
voyage, I have discovered fourteen hundred islands, and a shore of three
hundred and thirty-three miles, belonging to the continent of Asia."
This _West Indian_ Zipangou produced golden fragments or spangles,
weighing eight, ten and even twenty pounds.[13]
Before the discovery of the _silver_ mines of Tasco, on the western
slope of the Mexican Cordillera, in the year 1522, America supplied only
_gold_ to the Old World, and consequently, Isabella of Castile was
obliged, already in 1497, to modify greatly, the relative value of the
two precious metals used for currency. This was doubtless the origin of
the Medina edict--which changes the old legal ratio of 1:10.7. Yet
Humboldt has shown that, from 1492 to 1500, the quantity of gold drawn
from the parts of the New World then known, did not amount, annually, to
more than about one thousand pounds avoirdupois;--and the Pope Alexander
VI., who, by his famous Bull, bestowed one half the earth upon the
Spanish kings, only received in return, from Ferdinand the Catholic,
some small fragments of gold from Hayti, to gild a portion of the dome
of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore;--a gift that was suitably
acknowledged in a Latin inscription in which the offering is set forth
as the first that had been received by the Catholic sovereigns from
India.
Although the income of treasure must have increased somewhat, yet the
working of the American mines did not yield three millions of dollars
yearly until 1545. The ransom of Atahualpa amounted, according to
Gomara, to about four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of our
standard, or fifty-two thousand marks of silver, whilst, the pillage of
the Temples at Cuzco, if Herrera is to be credited, did not produce more
than twenty-five thousand seven hundred marks, or a little more than a
quarter of a million of our currency.[14]
It has been generally imagined that the wealth of the New World
immediately and largely enriched the Spanish kings or their people; and
that the sovereigns, under whose auspices the discovery was made,
participated, at once, in the treasures that were found in the
possession of the Indian rulers. Such, however, was not the case. The
historian Ranke, in his essay on the Spanish finances, has shown, by new
documents and official vouchers, the small quantity of the precious
metals which the American mines, and the supposed treasures of the Incas
yielded.[15] It is probable that the conquerors did not make exact
returns to the court of their acquisitions, or that the revenue
officers, appointed at an early period of American history, were not
remarkable for the fidelity with which they transmitted the sums that
came into their possession as servants of the crown; and thus it
happened that neither the king of Spain nor his kingdom, was speedily
enriched by the New World. Baron Humboldt, in one of his late
publications, gives an interesting extract from a letter written by a
friend of Ferdinand the Catholic a few days after his death, which
exhibits the finances of that king in a different light from that in
which they have been hitherto viewed. In an epistle to the bishop of
Tuy, Peter Martyr says, that this "Lord of many realms,--this wearer of
so many laurels,--this diffuser of the Christian faith and vanquisher of
its enemies,--died _poor_, in a rustic hut. Whilst he lived no one
imagined that after his death it would be discovered that he possessed
scarcely money enough either to defray the ceremony of his sepulture, or
to furnish his few retainers with suitable mourning!"[16] The
adventurers _in America_, were doubtless enriched, and duly reported
their gains to friends at home; but Spain itself was not speedily
improved by their acquisitions.
* * * * *
The rise in the prices of grain and other products of agriculture or
human industry, about the middle of the sixteenth century, and
especially from 1570 to 1595, indicates the true beginning of the
plentiful flow of the precious metals to the Old World, in consequence
of which their value diminished and the results of European industry
increased in price. This is accounted for by the commencement of the
beneficial working of the American mines about that period. The real
opening of the mines of Potosi, by the Spanish conquerors, dates from
the year 1545; and it was between this epoch and 1595, that the splendid
masses of silver from Tasco, Zacatecas, and Pachuca, in New Spain; and
from Potosi, Porco and Oruro, in the chain of Peruvian Andes, began to
be distributed more uniformly over Europe, and to affect the price of
its productions. From the period of the administration of Cortéz to the
year 1552, when the celebrated mines of Zacatecas were just opened, the
export from Mexico, rarely reached in value, annually, 100,000 pesos de
oro, or nearly $1,165,000. But from that date it rose rapidly, and in
the years 1569, 1578 and 1587, it was already, respectively--
931,564 Pesos de oro. } The Peso de oro, is rated by Prescott,
1,111,202 " " } at $11.65 cents, and by Ramirez,
1,812,051 " " } at $2.93 cents.[17]
During the last peaceful epoch of the Spanish domination, Baron Humboldt
calculates the annual yield of the mines of Mexico at not more than
$23,000,000, or nearly 1,184,000 pounds, avoirdupois, of silver, and
3,500 pounds, avoirdupois, of gold. From 1690 to 1803--$1,330,772,093
were coined in the _only_ mint of Mexico; while, from the discovery of
New Spain until its independence, about $2,028,000,000, or two-fifths of
all the precious metals which the whole of the New World has supplied
during the same period, were furnished by Mexico alone.[18]
It appears from these data that the exhaustion of the mines of Mexico is
contradicted by the geognostic facts of the country, and as we shall
hereafter show, by the recent issues of Mexican mints. The mint of
Zacatecas, alone, during the revolutionary epoch, from 1811 to 1833,
struck more than $66,332,766, and, in the eleven last years of this
period, from four to five millions of dollars were coined by it every
year uninterruptedly.
