Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-20


INTERESTING DESCRIPTION By ONE WHO HAS BE I'm
Observation-Disclosures OF MEXICAN MINING LIFR-
ENORMOUS DIFFICULTIES TO BE ovERCoME-sHEP-
HERDS VIGOROUS NANAGEMENT-CoLOssAL EXTENT
OF HIS ENTHUSIASTICALLY LIFE AT THE MINES
HOW THE GOVERNORS PIANO WAS CARRIED INTO
THE vALLEY-TRIcKs OF THE MINERs-How THEW
STEAL sILvER-CURIoUs NODE OF sEARcH-THE
WASHINGTON COLONY AT BAToPILAa
Mr.. F. A. Lowe, OF this city. who left on the nth
OF December 1880, for the Batopilas mines In Mex
ico, AMI who has spent most OF his time since in
that region, has just returned to Washington, and
was interviewed this morning by STAR reporter.
BIT Lowe speaks in favorable terms OF the BltopilaS
valley as mining country, but is not very enthu-
slaStc in regard TO its desrabiiity as place of
residence. The winter weather is pleasant, but
that OF the summer Is hot and facilitating. He
lost fortysx pounds OF flesh during his stay there.
AS many Washingtonians are concerned in the
B.t0piaS mines, and as citizens generally Will
Ike TO know how Gov. Shepherd IS prospecting In
his new field OF operations, the following particu-
lars, obtained from Mr.. Lowe, will be read with in
tereSt:
Batopilas Is about 3,5OO miles from New York.
overland; 200 miles from Fl PaSO, Tex, and about
300 miles from the city OF Chihuahua, and Is stu
ated in the middle Of the Sierra Madre or mother
range OF Mexico In the extreme southwestern cor
ner or the state OF Chihuahua. This range OF noun
tains Is about SEQ miles in width with mean ele-
yation OF about $500 feet, but with long stretches
OF country 10000 feet and isolated peaks 12OO feet
above sea level. This remarkable mineral region
can only be reached over the most rugged and uan-
gerous trails, ascending and descending slopes as
pTeciptOuS any or those of Switzerland, but with
none OF the precautions against accidents which
exist In that country-crOssing one river no less
tnan 1H tlmes-windng up arroyos and canons
and over elevations from whose SUBMITS the trav-
ellers previous ideas OF the grandeur and jesty
OF the Sierra are dwarfed and lost in their Inn
mensity.
THE JOURNEY OVERLAND,
from New York, Is via St Louis and Texas Pacific
70 Ell Paso, and via Kansas City and the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe, to the same place; from
thence the Mexican diligence Is taken to the city
OF Chihuahua, and to the foot OF the Sierra, to Ca
richie. a small rambling town of adobe or mud
houses, whose population is sustained by the one
or more good ranches In the neighbOrhOOd. At
Carichie staging ends and muling beginS-the
most pleasant part OF the trip, though accom-
panied With considerable risk and danger.
THE NOBLE MULE.
But these are overlooked and lost in your admira-
tlon OF the mule and the grand panoramas of noun
tain scenery As he the mule is to be your constant
companion from ten to seventeen days, depending
upon the speed made per day and the weight car
red, before your arrival, though tired and suffer-
Ing from NAL del estrioO or stirrup sickness, you
begin to feel genuine affection for the brute,
ana think that no panegyr1c Is sufficient to do
Justice to his stubbornness and wonderful instinct
Having safely arrived. your heart yearns for the
their lacerated backs and the apparently brutal
way In which they are laden and driven Appar-
emily in deep meditation over their sore trials,
with the agility OF a gymnaSt they let fly some
thing like the whizz OF a passing locomotive, and
t suddenly dawns in your mind that mule can
Of the Valley Of Batopiias, some 5000 feet below.
S 5Sag Journey u and the records ana f.;
region, the traveller slowly descends, picturing in
his vivid imagination the millions hid away in the
blue hills below, with not thought OF Its envi-
Arriving at the bottom, the traveller looks up and
finds himself shut in on all sides by vast amphi-
theater OF volcanic and igneous rocks, broken
hours ride lands him at the hacienda San Miguel or
RESIDENCE OF Ex-Gov. A. R. SHEPHERD
Running through the whole mineral district Is
the Batopilas river, an ever-1owing stream with
constant power sufficient for the whole district,
The hacienda Is about ECO feet in length and 400
In width, and enclosed by a high wall Of masonry.
with strong gates opening out on the road. In
this enclosure is the governors residence, accom-
modatons for 100 people, and all the concentrating,
matchmaking and smelling machinery used in
Seneilcating the rich ores from the various mines
change has taken place in the whole district
More energy and spirit are exhibited by the people,
and treatment have given place to modern ma.
which s, are KIN known to have yielded
worked on a more systematic basis. The isola-
ton and 1naccessbity OF the place, want OF capt.
tai and energy have kept the district back, though
It has been known for nearly two centuries that
the whole country was filled with a network Of
tnterlacing veins carrying rich ores OF silver.
Humboldt In his Essay POlttiQste remarks shat
with modern appliances there was silver enough
In the district to inundate Europe" The Governor
saw that nothing could be done without modern
milling machinery, and when the subject OF bring
Ing IT such machinery was preached 1t was said
that it was an impossibility over such rugged and
under such loads; but with pluck which must be
admired by both friends and enemies, he has sue
cessfully solved the problem, and six months after
the machinery had been shipped from San Fran.
cisco over three hundred tons had been safely
landed in the hacienda grounds. Three hundred
mules were employed, and over 500 mules and
0orroS are now In use bringing in fire wood and
ores Six months after its arrival it all erected
and turning out bullion.
GOV. SHEPHERDS BIG WORK.
When it is considered that the immediate coun-
try is completely barren of timber; that planks
had to be hewn out OF solid TIMBER that solid tim
Der had to be lowered over precipices, hauled up
and down mountains, losing Is per cent of their
bulk in the transit to the hacienda that boiler fuel
Is brought over the mountains On the backs OF
mules; that the climate six months in the year Is
are scarce and difficult TO be obtained duties rang
Ing from so TO go per cent; that people can only
live In such country at sacrifice OF comforts and
privileges; that wagon would be as much of
novelty as telephone; that all the ores from the
various mines is brought down from elevations
from 600 TO 5000 feet the backs OF mules that
the people lose no love over foreigners that every
man has TO go armed; that great boulders had to
be blasted out OF the river to change the course Of
freshets; that a tramway q mile long, 100 feet
above the river, had to be blasted out
or prec1p!tous bluffs, and carried over
long superstructureS OF masonry across arroyos
ana ravineS before the great veins OF the San
Miguel could be properly worked; that it rains
three months In the year, interfering materially
with all work; that many legal and local obstacles
had TO be overcome before the companies could
come Into possession of their properties; that Gov
shepherd was stranger to the country and Ian
guage, and still greater stranger to mining, a
business, which II not properly understood, pre-
SentS more openings to failure than any other
when all these things taken into consideration
one can begin to appreciate the extent OF the STU
pendous enterprise undertaken by him, and Is pre-
pared to give him credit for the energy and sagac-
1ty with which these enormous difficulties have
been overcome.
THE GOVERNOR Is MANAGER OF NINE COMPANIES,
six In New York, one In Philadelphia, and two in
Washington. He has twenty-five mines more or
less developed: has fourteen large tunnels under
way, and has driven over 5000 feet OF tunnellng in
the past eighteen months, and has in his employ
about 500 people. There are no drones about the
place; an east wind blows every Monday morning.
and the Mex1cans, both high and low, are alive to
the great changes which will occur in the district
NJ no NH lilo n