Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-03-07
BURTON'S LONG TRIP.
A Milwaukee Mans Journey in Quest
of Silver.
A risit to Mines Which the Spaniards
Abandoned Early in the Century.

John E. Burton has returned from a
| trip through country seldom traverSed
by an american, where he met with many
things and saw many things which it is
denied the ordinary traveller to see
Whether he or his friends profit by his
trip or not. the State Historical Society is
to be the richer for it by a consignment OF
rare curiosities obtained by him, and now
on their way here.
Something over two months ago Mr..
Burton left this city to visit, with two ex-
perienced mining men. the abandoned
Silver mines of the Spaniards. in South
western Mexico. and be penetrated by
stage, on horseback and oa feot, to d point
200 miles from Il railroad station or tele-
graph line, where he spent twenty-siX days
without seeing newspaper, a telegram.
or even letter. From the city of Tepic,
the capital of the province OF Topic, he
made four journeys, of l20 miles each, in
different directions into the marvellous
mining district of that country. His ac-
| counts of what he saw read like rOmances,
but he has brought with him so many
material proofs of his statements that they
could not be questioned. however much
his hearer might be inclined to doubt.
when told the people of that coun-
| try, where a flake of snow never fell since
the creation, and where drop of water
never concealed, about snow storms and
| ice fields, and how we drive teams over
the surface of the rivers, they did not be-
ieve me, said Mr.. Burton; land, now,
If | tell the people here what | saw there
| they will not believe me, simply because
they never saw the like. The country is
| tropical, with all the beauties of tropical
! climate. Such fruit we In the North have
no idea of. Think of potato weighing
| $50 pounds, and two potatoes making il
mule-load! We went by rail to Guadala-
| jaia, the capital Jaliscc, the New York
state of Mexico, which is by all odds the
cleanest, brightest city in Mexico. Then
we traversed a portion of the famous Santa
| Anna stage road which it took 1000 men
sixteen years to build, AMI which runs from
| the City Of Mexico to Sau Balas, on the
Pacific coast, distance Of ZOO miles 1t
is macadamized all of the way, and enclOs-
| ed by stone wall for a long distance
At Axtlan we were mefby. a body of,soldiers
sent by Gen Leopold Romano, the mill
tary governor of Topic, to conduct us into
| the mountains.
Capt. H. H. Todd. of California, who
was one of my companions, John H. Ward,
| -
| Gen. Romano, who. when he heard of our
coming, sent the soldiers to meet us. The
general with whom have made all my
contracts, showed US every attention. He
! gave US body guards, and placed his coach
es at our disposal, and besides made me
several valuable gifts, including portrait
| of himself. He took us out to La Presa
| his coffee plantation; where he has 1000
| bearing coffee trees. Each tree yields
| about fifteen pounds per- year, and it will
| bear for thirty years. No coffee is export
! ed, and 1t sells for 35 cents per pound Ill
| the home market. There is a chance for
American capital, which the Mexicans are
anxious to get invested. At Topic, we
We're in the heart of the mining country.
Here, near the city tf Composites, are
! the famous Huicicilla mines, so celebrated
that they are described in the old public
school books. They are the richest in
Mexico. Talk about mines! Mr. Ward
who is an old miner said he had never
seen a mine before, after looking at those
we saw. Those suncracks that Mr.. NJ A.
Hurley of Wausau, is fooling away his
| time with in California, cannot be COM
| pared with them. Mining in California is
mere baby work. Why. Mexico has pro-
| duced more silver than the entire world
! beside. Its output has been LOO ,OOO,-
| 900, and one mine, the Nalencianna. the
! largest III the world. has alone produced
5000, ,000, 900. That mine has twenty
eight miles of drifts, and a man lost in it
could never find the way out. thought
| had seen dump piles on the Gogebic, but
| that at the Huicicilla mines was beyond
anything had ever seen. 1t was fully
a fourth of a mile long. 1t had taken
! ! 10 i
miles of unworked development There
seen. One that | know of is 80 feet wide
in its narrowest place 300 feet wide in sew
eral places and miles long The Anahuac.
which we will work, has vein feet
wide, of very rich ore that is worth 5400
a ton as it comes out of the earth.
when the Spaniards were driven out
of the country in 1910, they left so hur-
riedly they did not take the bullion away
with them. They simply exploded the
mouths of the tunnel to hide them, and
there they stand to this day. have seen
great trees growing over old smelters.
! In 1850 a man made a contract with
| Lozada to operate the mines, but his men
were all murdered about the time he got
ready to operate Now that the bandits
have been wiped out, and in view of the
fact that | am dealing directly with the
military governor, | do not anticipate
any trouble
Americans are afraid to invest in
Mexico because they believe there is no
protection to life and property; but that is
a mistake. There is not now a single
bandit in the mountains When negotia-
tions were begun by the government, il
was found that the robber chiefs made
about S75 month, and the men S35. and
after years of parleying they were induced
to 60 into the army at 800 for the chiefs
and $40 for the men, and they made the
best soldiers in the country. Then. again
the Americans are afraid the Mexicans
will conhscate their property; but there is
no danger of that. They are anxious tC
get Americans interested and property
titles are sacredly guarded. An American
who has grown rich there is James W
Stevens, vice consul for the district NJ
San Bias He went there from Duchess
County, New York. married a Mexican
girl, has a family of fifteen boys and fou1
girls. and is worth a half a million easily
He has cotton factory eighteen mile
from Tepic, where he has s400, 600 invested
ard gi res employment to 800 people"
Mr.. Burton had samples of cotton clotl
made in Mr. Stevens mill. which he ex
hibited with soIid chunks of shining silver
samples of ore Aztec relics, and hundred,
of curious things which he brought bacl
with him. Among the rest was hideou
little god. which Gen. Romano said wa
at least 500 years old.
Gen. Romano gave me an old cannon
which | am going TO give to the Stat
Historical Society, continued Mr.. Burton
1T was brought into Mexico by the Span
iards. and captured from them in 1921
1t is of bronze, and has stood as an orna
ment in Tepic square. He also gave III
another cannon which is in the prison
yard. Dut it weighs 1900 pounds, and
can't afford to remove 1t. If tie Histor
ical Society care to go to that expens
they can have 1t. Gen. Romano allowe,
me to go into an Aztec graveyard and di;
for relics. which | supposs Is against tn
law. and got a fine collection which i
coming. Part of IT ] will give TO the His
torical Society. In the National Museum
at Mexico ] saw the ''Saerlhclal Stone.
upon which 50. 600 human lives have bee
sacrificed. It weighs 60 tons. and has
hole In the center into which the heads fell
A trough Is cut 70 the edge 10 let the bloc
run of
Mr.. Burton's Office looked ike a curl
hall. Upon his desk laid a varied eollec
ton, including lotof keys, each weigh
ing from one TO two pounds, which ar
tile ordinary house keys of the country !
l. tan r-g1f !.