National Republican., 1885-10-31


though the better class Of merchants i'm
port brandiCs, beer, champ0gnes, and other
wines Of good quality, which find ready sale
among the natives as well rs the Americans
employed at the hacienda, who generally
visit Batopilas for sight seeing and rec
reation on Sunday afternoons. The cur
rency of the town is silver dollars, and
paper medium issued by Gov. Shepherd in
denominations of So, soc, and Pc. This is
redcemablc in silver, and Is issued to meet
the want of silver dollars which are heavy
to freight and hard to keep in circulation.
The merchants take the paper money, turn
IL In each week, taking receipts therefor,
which receipts are exchanged for drafts on
chihuahua, Muzatlan, Parral, and other
points in McXico--or silver bars, as the mer-
chant may elect.n
"Now, will you tell us something OF the
mines ("
The mines Of Batopilas have for more
than a century past occupied the attention
Of the scientific world. biologists and
metallurgists, from Won humboldt to
others OF lesser degree, have studied the
formations of this mineral district, have
evolved all sorts of theories and nre yet
as much at variance as ever. II Is the only
mineral district, save one, in the world Civ
ing up native silver in different forms aud
shapes. The exception noted is the Silver
1slct mine Of Thunder bay, Lake Superior,
Canada. And there the silver exists In the
form Of complicated ALLOYS with cobalt,
nickel, and other metals. In Batopilas the
the metal is pure crystallized silver aud no
alloy Of any kind has ever been detected in
It, The mineral district proper is about
twelve miles in length and three miles in
width. The vein rock is principally Gales
par In diOrtc. The characteristics OF the
district aie that near the surface ruby sill
yer, black silver, and even chloride OF silver
are met with, while the main ores at any
depth are native silver ores in
calcite Of all grades, from 'brossa or metal
worth $40 pound to 'chspeado' valued at
from II TO 80 per pound. You smile as l
say per pound3 yet such is the way we talk
of iirst-class ore. just here remember two
shipments / had the pleasure Of making
from ROnCesvalles mine to the hacienda
one was for the week. 200 pounds of first
class. The governor thought II was a small
amount, but when II came to treatment II
nctted $4,000 in bars-$5 per pound all
through. Anothcr-thc biggest on record
| In the distriCt-was one stone taken ont on
the governors 10th birthday, last year and
sent down rs a birthday memento.' The
stone weighed 3i5 pounds, and made IN
| silver bars tlille over S3,5OO-more than
| $40 per pound. Such instances are Of course
rare, but they were met with in the ordinary
course Of mining. But will not try to eX-
plain the process Of mining with us. The
you the inclination to write and print
1t. Suffice IL to say that after
five years Of hard labor Gov. Shepherd has
in operation as fine plant of machinery as
can be found in this or any other country.
1t consists Of 10 stamps, IL Frue vanuGrs or
concentrators, 12 amalgamating pans, 6
settlers, and cleanup. pans, a lixiviation
| plant, and . roasting furnaces, the whole
having capacity for treating so tons of ore
every "a hours. OF the mines under the
governors control the Roncesvallcs, the
Camuchin, the San Miguel, the Descubri-
dora, and the "Cinquc de Mayo" 18th of
| May may be said to be the most valuable
| properties. They have each and all given
| up large quantities of native silver, and the
| prospects for still larger yield in the
future may be said to be good. All these
mines are in a district semi-circularin shape,
| at distances Of several miles apart. There
| are other mines throughout the district that
| have given silver in greater or less amount,
| and only need work to develop them further.
| There are also several mines belonging to
other owners than the governor and his
companies, notably, the Todos Santos, the
| Pastrana. Dolores. RemediOs-thc last u
series Of three separate mines, said TO give
| indications Of great returns of native silver
| with little work. There are Others whose
names do not now occur,
"The manner Of mining with us still re.
mains the same as q hundred years ago.
This for the reason that want OF fuel--a
serious drawback-has prevented us from
using the improved methods which In Colo
rado and other states have proved SO useful
and prompt. Could we have had the COM
pressed air drill and other improved ma
chnery the output from Batopilas In the
past three years would have been fabulous.
But Gov, Shepherd is now engaged In a
work which bids fair to rival any similar
49,. L.. .1..,
the course Of the river and bringing the
body Of water down a canal. or acequia,
which for great part Of the length (two
miles is being hewn out of the mountain
side. This canal will furnish water motor
for COMPRISING air, running machinery, &c,
at new hacienda, or working, located hall
mile above the Hacienda de San Miguel, on
the opposite side of the river. At this
point forty-iive stamps additional will be
erected and this mill will be nearly at the
mouth Of a great tunnel just begun
which II is calculated will be about five
miles in length and cut the veins of about
sixty known mines with veins Of silver. Ol
these thirty-fve are under the immediate
control OF the governor. This tunnel vii
cut the veins of all the paying mines of the
district, ROncesyalles being reached at {
distance of 500 feet below its present lowest
working-Camuchin, about ] 200 feet.
"With the water power as motor FOL
COMPRISING tie air for the rock drills, ant
with the forty.five additional stamps ant
reduction works in progress, the future .
Batopilas and its silver product is beyond
calculation. Judging the future by tn
past the product will be untold millions.
"But all this is work of immense labor
Think Of it In the past five years all tn
machinery for the present plant had to b
carried over the mountains on mule back
and in the coming year all the machiner!
for the new plant will have to be taken II
the same way. But with the thousands o
tons of ore susceptible OF reduction whicl
will be yielded up by the grand tunnel (b!
the way its name is the Perllrio Diaz tunne
in honor Of Mexico's presldent), the out
lay of labor and expense is warranted an(
will he paid an hundred fold
"But we do not look at these things from
'rose.colored' standpoint. To quote from
Mr.. Brodie, the mining engineer: "A
the ores are not found regular and constan
in the mineral veins OF the BatOpilas dis
trict every mine, even the best, has its tim
Of unproductiveness The history Of ever
vein that has produced silver shows period
Of bora (barrenness). Many of these hav
been of long duration. For this reason tn
most noted mines of Batoplas have had s.
many different owners and have often re
NAMED idle and abandoned for many year
in the case Of Roncesvallcs, for instance
for whole century,
"Opposed to the Spanish-Mexican theor.
Of letting the mine remain idle, Gov
Shepherd and his coadjutors introduced tn
live practical idea of pushing the work o
exploiting. The theory of the poker playe
is here brought into play: Luck mus
change II the money holds out And 81
IT is. BY spending capital in driving tn
work the silver is reached Just so mucl
sooner. Experience teaches us II Is there
and that labor judiciously expended vii
find 1t. But my time will not allow longe
delay. | fear your interview is now tot
lengthy and uninteresting. | confidentl.
hope that the next one you may catechist
on the subject of BatopilHs will be the GOV
ernOr, and that he will then tell you tina