The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-17
SCHWATKA IN MEXICO.

MADREs, May 29.-In the great broken
barrancas leading out TO the westward from
the heart of the central Sierra Madres I
found myself in the richest mineral district
OF America, and probably the richest in the
whole world.
The history Of the big Batopilas Mining
Company, about the center of the district l
have spoken of, and which stands head and
shoulders above all the surrounding mining
companies, is fair representation of all in
this part of the country where my travels
have been cast
Batopilas, or Real de San Pedro de Batop-
Has as 1t was originally named, is said to
have been discovered in October, 1882.
Like Unique, the discovery is to be attrib-
uted to the "adelantaios' sent out shortly
after the conquest to explore the country
| and enlarge the possessions of Spain, 1t is
surmised that the rich mineral finds made
near the capital and which subsequently, ex-
tended far into the interior, led to the prog
ress of the "adelantados" further north
| and inspired the expedition into the Sierra
| Madres which gave rise to the discovery of
Batopilas. Tradition has it that upon their
descent to the river bottom the ''adelaata-
dos" were struck by the luminous appear
ance of the rocks, which were covered in
many parts by snowy flakes OF native silver
| Hence the name Observation-Disclosures "a
fall of snow," which was applied to the first
mine worked in the district.
The news of the discovery spread far and
| wide, and as the evidence of its great ricl-
ness multiplied it soon became one of the
| most
FAMOUS MINES OF NEW SPAIN.
| The first miners of the new discovery made
| q I'D oil a g
present, composed entirely of large pieces
of native silver, the richness of the ore
| being unprecedented. | have now in my
| possession one from Batopilas that runs
| from $4,000 to $4,000 to the ton and that
| looks like a mass of solid silver ten-penny
nails imperfectly fused together; so | can
readily see how the present of solid native
silver could have been made Ia 1890 a
royal decree ordered the collection of all
| data for history of New Spain, and a
| special commission of scientists was ordered
| by the viceroy and royal tribunal of mines
| to report upon the Batopilas district
| There is but one copy Of the report extant,
which traced to the records of the city of
Chihuahua. The commission states that
| the silver extracted from Batopilas in a
| short number of years amounted to $50
| 5000, not including that which was sur
| reptitiously taken out to escape the heavy
| imposts levied by tie crown, and which
|
| GUS period of Bonanza for the Batopilas
district was during the last fifty years of
the eighteenth and the first years of the
| present century. During this time the
| famous mines of Pastraua, 81 Carmen,
| Arbitrios and San Antonio were discov-
eredand yielded the fabulous returns which
have been variously estimated at from
$50, 100000 to 100000. From the out
set of the Mexican revolution in 1910
| period of decay set in which reduced Bato-
| pilas greatly and almost caused its ruin.
| The many revolutions, together with the
wonderful discoveries of very rich
! gold and silver mining districts adjoining
this one, depopulated it to such a degree
| that it counted but ten resident families in
| 1S45.
From this time the reaction which has
made Batopilas the richest silver district in
| the world may be said to date. The old
| mines were again opened and new ones dis
covered. The measure of success did not
compare with that attained in the time of
| the Spanlards, however, owing to the lesser
| energy displayed, but proved amply suffi-
Gent to repay the timid efforts of the ma
| tive spectators. Not until the year 1862
did American enterprise direct its efforts in
so promising direction. A purchase was
effected by
AN AMERICAN COMPANY,
mostly composed of gentlemen interested in
Wells Fargo & Co., whereby the property
embracing the famous veins of San Anton 10
and Ell Carmen passed into their hands.
| They operated with great success in the face
| of macy difficulties until the year 1879,
when the property again changed hands
| and was acquired by a stock company which
has held and worked them to the present
day.
The American companies in this the
| richest mining district in the world are:
| The RatODilas Mining COmnanV
The Todos Santos Silver Mining Com
pany.
The Santo Domingo Silver Mining Com
pany.
The Mexican mining companies are quite
numerous, but | shall not detail them, al
though some are quite important, espe-
cially the great gold mine of Cero Colorado
which is now attracting so much attention
and of which | shall speak farther on
Altogether there are over 100 in a greater
| or lesser degree of active operation in this
rich district, all contained within
radius Of four miles. OF these the big
Batopilas Mining Company owns and oper-
ates over sixty. 1t is owned In New York,
| Washington, Boston and Philadelphia and
is under the management of ex-Gov. Alex.
| K. Shepherd of Washington. 1t is. with
| out any doubt, the most important Ameri-
can mining venture in Mexic) and the one
which has the greatest difficulties TO contend
| with.
There is no other mining camp in the
world more difficult Of access, and the
establishment of a business of such enor-
| nous magnitude
IN THE HEART OF THE SIERRA MADRE
in so short number of years is an accom-
| plishment suggestive Of great courage,
energy, and tenacity. This company owns
! all of the famous old mines which in the
time of the Spaniards yielded those fabu-
| lous bonanzas which caused the astonish-
ment of the world, but it has had to repair
the follies which, from a scientific standpoint,
were committed by several generations of
! inexpert and shortSighted mining. 1t has
had to clear the old mines of immense
masses of rock and dirt which had accumu-
lated during many decades of abandon
ment, quitting and scalping," as miners
say. Since the present company has had
control over 100 miles of openings have
been made, the details of which would be-
! too long and unintege sting to give. The
most important is the greaJ Porfirio Diaz
tunnel. TO be three aud one-half miles in
| length, and when completed one Of the
| longest and most important mining tunnels
in the world, cutting over sixty well-known
veins at the rivers level. IL is now ia
! l,6lO feet, and being driven by modern
/ machinery a the rate Of fifty ( ct a weak