The general metallic production of the country,--which was of course
impeded by the revolutionary state of New Spain between 1809 and
1826,--has arisen refreshed from its slumber, so that, according to the
best accounts it has ascended to perhaps twenty millions annually in
total production, in consequence of the prolific yield of the workings
at Fresnillo, Chihuahua, and Sonora, independent of the abundant
production at Zacatecas.
The Mexican mines were eagerly and even madly seized by the English, and
even by the people of the United States, as objects of splendid
speculation, as soon as the country became settled; but, in consequence
of bad management, or the wild spirit of gambling which assumed the
place of prudent commercial enterprise, the holders of stock were either
disappointed or sometimes ruined. Subsequently, however, the proprietors
have learned that prudence and the experience of old Mexican miners was
better than the theoretical principles upon which they designed
producing larger revenues than had ever been obtained by the original
Spanish workmen. Their imported modern machinery and engines for voiding
water from the shafts and galleries is the chief beneficial improvement
introduced since the revolution; but the enormous cost of transporting
the heavy materials, in a country where there are no navigable rivers
extending into the heart of the land, and where the usual mode of
carriage is on the backs of mules, by wretched roads over mountains and
through ravines, has often absorbed large portions of the original
capital before the proprietors even began to employ laborers to set up
their foreign engines. Many of the first British and American
adventurers or speculators have, thus, been ruined by unskilful
enterprises in Mexican mines. Their successors, however, are beginning
to reap the beneficial results of this expenditure, and, throughout the
republic steam engines, together with the best kinds of hydraulic
apparatus, have superseded the Spanish _malacates_.
"Whenever these superb countries which are so greatly favored by
nature," says Humboldt, in his essay on gold and silver, in the Journal
des Economistes, "shall enjoy perfect peace after their deep and
prolonged internal agitations, new metallic deposites will necessarily
be opened and developed. In what region of the globe, except America,
can be cited such abundant examples of wealth, in _silver_? Let it not
be forgotten that near Sombrerete, where mines were opened as far back
as 1555, the family of Fagoaga,--Marquesses de Apartado,--derived, in
the short space of _five months_, from a front of one hundred and two
feet in the outcropping of a silver mine, a net profit of $4,000,000;
while, in the mining district of Catorce, in the space of two years and
a half, between 1781 and the end of 1783, an ecclesiastic, named Juan
Flores, gained $3,500,000, on ground full of chloride of silver and of
_colorados_!"
One of the most flourishing establishments in 1842, was the
Zacatecano-Mejicano Mining Company of Fresnillo. Its 120 shares, which
originally cost $22,800, were still held by Spaniards and Mexicans.
These mines were originally wrought by the state of Zacatecas; but, in
1836, Santa Anna took possession, by an alleged right of conquest, and
rented them for twelve years, to the successful company. In the first
half year of 1841, they produced $1,025,113, at a cost of $761,800, or a
clear profit of $263,313.
