The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-05-31
raE mlsEs OF cnlnuAHuA.
Interesting Information in Regard to
their Extent and Richness. by Maj.

their Extent and Richness, by Mai.
Bancroft
CHIHUAHUA. Mex, May ~
10 the Editors OF TaK NEWS.
I notice in the weekly OF the f7ih inst.
an article "About chihuahua by one
J. A. Vargas. Of the Santa Fe adveytis-
ing department. which seems 10 require
moments notice. II Will certainly be
news to the Chihuahuans that their
city was founded in 1901; that their
market building is Ground - that police.
men are stationed on every corner dur.
ing the day, or even at night; that the
Santa Eulalia mines are fifty miles from
the city, that the product Of these nlnes
by far exceeds the gross product of all
the ores reduced 81 this point since the /
first mines were discovered, and that |
there are 575 other mines Ia the state.
Americans are accustomed 70 saseF |
at Johnny Bull who spends a few weeks
In the United States then PUSHES heaa |
and writes q book about as aud our
country. The Englishmsn has the ad. |
vantage Of speaking aud reading our
language and free access u our lib
raries and more oF less accurate stats,
tics of all kinds Ths Amer.
can scribbIer usually spends aboHl
one day in Mexico, can neither
speak or read word Of the
language, has very imperfect records ~
consult, and could not read them were
they ever so perfect, and yet he eau ''sse
nothing TO laugh at" in the medley Of
mis- information he infiic,s on
his long-suffering readers. Life
is too short for one to attempt to correct
all the mis-statemeuts winch come un.
der his observation, but there are some
points upon which this country can not
atf"rd to be misrepresented
1 Northern Mexico is essentially and
emphatically mining country, and as
many of the supplies for the sustenance
OF Its miners will eventually come from
Kansas. 1t is important that the truth
only should be told. It matters but lit
tie what has been the past output of
precious metals in this country, only in
so faras it may be an Indication for the
future. 1t is customary for writer's to
attribute the decline, and almost total
suspension of mining in Mexico, to the
overthrow of Spanish rule. This
Is true to some extent and
in some places, but is not
true of this and other points distant
from the main range of the Sierra
Madres. Most of the ranges of hills
| N1yfai oh inf q,
of Mexico, were at one time covered
with wood, mostly dwarf oak, (encina).
In the vicinity of extensive mining
works, towns grew up and the fnei was
. rapidly consumed, mostly az charcoal
tor smelling purpopes. AS the supply
, OF fuel decreased, SO in direct ratio did
) the production of bullion, and this, too,
/. long before the Spanish vice royalty.
This city is fair example of this
process. The only authentic records
! now attaInable give tlfe total production
4 of bullion at this point, (the one beinG
s brought from almost every direction
and from distances up to one
= hundred miles, and not all from
e Santa Eulalia, as often stately for pc
:. Rod of twenty-four years, from 173s tC
q 1851, was 28, 2S3, 1893 ounces. Then fol
= lows period which is blank so far a
/ anything is known, and we come to an
d other period of seventeen years, from
|, 1777 to 1898, in which the production
= was only 6, lac, $50 ounces. Thus it viii
). be seen that silver production had praC
II tically ceased long before the first revol
y against the Spanish Iule. In the Sierr
Madres proper, where fuel was and still
- is plenty, mining. during all these year.
= was carried en- only in few district
where the population was sufficient t
protect themselves from the warlik
~ Apaches, whose descendants still terror
p ize large scope of territory in bot
" republics. While but a small portion {
e the territory has as yet been prospecteC
- yet in 1864, DR.. Roger Dubois, in his r,
IS port to Napoleon Ill, says: "0f a
Il the states of the Mexican Republic
8. Chihuahua is without contradiction til
y richest in minerals, and we count no les
d than three thousand different mtnerC
It leads that were explored in the last Ger
q tury, the greater part Of aohich are ST
a GER" In 1868 the Mexican committee 0
i mining taxes, report: "Fhe m:nera
e, wealth of the states of Durango. Sonor
10 and chihuahua, is greater than all th
=, 0e rest of our territory, and will be devel
le oped as soon as settlers are protecte
N from the scalping knives of savages."
q r. Bartlett, U. s. boundary commissions
u in 1853, writes: "The mineral wealth {
m chihuahua is not surpassed, if equallet
- In variety and extent in any state IN til
% world" Similar testimony may be &C
a duced almost indefinitely Nor
Re than one-third of the SierI
te Madres in this state, is sti
l. unsafe for prospecting partit
a. =, and but little Is known of it. 1t mus
10 be remembered that mining in Mexic,
ie even IN its palmIest days, was conducte
y by very crude, laboPious processes; th,
iS no mine was worked below the waite
d level, point at which nearly all III
at best mines in the world begin to sho'
ne their real value. Until within vcr
:; few years pump was never seen in
ne Mexican mine. When the quantity {
u water became too great to be removed b
rawhlde buckets the mine was abaI
La doned. 1t is only four years since til
i. first modern machinery and method
g, were introduced, aud already one con
"a paly are sending to this city about
q. s. COO, 600 a year. another $4,000 an
al several others from 800, 900 to $500, 90
= More mining machinery has been III
ic loaded al this station within IL
te past three months than e,
le listed in all Mexico two years ag
u Most of the purchasers of mines here al
4 from the mining regions of the Unite
e States who know mine when they sc
q it, and all unite in the testimony thu
in they never saw anything like the mil
IN eral wealth of the Sierra MadrIs ] di
Nv not intend to enlarge on this subjec
. only to intimate to Mr.. Vargas that th
Is mines ofthis state will foot up rattle
10 more than SIG IN number, and TO say I
the people OF Kansas, that unless MOI
10 and better farming is done here yer
le soon, we shall be Obliged to draw larg,
o ly on them for supplies. We are a
q ready using Kansas butter, cheese, ar
= pies and potatoes, and would take larg
II amounts of canned fruits and vegett
n bles If they would only prepare lheI
! for us. 3.
= Bsyard Aad Mcdonald ON the Tariff II
= sue.
~ NEW YORK, May 2S.-The World pull
fishes the letters written to Pulitzer b
i. Senators Bayard and Mcdonald respect