Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-08-14
CIXNABAR.
Interesting Description Of the oinaabar Minas
 in Mexico.

A spOndeDt Of the ChleagO Mln-
 ing Review, writing from the City of
 Mexico, says:
 The Victoria mine IS located near a
 small town to the southwest Of the city of Cuernavaca, in fine State oi Morelos,
 and at an altitude oi about l8D metres
 above the sea, somewhere between sS degrees longitude west, and tE4t of llit degrees and IS degrees laiitIdd north.
 Lt is situated amidst cham of high hills in the lovely valley of CUfrnavaca,
 wich a climate more genial thsin that of
 Ialapa, which k considered by many
 the finest in the world" The tempera- ture here varies scarcely at all, averag- rnc about S0 degrees Fahrenheit the
 year round, and the vicinity is endowed
 with all the advantages that natures
 bountiful hand could bestOw on any privileged spot of the earth, this local ity having been preferred by COrtez, who settled here soon after cohquering the country, and first made attempt to introduce the cultivation of sughr cane. winch has been prOpagated so much
 throughout the immediate country. Be sides being rich in agricultural re- sources, this region possesses FaluaDle minerals, and among them may be dis -inguished those of cinnabar. Although much could be sad relative tu ciunabri- ous formations in the different parts of . Mexico, it vil suffice to say that there | Is no country ID the world where. equally extensive deposits are found 0i cinnabsr of a quality so rich in quicksilver
 This mineral has long been known to exist iE the country, and even Erevious | t0 the Spanish conquest clnnaiiar was : known to the abOngines, who used tt as pigments in the form of vermiliOn. De pOsits of the mineral were discovered at many places by the Spaniards during | their regime; but these were not worked on account of law in Spdin prohibiting | the development of other mines IOf this | kind in its dOmluIuns, except those Ot Almaden, near Estremadura, and 1t has ! been said that in those days the king himself Was extensively engaged in the monopoly.
 ! Some of the deposits of cinnabar in Mexico Humboldt mentions, gndl wllie visiting the country examined Pue or ! two, which he found had been worked. | but these afterwards became forEotten, until a few years since, when the5e and other discoveries were publicly made ! known by VI. del Rio, an emincntIgeolo- ] Cist, who examined them carefully; but | it is only within the last six OrI eight years that quicksilver mining ID this country has been worked as an lenter- prise u the udtthem part of thd State l Of Guerrero, and that did not cOhtiuuc l long on account of disagreements be- tween the parties engaged thereinl There are some valuable and rare | classes of the ore, though apparently ! Belonging tO the same group, differing greatly m their specialization found iu Mexico. Sulphide of mercury, io5 a ! bright, scarlet color is found m qtanti- l ties mingled with the crystalline rocks in the district of HuiZucC, and of a dlil. red color, Gt PreEunes, both in the St4te of Guerrero. Ores Of bright red colbr are
 met with a few feet below the suTftce iu
 stratihea rocks of a kud Jf us, rcd
 sandstone, probably of the upper utW, and perhaps formed about the tiLna of
 the Llasslc period, at certain locality iu ! the State of Queretaro. Here in I,iaceS
 the native mercury is dissemulted | throughout the ore, so much sol that when broken 1t escapes m globues.l B.- ! luminous cmEabar uf a dull, black .cri0r ! resembling fossil wood, is found InIcum- pact dark limestone m the first meu- ! tioned district. IOdide of me-cIryI of red cOlur, IS met with in the Stath- of Guanaiuato and Iacatecas, and a q llur- ! idle Of a yellow color IS found ih the State O. San Luis Tutosi
 Al the Victoria mine the mercury ore
 fi4seo fi4se otH9 tH9qEstsY E atiIta atiI yef7 With dff5 f5daat 5t . ful pink, and others with brglt yer million culur, and is found distrimtpd iu great abundance all through the mdss uf mctamCrpnOse limestone. which is itself mtermlXcU with g,H-Ue of quarid and thnty s-hcl and alumiuOus stOUe4 the whole resembling EInd Oi gritty rocT,
 lying m aG irr, gular and CoutITtci bosi-
 ton.
 The geological appearance of tlii sec uon ol country denotes great chhuge
 to have once taken place, through the
 influence or heat below fusion. But the
 true conditions under which Che adIdceut
 rocks must have been when Sucb an
 ahmcutat,1u oi mctuilr contents occurred
 with certainty bUt little IS known. How
 ever, 1t ls apparent that metamorphiSm
 has taken place here on thc g-aIldest
 scale. The supcrhedtei .mJisule it
 seems must have aided directly il IcoI-
 veyiEg tlla mineral substances from the
 rocks at great depths below, ufarly
 where tlese were IH state rf fusion. and
 while thus conveying the mineral~l has
 distributed them through al. the cavities or tLe outstanding mctamorpiGsei
 rocks, m most uuUsUal measure and
 placed the mineral la form of ciuIHbar within the reach Cf profitable miuiAr.
 Not only does Lhe ciHnabar occur diff fused in a considerable quantity thrJurl- out the bcu-dcr-lli-e formation, winch makes the ground where the Victoria mine ls located, but lt Is also fohnd, ] though in lesser abundance, associated 1 with the main body of country 'rocl ! making mp the surrounding of this lo- 1 callty. The conglomerate rocks li the l. Victoria miue are impreguated VitiI the . metallic matter Tn every directionl and | in such a collective way as to aIpear | evident that the mass of rock when ln a l plastic state, absorbed the mineral while | m the form of mercurlal vapor, and thus | the whole was minerahzed.
 The Victoria mine is located on a large mll, the con1guratl0n beng distinct | from the other formations beyond. The l mll-lEe ridge k divided by two leep | gorces OF ravlnes; these raylnes runIin a | southeast direction, and the one along ! side of the ridge, where the opennA up ! Of the mine should be made. is deeIl and | prccipitous and carries at the buttdm a | considerable stream oi water with fail ! sufficient for the requirement &f 4reat 1 power The timber for construct fonlDur- | poses and wood for fuel are TAedlm | within a short distance, while fire land l other cl8ys, limestone and all kinds of ! material are at hand.
 The ore from the mine varies coAsid- | erably in value. from l tO 20 per ctut.. but averaging about five per cent. land ! part of the hill, where it would bel ad- | y'sabic tO work in opening up the mine. shows alrei dy clean mdss of congl1m- crate over twenty meters in brcddth. ! and all more or less impreguated s-th tle mineral, and no systematic rhlcs ldd down or crJSsCuts need be uudd-ta- ken in search of similar masses. tFor the extraction of large quantities Of ore there should be some twenty openings ! 0' bcnCh-iille form. nine meters aI5art. one above the other. ou the face Of the hill, and a considerable amount of ore bearing the above metallic value can. be gotten ont easily and at a very low dnst And t0 save much handling as well as expedite its conveyance tp the fGnaccs. It could be shot down in chutes t0 Ithe !,