* * * * *
Mexico, under the colonial system with the immense product of her mines,
and notwithstanding the richness of her soil for agricultural purposes,
became almost entirely a silver producing country. The policy of Spain
was, as we have already often stated, to be the workshop of the New
World, while Mexico and Peru were the treasures of the Old. The
consequence of this was natural. Mexico, one of the finest agricultural
and grazing lands in the world, but with no temptations to export her
natural products, as she had no markets for them elsewhere, and no
roads, canals, or rivers to convey her products to seaports for shipment
even if she had possessed consumers in Europe, at once devoted herself
to her mines which were to be both wealth and the representatives of
wealth. Her agriculture, accordingly, assumed the standard of the mere
national home consumption, while the pastoral and horticultural
interests followed the same line, except perhaps, within late years in
California, where a profitable trade was carried on by the missions in
hides and tallow. From this restrictive law of exportation we of course
except vainilla, cochineal and a few other minor articles.
The sources of the wealth of the principal families of Mexico will
consequently be found in her mines, and an interesting summary of this
aristocracy is given by Mr. Ward in his "Mexico in 1827," to prove the
fact. The family of Regla, which possessed large estates in various
parts of the country, purchased the whole of them with the proceeds of
the mines of Real del Monte. The wealth of the Fagoagas was derived from
the great Bonanza of the Pavellon at Sombrerete. The mines of Balaños
founded the Vibancos. Valenciana, Ruhl, Perez-Galvez, and Otero, are all
indebted for their possessions to the mines of Valenciana and
Villalpando, at Guanajuato. The family of Sardaneta,--formerly Marqueses
de Rayas,--took its rise from the mine of that name. Cata and Mellado
enriched their original proprietor, Don Francisco Matias de Busto,
Marquis of San Clemente. The three successive fortunes of the celebrated
Laborde, of whom we shall speak hereafter when we describe Cuernavaca,
were derived from the mines of Quebradilla, and San Acasio at
Zacatecas, and from the Cañada which bore his name at Tlalpujahua. The
beautiful estates of the Obregones, near Leon, were purchased with the
revenues of the mines of La Purisima and Concepcion, at Catorce; as was
also the estate of Malpasso acquired by the Gordoas from the products of
La Luz. The Zambranos,--discoverers of Guarisamey,--owned many of the
finest properties in Durango; while Batopillas gave the Bustamantes the
opportunity to purchase a title and to enjoy an immense unencumbered
income.[19]
Nevertheless, some of the large fortunes of Mexico were made either by
trade or the possession of vast agricultural and cattle estates in
sections of the country where there were either no mines, or where
mining was unprofitable. The Agredas were enriched by commerce, while
the descendants of Cortéz who received a royal grant of the valley of
Oajaca, together with some Spanish merchants in Jalapa and Vera Cruz,
derived the chief part of their fortunes from landed estates, cultivated
carefully during the period when the Indians were under better
agricultural subjection than at present.
Thus the mines, and the mining districts, by aggregating a large
laboring population, in a country in which there were, until recently,
but few manufactures, and in which the main body of the people engaged
either in trades or in tending cattle, became the centre of some of the
most active agricultural districts. "The most fertile portions of the
table land are the Baxio, which is immediately contiguous to Guanajuato,
and comprises a portion of Valladolid, Guadalajara, Queretaro, and
Guanajuato. The valley of Toluca, and the southern part of the state of
Valladolid, both supply the capital and the mining districts of
Tlalpujahua, El Oro, Temascaltepec and Angangeo;--the plains of Pachuca
and Appam, which extend on either side to the foot of the mountains upon
which the mines of Real del Monte Chico are situated;--Itzmiquilpan,
which owes its existence to Zimapan;--Aguas Calientes, by which the
great mining town of Zacatecas is supplied;--a considerable circle in
the vicinity of Sombrerete and Fresnillo;--the valley of Jarral and the
plains about San Luis Potosi, which town again derives its name from the
mines of the Cerro de San Pedro, about four leagues from the gates, the
supposed superiority of which to the celebrated mines of Potosi in Peru
gave rise to the appellation of Potosi. A little farther north we find
the district of Matehuala, now a thriving town with more than seven
thousand inhabitants, created by the discovery of Catorce, while about
the same time, in the latter part of the last century, Durango rose into
importance from the impulse given to the surrounding country by the
labors of Zambrano at San Dimas and Guarisamey. Its population increased
in twelve years from eight to twenty thousand; while whole streets and
squares were added to its extent by the munificence of that fortunate
miner. To the extreme north, Santa Eulalia gave rise to the town of
Chihuahua; Batopilas and El Parral became each the centre of a little
circle of cultivation; Jesus Maria produced a similar effect; Mapimi,
Cuencame, and Inde, a little more to the southward, served to develope
the natural fertility of the banks of the river Nazas; while in the low
hot regions of Sonora and Sinaloa, on the western coast, almost every
place designated on the map as a town, was originally and generally is
still a Real, or district for mines."[20]
Such is the case with a multitude of other mines which have formed the
_nucleii_ of population in Mexico. They created a market. The men who
were at work in the vein, required the labor of men on the surface, for
their support and maintenance. Nor was it food alone, that these
laborers demanded. All kinds of artizans were wanted, and consequently,
towns as well as farms grew upon every side. When these mining
_dependencies_ are once formed, as Baron Humboldt justly says, they
often survive the mines that gave them birth; and turn to agricultural
labors for the supply of other districts that industry which was
formerly devoted solely to their own region.
