The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-06-28
MINING IN MEXICO.
Silver City of Zacatecas and
Its Wonderful Products.
COUNTRY YET TO BE DEVELOPED
The Land Has Turned Out $4,000. ooo.-
600 Worth OF Precious Metals
Chihuahua and its Millions.

ZAcATEcAs, Mexico, June 22.-TSpecial
Correspondence IA city of 5000 people
mile and half above the sea. A great
tumble Of fat-roofed, box-shaped houses,
built close up to cobble-stone sidewalks
above a network of tunnels, which run in
and out, across and above each other with
ell the wanderings of Rosamond's bower.
These tunnels dug through veins of
sohd silver. Silver in specks all around
and about you, from the hundreds of
mines which dot the sides of the mount
ans TO the clear silvery sky which hangs
overhead. This is bare outline of the
great Mexican mining city, Zacatecas.
Here everything is silver. In the days of
Cortes the mines were worked, and from
then TIL now the work has gone on, giving
hundreds of millions to the world. 1t goes
on still, and under my feet the Aztecs of
today are working away as they did in the
past, and across the way see the mules
tramping their hoofs of in the vitriol and
quicksilver with which the crushed ore is
mixed in order TO reduce it for the market.
Mexico has gwen the world more
than four thousand million dollars worth
of gold and silver, and much of the latter
has come from here. This whole region is
full of silver. The mountains on every
side and, in tact. in nearly every part of
Mexico are filed with ore, and from the
Pacific ocean to the Gulf of Mexico there
Is vast country of incalculable possibil-
ties. Travellers and old Mexicans tell me
that the southern part of the country is
even richer in minerals than the northern
part, and all agree that the land has not
as yet been .pTospected. The western
coast contains undeveloped regions of
gold and silver, and this will soon be
opened to the railroads. In. Chihuahua.
just north of here, there are mines out of
which 1914 10000 have been taken in
about $50 years. and seven days ride. by
stage TO the west of these are the Bar
topilas mines, which are owned by Gov.
ernor Shepherd, and out of which
he is taking great quantities of good
ore. SO far he has put all of his pro-
fits back into his mines, and he is, am
told, developing them on the same mag
nificent scale that he improved Washing
ton City. He lives in the hope Of vast
fortune in the future and is spending, it is
said, in improved machinery and fine min
ing furniture what any Mexican or ordi-
nary American would consider a fortune.
About twelve miles from Chihuahua there
is little mining territory the size of an
1t is among the mountains and in it more
than 200 mines have been developed. The
veins run deep down into the earth and
fifty of the shafts are more than 600 feet
deep. These mines have been worked for
nearly ten generations and the mines Of
Governor Shepherd are $50 years old. They
have already cost millions and il is easy to
spend millions in the DEVELOPMENT and
furnishing of mine. The Count Of Regla
who made so much out OF the ia
Hols mines at Pachuca, spent
il is said, 81. 500 600 on his reduction works
of 100 years ago. but he cleared $500, 600
year out of them for twelve years and was
so rich that he had a way of making his
distinguished guests walk on bars Of silver
when they came TO see him. 1t was one
of his descendants who founded as
charity the government pawnshop of
Mexico and the original count who began
life by driving mules and who bought his
title for cool million, when he struck it
rich, had the cheek to ask the king Of
Spain to come TO visit him and told him
he would plate the walls of his bedroom
with silver if he would do so, and that
wherever he walked about the place, he
should have the paths paved with silver
bars. Count Regla made an immense
fortune, and these mines are still among
the largest in the world.
Still, on these very mines some English
capitalists lost millions. They spent some
thing like $50 OOO, 600 in developing them
some years ago and got out less than three
fourths of that amount. This was at the
time that England had her last great craze
for American investments. 1t was about
fifty years ago and they then lost more than
$4,000, 600 in Mexican mines. They have
a similar craze today which extends TO all
kinds of syndicate enterprises in the
United States. They are buying
our breweries, our salt works,
our iron foundries and our
railroads, and the same is the case with
Mexico. A great deal of English capital
is now coming here. and though they have
been trying 10 swallow up the cotton fac
tories and other industries their chief IN
vesiments have been in mines and estates.
| saw an American at SilaO who has sold
out his mines near Guanahuato 20 an En-
glish company az a big profit, and has held
enough of the stock TO give him n big
thing out of the profits If they make any.
He gets good salary for managing the
mine. and is now placing on the market a
big mining zone in Sonora, on the west
coast, which he has discovered.
A great deal of capital is now going into
the re-development of old mines in Mexico.
Humboldt estimated that there were J, go
mines in operation in Mexico at the begin
ming of the century, and II the legends are
correct there was never so great success
in Mexican mining as al the time when
the Spaniards were overthrow and
driven out of the country in ISL, when
the republic was founded. At this time
the most OF the mines in Mexico belonged
10 them. During the revolutions which
followed each other in quick succession
these mines were abandoned. They be-
came filled with water. and the names
and records and in fact the very locations
of many of them were lost Others Of the
old mines had paid very well until the
miners struck water The pumping ma
chinery of the time was such as 70 pre-
clude their being worked further and they
have from time TO tine in the past
been abandoned. Such mines are
10 be found all over the great mining ter
ritory of Mexico and there are hundreds of
men on the lookout for good ones. IL
/ Humboldt : figures are correct there must
be az least 200 mines yet TO be reclaimed,
and the search for these IS active. A num-
Der OF Americans are among the seekers.
They talk with the Indians, look up the
old legends and now and then they ind o
mine which they can pump out with our
modern pumps and strike 4 bonanza Just
under the water | met q Denver man
who was going to n mine which ne had
discovered IN this way N the state OF Da-
range. He owned IL IN company with
Henry +. Wolcott and a Kansas City man,
aud he told me they were making u pay.
/ though Il cost them $50 ton 10 get the
( ore from the mines 20 the railroad ana 70
The Denver sIneirers