The Phoenix herald., 1879-06-11
STATE OF SONORA. It's Great Mineral and Grazing
 Resources.
From the Mining and Scientific Press.

From the Mining and Scientific Press.
 Below we give the conclusion 0
 the article on Sonora, published in
 this paper on Saturday last:
 Sonora possesses a vast field of an
 thracite coal the only anthracite ye
 discovered on the Pacific Coast. Il
 is said to belong to very old geolo
 gical formation, probably Silurian ol Devonian. The only outcrop which
 is at present worked lies I20 miles
 northeast of Guaymas, and branch line of the Sonora railway is contem- plated to develop it. The mine is a
 few miles north of the hourishing
 mining towns of La Barranca and
 Los Bronces, each supporting some
 2,000 inhabitants. The coal has been
 used for two years for steam purpos-
 es at the Barranca quartz mill. The
 engineer in charge of the mill, who
 has had a long experience on the At
 lantic steamers, where he used Penn sylvania anthracite, believes it superior to the latter, the Sonora cCal containing less ash and leaving no clinkers on the grate It burns with the short, blue flame of carbon ic oxide, which is characteristic of all anthracite coal. There are three veins of the coal, one of which is seven feet thick, another two and one half feet and the third of unknown thickness, while there are indications of a seam lying beneath the 7-foot vein-the one now worked-ot the same or greater thickness. Outcrop- pings of the veins are traced for many miles. The analysis of this coal compares well with the average grade of Pennsylvania anthracite.
 The dip of the discovery is 26@ to- ward the opening, rendering the mine easy of drainage and cheaply worked. The length of the branch from the main line at Noria del Val le(32 miles from Guaymas)necessar to reach the mine, is 9S miles. It is that after the construction of the road the coal may be marketed ir San Francisco and South American ports at $S to $9 per ton. San Fran cisco consumes 100000 tons of all coals annually, and Mexican and Central and South American ports consume 650,000 tons, for steamship purposes alone. About 100000 tons of this is of foreign importation; its value IS S6.50 to S10 per ton. The value of anthracite coal is from SIP to $15 per ton. San Francisco con sumes about 22,000 tons of anthracite coal annually at present prices. The opening of this mine and its intro 1uction to this market at the prices estimated would be of vast impOr- lance to the manufacturing industries 1f this city and the interior. Speci- mems of the coal have been brought .0 San Francisco and exhl bited, ex- citing the admiration of all who have ] seen it.
 THE MINES.
 Great as is the wealth of Sonora in agricultural and pastoral resources, Ter chef glory lies in her mines. The low mountain ranges abound in but the mines which are ,retitably worked are but few in lumber compared with those whose wealth has been explored and defini- ely known, but whose develonment las been prevented or retarded by the of the murderous Apaches hat have, until a few years past, in- ested and laid waste the outlying Iistricts.
 A ROMANTIC HISTORY.
 It is not the purpose of this gener- l article on the resources of this lit le known country to describe the lines of Sonora, but there attaches 3 one section of the State near the lmerican border, history so roman c that d condensed account ofAit aust prove generally interesting, par cularly as it is the only place in IeXico where placers of silver were yer known to exist. The Plan has de Plata'' ( literally slabs of sill er-enticing name J, is the name ( iven to a locality in the Arizona dozen miles south of le border, 75 miles south of Tucson nd 45 miles due north of Magdale- : q, where, 121 years ago, according $ , the archives of Spain and Mexico, panish explorers discovered large ( lasses of pure silver on the surface ( the ground, and at q depth of w feet in the form of slabs, balls C 1d grains, some of them very large 2 one weighing as much as 40 ar v ,bas $500 pounds), which had to be | cited to be weighed and transported II these discoveries were claimed by Il Ie crown. and no encouragement | eing given to miners to remain in a resence of hostile Indians, the mines | ere speedily abandoned and the rec 'ds locked up by the Jesuit Fathers, c that they could not be readily I aced. i' Later, in 1877 Don Dionisio Robles, a citizen of Rayon, with force Of W 70 men, penetrated the district and u und what they believed to be the u d placers, and obtained a quantity Il silver in pure masses. He was 'mpelled to return on account of the Idians after stay of only eight st lys About the year 1850, in an ex- . ,dition made by parties from Her osillo, large lump of native silver r' as found, which was taken to the Il ty of Mexico and caused eonsidera- jc e excitement there. About this D, ne also, the great banking house ts Jecker Torre $ O., obtained from 2 6 Mexican government grant of se the mines in the Sierra de A.izo- st
 a1t lands .O- the purOosc O.. col r