Such are some of the internal advantages to be derived from mining in
Mexico, especially when the mines are well and scientifically wrought,
and when the miners are kept in proper order, well paid, and
consequently enabled to purchase the best supplies in the neighboring
markets. The mines are, in fact, to Mexico, what the manufacturing
districts are to England and the United States; and they must be
considered the great support of the national agricultural interests
until Mexico becomes a commercial power, and sends abroad other articles
besides silver, cochineal and vainilla,--the two last of which may be
regarded as her monopolies. The operation of this tempting character of
_mines_ or of the money they create as well as circulate, is exhibited
very remarkably in the rapidity with which the shores of California have
been covered with towns and filled with industrious population.
The tabular statement on the next page manifests the relative
production, and improving or decreasing productiveness, of the several
silver districts of Mexico, during the comparatively pacific period of
ten years antecedent to the war with the United States which commenced
in 1846. Whilst that contest lasted the agricultural and mineral
interests and industry of the country of course suffered, and,
consequently, it would be unfair to calculate the metallic yield of
Mexico upon the basis of that epoch or of the years immediately
succeeding.
From the table it will be seen--omitting the fractions of dollars and of
marks of silver--that the whole tax collected during these ten years
from 1835 to 1844, amounted to $1,988,799, imposed on 15,911,194 marks
of silver, the value of which was $131,267,354;--the mean yield of _tax_
being $198,889, and of the _silver_, 1,591,119, in _marks_, which,
estimated at the rate of eight dollars and a quarter, _per_ mark,
amounts to $13,126,735 annually.
Comparing the first and second periods of five years, we find a
difference in the tax in favor of the latter, of $113,130, on 905,042
marks of silver; showing that in the latter period $7,466,596 more were
extracted from the Mexican mines than during the former.
If we adopt the decimal basis of calculation the returns show,
_approximately_, the following results for relative productiveness:
In Zacatecas, 33-2/32 per ct.
Guanajuato, 21-12/32 " "
San Luis Potosi, 7-22/32 " "
Pachuca, 6-24/32 " "
Guadalajara, 5-4/32 " "
Mexico, 4-26/32 " "
Durango, 4-18/32 " "
Guadalupe y Calvo, 3-24/32 " "
Chihuahua y Jesus Maria, 4-18/32 " "
In Rosario, Cosala and Mazatlan, 2-26/32 per ct.
