Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-01-01

so continued until the breaking out of the
| great Apache war; a few years afterward.
| Men seemed TO run mad at the sight of such
| immense masses of virgin silver, and for a
time it seemed as if silver was about to lose
| its value. IN the midst of the excitement a
royal ordinance appeared, declaring AraZnma
"a creation of silver" (creadOr de plata, )and
appropriating it to the kings use. This put
stop to private enterprises; and, after the
| Indian war set in. AraZuma became almost
forgotten locality; and generation or two
| afterwards the accounts Of its mineral riches
! began to be discreditcd. rvre
| We have the following record in evidence
! OF the masses of silver extracted at Arazuma.
! Don Domingo Asmendi paid duties on piece
| of virgin silver which weighed 275 pounds.
| The kings attorney (fi CALI brought suit for
the duties on several other pieces, which to-
gether weighed 4033 pounds. Also for the
recovery. as a curiosity, and therefore the
property of the king. of certain piece Of sill
yer of the weight of 200 pounds. This is
probably the largest piece of pure silver ever
| found in the world, and yet it was discovered
only few miles distant from the contem-
plated track of our Pacific railroad.
might continue enumerating the instances
of mineral wealth brought to light in these
two States. Sonora and chihuahua, if'I sup
posed il wOuld be interesting to my readers:
but az they have heard enough of silver,
may add that rich deposits of gold were found
at MOlatO. in 1906. and still greater dis
covery OF gold was made a few years ago. In
this latter discovery the poor diggers suffered
so much from thirst that dollar was readily
paid for single bucket of water. and at
length, by reason of the drought this rich
placer bad to be abandoned.
Snch is Sonora, region Of country which
combines the rare attractions of the richest
silver mines in the world living in the midst
Of the finest agricultural districts. and where
the climate is as attraction asits mineral
riches. But its richest mineral district
is near lis northern frontier, and is
almost inaccessible. and can never be
advantageOusly worked without an Aabun-
dant supply of mineral coal for spflting
nor can any ofits mines or estates be- ccess-
fully worked without greater seenfiry for
life and property than at presenteti 4s. The
capitalists of Mexico will not 5fvest their
means in developing the RESOURCES of Sonora;
and in consequence the finest country in the
world is fast receding to a state Of Nature.
| found in the palace at Mexico copy of the
last port Of the Governor of Sonora upon
The state Of Lis d. partmcnt, in which he
mentions among many other causes of its de-
cadence during the last few years the extern
sive emigration of its labOring population to
California. EXtravagant as are these state
ments OF the mineral riches Of Sonora. they
dc not, probably. come up to the reality, as
the largest Of them are founded on tine sums
reported for taxation at the distant City of
Mexico, when it was notorious. as already
stated, that large portion of the silver
iraudulently concealed in order to avoid the
taxes. Such concealment could he success
fully carried on in q region so distant and
inaccessible as Sonora was in the time of Phil
ip V; for it was in the reign of that idiot
king. before the liberal mining ordinances of
Carlos III, that the Sonora mining fever broke
out.
hundred years have passed since the once
formidable Apaches swept over northern So
nora lik" delug", blOtting out forever the
hopes which the Spanish Court had conceived
of retrieving the fallen finances of their EN-
pire from this FL Dorado But Providence
had ordered it othcrwi-e. The SpaniardS had
done enough to demonstrate its inexhanstibe
wealth. and they were driven away from this
creation of silver" and the whole deposit
held for a hundred years in reserve for the
uses of another race, who were destined TO
overrun the continent
We're it not for the weli-understood nature
Of the Spanish rule in Mexico and the cir
cumsances which have attended il, the fore
going description would appear almost in
credible. But these statements Of Mr. Ward,
made officially in 1928, and cOrrobOrated by
Mr.. Wilson. in 1856, are confirmed by the
history of all Mexico. The vast quantity of
silver in Sonora seems destined to restore that
equilibrium in the relative quantities of the
precious metals which the product of gold in
California and Australia has tendency to
destroy.
al would not like to make such extravagaut state
mcnts on INV own authority, however satisfactory the
might be 10 self for the abundance of
silver in Sonora is beyond the belief Of most men.
LFlf an III
thority that cannot be disputed The work is accessi
bic I" all my readers. The author was charged by
the British Government with an examination Of the
mines of McxicOD
+ Ward. IBID.