The Phoenix herald., 1879-06-11

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 400 thoroughly disciplined men-olt French soldeirs. They landed a
 Guaymas, and after considerable de
 lay marched to Saric, town on the
 north bank of the Magdalena river
 Here they remained six weeks, but
 without any other attempt to enter
 the district owing to the intrigues 0I
 arrival house. The intrigues finally
 ended in an open rupture, upon which
 the Count marched to Hermosill0, where he met the government troops and defeated them He was subse-
 quently taken sick (some say poison
 ed, and conveyed on a litter to Guay-
 mas, where his officers under an ar
 engagement with the authorities em- parked for San Francisco.
 In 1854, Raousset organized an
 other expedition in San Francisco,
 and landed at Guaymas. Again en-
 countering the opposition of the au-
 thorities, an engagement ensued, in
 which he was defeated, captured,
 tried by court martial and shot.
 THE EXPEDITION OF 1871
 In 1870-71, Gen Serna, then Vice
 Governor of Sonora) obtaining some
 information regarding this district,
 organized an expedition to discover
 it, The hostile Apaches. through the
 efforts of Gen. Crook, in Arizona, and
 tEe Mexican authorities in Sonora,
 had now been subdued and removed
 to distant reservations. Gen. Serna
 had no difficulty in finding the spot l from which these large masses had ! been taken, and he himself found a | lump weighing 45 pounds. No less ] than 40 tons of pure silver has been taken out ofthe spot. Under his pro lection, quite a number of prospect ors and miners went to work on the old and to search for new placers, The district prospected by them seems q'.ite small-not over two or three miles square. No other placer was found. but in the veins which were discovered and opened, consid- erable quantities of chlori6es of sill yer were found A few feet below the surface this became more diffus- ed, the veins widened, and though apparently filled with good ores, no native silver nor rich chlorides were found in sufficient quantities to repay
 
 prepared to work ores of any sort, the object of the expedition being alone for native or placer silver, after a few months the place was again aban- dOned, one man only being left, who kept up the search a few months longer, meantime sinking shaft on a vein which he called "Mejai," to B depth of 45 veras (125 feef. and re- ducing the ores obtained in q rude arasira 10 obtain money to carry on the search, but finding no masses of pure silver as expected, and encoun- tering more water than his rude ap- Hliances could handle, he, too, gave up.
 That the silver in its pure state and in enormous masses, was actually found is a matter toe fully establish ed by history and official records to admit of doubt.
 DESCRIPTION OF THE MINES
 The rt ok of the country is granite and porphyry This is generally overlaid with a porphyritic eonglo- merate to varying depths in the sum- mits of the ridges. The general di- rection of all the veins or lodges dis closed is nearly magnetic northeast and southwest. The ore of the Ra- ousset seems to be all porphyritic,, principally bromides and of silver without gold or base metals. The ore is found in the conglomerate and. appears to be in series of parallel veins, each from two to five feet in width, lying close together and covering the whole surface ot the hill. The openings are mostly open cuts; seven of them cover length on the veins of 250 feet and width of 75 feet, their greatest depth being only 20 feet, 'El Hilo" is half mile south and at an elevation of 4, 100 feet above tide. The ore is very rich in chlOrides, and rom a cut 30 feet long, two feet wide, md four or five feet deep, Gen. Serna, n 1872, is said to have taken SIP 000 rom the chloride ores and 50 pounds )f silver from single lot of 400 pounds Of rock. The mine is now being worked by Mexicans. There Ire great number of mines in this district, whose average assays reach rom $50 to $100 per ton.
 The district lies upon series of ligh ridges, separated by small ,ulches which converge toward the pot occupied by the hamlet lying ,etween Serna's and Borquer's haci- ndas The sides of the ridges are overed with rich growth of gram na grass. Near by are immsnse for sts of pine walnut, etc All the ulches contain running streams of 7ater. Such is the description of tho amous Planchas de Plata. district lmous in the l ast and destined to be lore famous i'll the future, though we rust that it will not cost the blood nd treasure to garner its wealth, that as been expended in the past. The onora railway will greatly ald in the evelopment of the Planchas de 'lata," as it will of Southern Arizona )r which it will afford the shortest nd most direct route to the sea, but neither that be built or not, the dis ici will by made to yield its treas res, and the secrets of the earth be Iade to unfold.
 A RIVAL FOR SAN FRANCISCO.
 In the foregoing we have shown of the possible sources of local traffic for the contemplated llway, but have scarcely hinted at .e through traffic, it may have when ined with an Eastern trans-conti- sntal railway, shortening the dis nce across the continent more than