Sombrerete, 2-22/32 " "
Parral, 1-6/32 " "
Zimapan, 28/32 " "
Alamos, 27/32 " "
Hermosillo, 26/32 " "
Oajaca, 2/32 " "
Tasco, 1/32 " "
These statements do not include the precious metals produced in Mexico,
which were either clandestinely disposed of or used in the manufacture
of articles of luxury.[21]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| |
| _TABLE exhibiting the places and the amount of Tax collected at each, on every mark of silver, during the ten years from 1835 to 1844, |
| designed to show the relative productiveness of the various silver districts throughout the Mexican Republic._ |
| |
|====================================================================================================================================================|
|Places where the |Product of the tax | Product of the tax | Increase of yield |Decrease of yield | Value of total | Mean annual product |
|impost or tax has |from 1835 to 1839, | from 1840 to 1844, | of tax during the |of tax during the | silver product in | of silver in dollars, |
|been collected. |both inclusive. | both inclusive. | last five years. |last four years. | dollars, 8-1/4 | at 8-1/4 per mark. |
| | | | | | per mark. | |
|__________________|_____________________|______________________|____________________|___________________|___________________|_______________________|
| | | | | | | |
|Zacatecas........ |$350,715..7.. 9 | $306,620..5.. 1 | ...................|$44,095..2.. 8 | $43,384,215..7..0 | $4,338,421..4.. 8.. 4|
|Guanajuato....... | 197,423..5.. 2 | 228,498..1.. 2 | $31,074..4.. 0 ....|...................| 28,110,838..2..0 | 2,811,083..6.. 7.. 2|
|San Luis Potosi.. | 75,682..7.. 7 | 77,373..2..11-5/10| 1,690..3.. 4-5/10|...................| 10,101,716..7..9 | 1,010,171..5.. 6.. 9|
|Pachuca.......... | 58,805..1.. 4 | 75,654..4..10-5/10| 16,849..3.. 6 5/10|...................| 8,874,345..1..9 | 887,434..4.. 2.. 1|
|Guadalajara...... | 41,520..4.. 7 | 60,067..3.. 0-5/10| 18,546..6.. 5-5/10|...................| 6,704,804..7..3 | 670,480..3..11.. 1|
|Mexico........... | 31,841..2.. 0 | 63,472..2.. 1 | 31,631..0.. 1 |...................| 6,290,691..5..6 | 629,069..1.. 4.. 2|
|Durango.......... | 49,416..0.. 9 | 40,668..6.. 6 | ...................| 8,747..2.. 3 | 5,945,603..6..6 | 594,560..3.. 0.. 6|
|Guadalupe y Calvo | 10,328..5.. 5-5/10 | 63,733..0.. 6-5/10| 53,404..3.. 1 |...................| 4,888,075..4..0 | 488,807..4.. 4.. 8|
|Sombrerete....... | 32,405..6.. 3 | 19,385..6.. 4 | ...................| 13,019..7..11 | 3,418,243..6..6 | 341,824..3.. 0.. 6|
|Chihuahua........ | 23,293..5.. 9 | 19,940..0.. 7 | ...................| 3,353..5.. 2 | 2,853,430..2..0 | 285,343..0.. 2.. 4|
|Cosala........... | 24,073..7.. 1 | 15,980..1.. 2 | ...................| 8,093..5..11 | 2,643,566..0..6 | 264,356..4..10.. 2|
|Jesus Maria...... | 8,379..2.. 1-5/10 | 19,502..0..11-5/10| 11,122..6..10-1/10|...................| 1,840,171..4..1 | 184,017..1.. 2.. 51|
|Parral........... | 13,258..6..11-5/10 | 10,716..3.. 9 | ...................| 2,542..3.. 2-5/10| 1,582,372..2..9 | 158,237..1..10.. 5|
|Zimapan.......... | 8,523..6.. 4 | 9,279..7.. 4 | 756..1.. 0 |...................| 1,175,044..6..0 | 117,504..3.. 9.. 6|
|Alamos........... |.................... | 16,806..6.. 2-5/10| 16,806..6.. 2-5/10|...................| 1,109,247..1..9 | 110,924..5.. 9.. 3|
|Hermosillo....... | 5,773..0.. 3 | 10,275..0.. 1 | 4,501..7..10 |...................| 1,059,170..6..0 | 105,917..0.. 7.. 2|
|Rosario.......... | 2,517..2.. 4 | 8,939..4.. 3 | 6,422..1..11 |...................| 756,150..2..6 | 75,615..0.. 3.. 0|
|Mazatlan......... |.................... | 4,100..5.. 4 | 4,100..5.. 4 |...................| 270,644..0..0 | 27,064..3.. 2.. 4|
|Oajaca........... | 2,450..3.. 8 | .....................| ...................| 2,450..3.. 8 | 161,730..2..0 | 16,173..0.. 2.. 4|
|Tasco............ | 1,474..0..10 | .....................| ...................| 1,474..0..10 | 97,290..7..0 | 9,729..0.. 8.. 4|
|__________________|_____________________|______________________|____________________|___________________|___________________|_______________________|
| | | | | | | |
|Totals........... |$937,884..4.. 2-3/10 |$1,051,914..6.. 3-1/10|$196,907..1.. 8-1/10|$83,776..7.. 7-5/10|$131,267,354..2..10|$13,126,735..3.. 5.. 81|
| | | | | | | |
|Deduct decrease................................................| 83,776..7.. 7-5/10| |
| |____________________| See table No. 1, in the Report of the Mexican Minister of |
|Difference in favor of increased yield of tax (and of course | | Foreign and Domestic Relations, for 1846. |
| of production) during the last period of five years..........|$113,130..2.. 0 | |
|_______________________________________________________________|____________________|_______________________________________________________________|
MINT OF MEXICO
Comprised in four sections: 1st, coinage of gold and silver from
1690 to 1821; 2d, from 1822 to 1829; 3d, from 1830 to 1844; and
4th, coinage of copper only.
