Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-20
CITY OF ZACATECAS.
IT'S ANCIENT SPLENDOR AND RICH
MINERAL SURROUNDINGS
A Single Lode yields Over s6OO,0OO,-
OO0-Pawning Donkeys for
Marriage Fees.
Special Correspondence aEooRD-USoS.l

- 49,
either border-situated almost exactly in
the center of the republic, and until lately
to be reached only by tedious stage jour
neys-it has thus far nearly escaped the in
hux of foreigners which has made such
rnongrel society in some places. Primitive
Mexico is no longer to be found in its cos
mopolitan capital or frontier towns; but
in Zacatecas and few other interior cities,
where ancient manners and customs have
been preserved almost intact, the tourist
may still see the real Mexico in all its
pristine quaintness.
Representations of some of the Oldest
and richest families on the continent reside
in Zacatecas, whose family tree" spring
ing from some of the proudest houses of
Grenada and Castillo was transplanted CEN
turtles ago to this portion of the New
World, and engrafte1 with the blood of
the Montezumas. Many of these ancient
families can trace their lineage back to an
ancestry who were in their palmiest days
OF civilization and affiuence at a period
when our remote progenitors were yet
prowling around the woods in sleeps
skins. One of the greatest pieces of injus-
Gce done to this country IN the United
States is
THE POPULAR ERROR
Of Judging the whole nation by the poems,
Indians and border " Greasers." True,
these lower classes are in the vast majority
as to numbers, especially along the from
tiers and being the most striking features,
because of the singularity of their dress
and customs, tourists and writers are prone
to speak particularly of them as /" Mex
leans, without mentioning the superior
class whose most prominent characteristic
is reserve toward foreigners. In no coun-
try in the world are distinctions of caste
more clearly marked, and the typical Mex
lean lady or gentleman has no superiOrs in
the way Of culture, refinement and true
worth.
Fully fifty years before the Pilgrim
Fathers landed upon our northern shores,
Zacatecas was a center of wealth and civ
ilization. 1t received the title of city :"
from Philip II. of Spain, as early as 1888 ;
and more than half a century before that
time Europeans had begun to work its ex
haustless mines, which were even then old
TO the original inhabitants.
This ancient town, nestled in the heart
of more hills than Rome sits upon, is sur
rounded by a perfect labyrinth of long
worked lOdes, intersectiDg the nights in all
directions. More than three hundred mines
exist in the Stationary of which, how
ever, have been abandoned for lack of funds
to carry them on. The highest known
yield Of any mine in the district of ZaCate
cas- is 800 per ton. while the average yield
is from $50 to $40 per ton. The cost of re-
duction, by methods now in vogue, is about
$40 per ton, but in most cases the processes
are primitive, being precisely those en-
ployed BY the early Spaniards. Doubtless
the introduction of our improved ma
chiuery would greatly increase the yield,
but it is nevertheless true that the Next
cans slower and less expensive ways
Chiefly by man and mule power are wiser
under existing circumstances. There are
no streams in this section by which pow
erfUl machinery could be run; coal there
is none,
WOOD SELLS FOR CENT AND HALF PER
POUND.
The gnarled and crooked branches of
mountain bushes at that The discovery
of a coal mine in this section would be as
much of a bonanza TO its fortunate pos
SCISSOR as one of gold.
Within the last decade a number of
American spectators have come here and
proceeded as Americans usually do Ii. e.,
rushed in where angels fear to tread y,
sneered at the ancient processes. and-wise
in their own conceit, though knowing little
of the peculiar character of the country and
regardless of the experience of others
have set up costly machinery, expecting
to get rich and revolutionize things in
hurry. Naturally the majority of these
speedily
COME TO GRIEF,
For more wealth can be burned up-with
fuel at cent and a half per pound-than
mother earth is willing to yield; not to
mention the thousand other hindrances
that beset the unsophistieated. Mexican
laborers expect small wages, and are as
tractable as children when properly man
aged, but, owing to national customs, in
sufficient food. effects of climate and con-
stitutional d" tiredness, it requires about
dozen of them to accomplish as much in
given time as one handy Saxon; while
with the least mismanagement, or being
iniudiciously allowed to ind themselves
dollar ahead, they give up the ship and
sally off without warning, leaving their
employer helplessly in the lurch.
According to existing international laws,
machinery of all kinds comes in free of
duty; and now that coal can be brought
from the North by railroad,
ZACATEoAs WITH HER MOUNTAINS OF PRE-
CIoUs METALS,
Is destined to become the great mining
center of the continent. Prior to the year
1872 the mines of Zacatecas had produced
the enormous sum of 1882 232, $50, on which
a tax of nearly Al ,00O,00 pesos tdollars)
had been paid into the treasury of Spain.
During the previous century the mines of
this State alone yielded little more than
$1,000 600 a year-abOut one-fitth OF all the
silver coined in Mexico. The famous lode
called FL Fete Grande ("the great vein, y near
the city of Zacatecas, is a fair example of
the mines of this section. It consists OF
three parallel veins running close together,
which have been worked almost without
interruption ever since the conquest. More
than thirty shafts have been sunk along
these veins, and not one has failed to strike
a bonanza. The greatest depth yet reached
is !, 800 feet, yet with this insignificant de
velopment the Vete Grdnde has produced
oeeT sir hundred million delldrS north of pre-
cious metal-far more than the celebrated
Comstock lode of Nevada, which has been
opened to a depth of 5000 feet. And yet
the Yete Grdade shows no signs of exhaus
ton, but is to-day conceded to form one of
the richest deposits in the world.
According to Bushhart, the city of Zaca-
tecas lies at an elevation of 9,012 feet above
the gulf-an altitude which, in the north
of the United States, would verge upon the
line of perpetual snow-while the broad
plain spreading out below the hilly town
has itself an elevation of more than 1000
feet. In this mesa central plain, within a
few miles of Zacatecas city, are nine small
lakes containing much carbonate of soda,
the salt from which is used in the neigh
boring silver mills Humboldt compared
the geological formation of this district to
some portions of Switzerland-and GER
tainly the Alps region is not more bare of
vegetation. The city has a population of
little more than $1,000, and its narrow
streets straggle over the hills in the most
picturesque manner-stony alleys rushing
straight up the steep hillsides or descend
ing almost as perpendicularly; sometimes
by a series of steps cut into the solid rock.
worn into hollows by the restless feet of
countless generations, and overshadowed
by adobe walls centuries old. The most
distinguished landmark of the vicinage is
fbe