St. Landry democrat., 1884-10-11
4 ,,.rX'cln ,SsinInc CITY.

Zacatccas is awakening to the fsssa
Shat the world moves. With on" r:>il
road actually here and another in pros.
pect, American stamp mills coming in
and ''gringos' (Americans) on every
corner, the town wearsea surprised as.
pect, as if wondering if it were really
Zacetecas after all The town-or.
perhaps, might better say city, for il
has sixty thousand inhabitants is stu
ated in little valley, surrounded by
three hills, and the houses, for lack OF
room, are unusually high, some even
four and five stories. The streets are
paved with a sort of Mexican modifica-
ton of macadam. though some have a
regularly laid cObble-stone pavement.
Plazas and churches abound. The
stores and warehouses are among the
largest and best supplied in the re-
public, and the hustle reminds one of
a Mexican town. Yet, for all this, FAC
atecas is u mining camp, one of the
oldest in Mexico. 1t was worked for
many years by the Spaniards before the
revolution, and work has never entirely
ceased. The mines are in the very
edge of town, some of them ac-
tually extending under the houses. The
''haciendas de benetcio." or ore-reduc,
ing establishments, are also in the
edge of the town, and to an American
they afford curious study The pro-
cess of working the ore seems to be
about as follows: 1t is brought from the
mine in pieces from the size of an egg to
that of an orange, and first taken III hand
lxr% II i
Indian, whose chief articles of clothing
are pair of cotton drawers, wider at
bottom than top, and a buckskin hang
in front of his breast, something after
the manner of an apron. The more
wealthy among them often boast of a
shirt. These quebradores crush the ore
to the size of chestnuts, pounding it on
top of fiat rock. They use for the
purpose hard piece of flint. keeping
the ore in place on their stony anvil |
with their feet, which are bare. The |
anvil is even with the ground, and they
seat themselves at the same level, and |
when hard at work, with both hands
and feet in motion, they have comical |
to ''Brudder Bones of the
The ore next goes to the |
Peruvian mill, round stone trough, |
with a smooth fiat bottom, about nine |
inches deep, and six feet across, made /
out of 8 single stone. Here large
stone is rolled over it by mule power |
until the ore is reduced to the size Of /
rice grains, and then it goes to the ia
honas or arrastras to be ground in |
water to an impalpable pulp. An ar
rastra may be compared to an Ameri-
can Wash-tub seven feet across with |
stone sides and bottom and an upright
post in the middle, which serves as a
pivot around which a span of mules
drag two large stones. The rice-size
with q little water and the stones
dragged over it, water being added
from time to time until it is reduced to
q thin paste, when it is ready for the
patio. When taken from the arrastra
the ore is put into lameros drying
5anks), where it STAYS until about as
thick as fair average. mud. The patio
IS smooth stone floor, varying in size
with the capacity of the haoienda-from
TWO to three acres is the average size.
Here the process of silver extraction be-
gins. The first step is the cusalmero
lsalting). A pile Of mud is formed
about ten inches high and from thirty
% seventy feet across, over which salt
S sprinkled. Horses, mules or oxen
ire then driven around in it until the
mass is well mixed with the salt and
hen quicksilver is sprinkled and after
hat sulphate of copper or maiestral, a
crude double sulphate of iron and cop
ger; then more quicksilver, if needed,
he pulp being tested after each addi-
ion Of material, After the operation is
the pulp is washed and the
amalgam separated, very much us in
he mill process in the States. The
whole process takes about three weeks
md costs about eleven dollars a TOM
Cor. st. Louis Globe De2noc.-Gt.