1690 to 1822, or, in 132 years, in silver, $1,574,931,650..1..10
1733 to 1822, gold, 60,018,880..0..00
1822 to 1829, silver, 23,179,384..3..03
" " gold, 4,392,502..0..00
1830 to 1844, silver, 18,829,250..4..02
" " gold, 1,430,258..0..00
1814 to 1844, copper, 5,323,765..0..09
---------------------
Total, $1,688,105,960..2..00
From this must be deducted on account of
recoinage, &c. &c., according to statement
of the mint, 12,195,941..0..00
---------------------
$1,675,909,749..1..08
And to this last sum must be added for
_gold_ coinage from 1609 to 1732, not included
in the previous statement, 24,237,766..0..00
Total coinage of mint in the city of Mexico
to 1844, $1,700,147,515..1..08
From 1535 to 1690--it is estimated that
there were coined in the mint of Mexico
alone:
Gold, $ 31,000,000
Silver, 620,000,000
------------
Total, 651,000,000
Add the preceding result from 1690 to 1844, 1,700,147,515
--------------
Total coinage in mint of city of Mexico
from 1535 to 1844, $2,351,147,515
MINT OF CHIHUAHUA
Comprised in three sections: 1st, coinage of silver 1811 to 1814;
2d, of silver and gold from 1832 to 1844; 3d, of copper only.
1811 to 1814, silver, $3,603,660..0..00
1832 to 1844, " 3,026,215..3..08
" " gold, 368,248..0..00
1833 to 1835, copper, 50,428..5..00
-----------------
Total, [22]$7,048,552..0..08
MINT OF DURANGO
Comprised in two sections: 1st, coinage, from 1811 to 1829; and 2d,
1830 to 1844.
1811 to 1829, silver, $10,046,503..4..00
1830 to 1844, " 11,769,410..3..09
1830 to 1844, gold, 1,986,069..3..06
------------------
Total, $23,801,983..3..03
MINT OF GUADALAJARA
Comprised in four sections: 1st, coinage of silver and gold from
1812 to 1821; 2d, ditto from 1822 to 1829; 3d, ditto 1830 to 1844;
4th, of copper.
1812 to 1821, silver, $2,058,388..2..03
" " gold, 61,581..1..03
1822 to 1829, silver, 5,619,384..4..00
" " gold, 182,242..4..00
1830 to 1844, silver, 10,162,947..4..06
" " gold, 120,805..5..01
1831 to 1836, copper, 61,217..4..06
------------------
Total, $18,266,567..1..07
MINT OF GUADALUPE Y CALVO
Established by a grant of congress in 1840, but only commenced its
operations in 1844.
1844, silver, $338,124
" gold, 95,004
--------
Total, $433,128
MINT OF GUANAJUATO
Comprised in three sections: 1st, coinage from 1812 to 1821; 2d,
silver and gold from 1822 to 1829; 3d, ditto from 1830 to 1844.
1812 to 1821, silver, $ 602,575..0..00
1822 to 1829, " 7,652,816..5..00
" " gold, 142,520..0..00
1830 to 1844, silver, 42,742,850..0..00
" " gold, 4,228,180..0..00
------------------
Total, $55,368,941..5..00
MINT OF SOMBRERETE.
1810 to 1812 inclusive, coined in silver, $1,561,249..2..00
MINT OF SAN LUIS POTOSI
Comprised in three sections: 1st, coinage from 1827 to 1829; 2d,
from 1830 to 1844; and 3d, copper.
1827 to 1829, silver, $ 2,951,418..0..00
1830 to 1844, " 15,580,010..2..00
1827 to 1835, copper, 23,517..3..00
------------------
Total, $18,554,945..5..00
MINT OF TLALPAM.
