The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-06-28

and now It Is said the ofielnai VHnefs are
making 3 great fuss because he is not
vorkinr on the mine itself. The proba-
hilifv 4 that the matter wiz be settled
witbout trouble, and that he will make q
big thing out of this mine, as he has out
~ 40 many in Colorado. The fact is that 3
Mexican mine, to be considered good
strike must be far better than what would
be considered good mine in the United
States. Miners won't touch ore here that
would be looked upon as splendid ore in
California or Nevada. A Mexican mine
must pan out at least $50 TO the ton or il is
not thought worth operating. In the
United States If it is worth $40 ton it is q
good mine.
I had the idea that the mining laws of
Mexico were less safe than those of the
United States and that Americans and
foreigners had not the greatest security OF
property. / have made many inquiries
among miners, both Mexicans and foreign
ers, and l find that this is a mistake. The
Mexican mining laws are among the
best in the world. They are vigorously
enforced, and there Is no country where
the miner of any nationality has better
chance than here. The laws permit any
man to claim q mine, but in order TO hold
his title he must work at least four men in
il for twenty-six consecutive weeks every
wear. II he fails to do this
his mine, however good, can be de-
nounced, as il is called. by any third party,
and the government will recognize that
party's right to it if he takes the mine
and fulfills the above conditions. Good
mines are carefully watched here, and
failure to work them results in their loss.
As long as the law is complied with, the
miner, whether Mexican or foreigner, is
protected. A record has to be kept at all
mines in Spanish of the work done. and
@ha rr,lry in wi ha
grants fee simple title to mines is where
the company gets concession of a zone
by agreeing to keep thirty-four miners
constantly employed, and within five
years to build reduction works at an ex-
pense of at least a quarter of million
dollars. These mining zones are very
valuable sometimes, and they are not
granted without investigation. They
comprise at times from ten to twenty
square miles of land, and the company
having the right to one of them can work
thirty claims upon it, and have the right
to denounce and work such other claims
in the zone whose owners do not fulfill
the law. They do not, as l understand,
have any right except TO the mineral pro-
ducts OF the land.
Until now the United States has done a
great part of the smelling of Mexican
ores. The provisions of the new tariff in
and Germany, and several large smelters
are being erected in Mexico. The Nc
Kinley bill fixed the tariff ON lead so that
it makes the lead in a ton of
silver ore cost so much that it is
practically prohibitory. An Ameri-
can is building one of these new smelters
at San Luis Potosi. 1t will soon be COM
pleted, and will be, il is said, the biggest
smelter in the world. 1t can probably be
run cheaper here than in the United
States, as labor is much cheaper.
Most of the work in the mines in Mex
leo Is done by the Mexican Indians. They
make splendid miners, and they never
strike. They get ali the way from so cents
to 81 a day, don't get drunk, and work
right along Here at Zacatecas there are
thousands of them, and you will not find
quieter or more orderly town of 10000
people in New England than this city of
10000 here in Mexico. An old Californian
who has mined in both the Sierras and the
Rockies, and who has large interests near
Guanahuat0, tells me he thinks these are
better workers and better men than the
miners of our country. They are sat-
isfied with what they get, and they
TSey more are polite ant than thing, we ebe. sss
than machinery, and the oldest of these
Mexican mines are run on the processes
OF generation and more ago. The lad
ders up which ore is carried by these Indi-
ans in bags here at Zacatecas, are merely
logs or rafters with notches cut into them
about eight inches apart, and the wonder
is that men do not fall daily. They do
lose their balance sometimes, am told,
and are crushed to pieces at the bottom of
the mine; but as q rule they are sure
footed, and / saw men working who
had passed their three-score years.
little clothing in the mines They
do most Of their work barefooted and
barelegged, and the little clothing they
have on is searched before they leave the
mines to see if some silver has not slipped
into it by mistake. The average Aztec
has little idea Of property rights, and he
takes what he can get as gift from God. In
some of the mines the men are searched
by three different sets of men, and they
conceal the silver under their arms, in
their ears and under their toes, and in
fact, in every conceivable manner and
place. Mexican honor is not built on the
conscientious Calvinistic plan, and the
mine owners take every precaution.
These mines about here are not quite as
old as those of Pachuca, but they were
being worked twenty-eight years after
MonteZuma died. About the same time
the mines at Guanahuato were found.
Ihey nave been worked ever since and out
OF them has come great part of the four
billions of dollars worth of gold and sill
yer which Mexico has given to the world.
1t is estimated that the mines of the
country now turn out twenty millions of
dollars worth every year now, and saw a
stream at Guanahuato which contains the
refuse washings of the mines there and
which Is said TO carry off about A
million dollars worth of silver eyerv
year. There were little knots of dark
faced, bare-legged, black-h haired, big-hatted
Indians washing the dirt of this over and
over again to catch something of what the
big works had thrown away, but large
percentage is never gotten. After the ore
Is dug, blasted and picked out of the mines,
II is crushed in a most primitive way by
dragging a sort of milestone around over it.
and when it has become fine enough il is
reduced by what is known as the patio
process. Imagine a great round vat of
chocolate-colored mud foot or so deep.
and IN the center of this a Mexican Indian
in dirty white shirt and white cotton
pants rolled up to his thighs. Let
him have four ropes in his hand and to
each of these let there be attached one or
two or three mules. Put long whip in
the other hand and let him thrash the
mules vigorously with this, keeping them
on dog-trot as they plough their way
around and around and through and
through the chocolate mud for hours until
II is thoroughly mixed. This chocolate
mud is the crushed silver ore which has
been chemically treated and is now being
mixed with vitriol. salt and quicksilver in
order that the silver in the ore NAV be
united with the quicksilver, and this be
reduced by chemicals, washings and evap-
Grafton until the silver is run out in bars