1828, 1829 and part of 1830, coined in silver, $959,116..7..00
" " gold, 203,544..0..00
-----------------
Total, $1,162,660..7..00
MINT OF ZACATECAS
Comprised in four sections: 1st, coinage from 14th of November,
1810 to 1820; 2d, from 1821 to 1829; 3d, from 1830 to 1844; and
4th, copper.
1810 to 1820, silver, $14,450,943..6..00
1821 to 1829, " 31,838,470..4..00
1830 to 1844, " 74,085,951..7..00
1821 to 1829, copper, 107,949..4..00
------------------
Total, $120,483,315..5..00
_TABLE of the Gold and Silver coined in the eight Mints of the Mexican
Republic from 1st January, 1844, to 1st January, 1845, according to
official reports._
===================+================+===================+==================
| | |
MINTS. | GOLD. | SILVER. | TOTAL.
| | |
-------------------+----------------+-------------------+------------------
Chihuahua | $61,632..0..0 | $290,000..0..0 | $351,632..0..0
Durango | 27,508..0..0 | 213,362..3..0 | 240,870..3..0
Guadalajara | 5,282..5..1 | 950,032..6..3 | 955,315..3..4
Guadalupe y Calvo | 95,004..0..0 | 338,124..0..0 | 433,128..0..0
Guanajuato | 441,808..0..0 | 4,219,900..0..0 | 4,661,708..0..0
Mexico | 36,172..0..0 | 1,688,156..4..8 | 1,724,328..4..8
San Luis Potosi | | 936,525..5..0 | 936,525..5..0
Zacatécas | | 4,429,353..4..0 | 4,429,353..4..0
| | |
-------------------+----------------+-------------------+------------------
| | |
Totals | $667,406..5..1 | 13,065,454..6..11 | $13,732,861..4..0
| | |
-------------------+----------------+-------------------+------------------
_COINAGE of Mexico from 1535 to 1849, inclusive, omitting the fractions
of a dollar._
======================+==============+============+==========+==============
| | | |
MINTS. | SILVER. | GOLD. | COPPER. | TOTAL.
| | | |
----------------------+--------------+------------+----------+--------------
1535 to 1690. | | | |
City of Mexico | $620,000,000| $31,000,000| | $651,000,000
| | | |
1690 to 1844. | | | |
City of Mexico | 1,606,225,922| 88,597,827|$5,323,765| 1,700,147,514
| | | |
1811 to 1844. | | | |
Chihuahua | 6,629,875| 368,248| 50,428| 7,048,551
| | | |
1811 to 1844. | | | |
Durango | 21,815,913| 1,986,069| | 23,801,982
| | | |
1812 to 1844. | | | |
Guadalajara | 17,840,720| 364,629| 61,217| 18,266,566
| | | |
1844. | | | |
Guadalupe y Calvo | 338,124| 95,004| | 433,128
| | | |
1812 to 1844. | | | |
Guanajuato | 50,998,241| 4,370,700| | 55,368,941
| | | |
1827 to 1844. | | | |
San Luis Potosi | 18,531,428| | 23,517| 18,554,945
| | | |
1810, 1811, and 1812. | | | |
Sombrerete | 1,561,249| | | 1,561,249
| | | |
1828, 1829, and 1830. | | | |
Tlalpam | 959,116| 203,544| | 1,162,660
| | | |
1810 to 1844. | | | |
Zacatecas | 120,375,366| | 107,949| 120,483,315
| | | |
All the Mexican }| | | |
mints, from the end }| | | |
of 1844 to the end }| | | |
of 1849, at the rate }| | | | 70,000,000
of $14,000,000 per }| | | |
annum, which was }| | | |
the approximate total}| | | |
coinage in 1844[23] }| | | |
----------------------+--------------+------------+----------+--------------
| | | |
Totals |$2,465,275,954|$126,986,021|$5,566,876|$2,667,828,851
| | | |
----------------------+--------------+------------+----------+--------------
RESUME.
Silver coinage from 1535 to 1844, inclusive $2,465,275,954
Gold do 1535 to 1844, do 126,986,021
Copper do 1811 to 1844, do 5,566,876
General coinage, from 1845 to 1849, both inclusive 70,000,000
-------------
Total coinage of Mexico to present time, or in
314 years $2,667,828,851
==============
Or, avoiding fractions, nearly $8,500,000 yearly.