The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-08
MExlco's wonpERFuL MINES.
Over Half Billion Dollars Taken From
One District

From Modern Mexico.
Who that has visited Mexico has not
heard of the celebrated mines Of :iuan-
ajuato, discovered in 1913 by packers
going from Mexico to Zacatecas? The
first mine was given the name of San
Barnabe and two years later came the
discovery of the celebrated San Juan
de Rayas, then in quick succession
Mellada, Santa Anita, Fianstus. Cata,
Sirena and host of others. but i. was
not till in the course of thn eighteenth
century that Guanajuato reached a
surprising degree of wealth and pros
perity. linen al! the fatoous mines
were at the height of heir fame and
produced an enormous amount IF gold
and silver. From 1766 to 1903 the mines
produced $165, 100000 in s,a.a emf silver;
from 1903 to 1887 the production was
1856, 816,b00, which makes fol period of
122 years the enormous total of $780,
616,500. T1esa figures ara takeE from
the records of the Ministry IF encnur-
arement and aye undoubtedly coIreCt.
/: we consider that .nese mines We're
worked for 21S years before 1775 and
pl Cduced at iea ST $4,o00.00O a year du"
ing that .inle, and that since 1o>1 the
district of Gua,lajuatn hes no luce! be-
tween $4,000 COO and IS, 1cn,0 900 annually
it will be seen that the enormous total
of between $1,40O 900, 900, and 81, 500, 000,-
900 have been added to the wealth Of
the world by this district. And there
are enormous tracts of the great vein
from which all this wealth has been
taken that have hardly been well pros
pected as yet.
The first mines worked on large
scale were Rayas and Mellada; then
came Santa Anita, San Vincente, Cata
Franstos, Sirena, Valenciana, La Luz,
Santa Lucia, San Jose de los Much
achos and many others. The first of
these, San Juan de Reyas, is one of the
most famous mines on the main vein
and the document of announcement is
the oldest in the archives of GUIANA
juato. The books of the owners show
that Rayas alone paid in royalties to
the king of Spain s17,363, 000 and it has
$40 years. Rayas and Valenciana are
also noted for their great shafts of oc-
tagon shape, the first 11.31 meters in
diameter and 1872 meters deep, which
cost $1,700,000; the second 9.22 meters
in diameter and SIS deep and walled in
of 70 meters, which cost $1,000, 900. Co
ing southeast from Mellada we come to
the Sirena, which is now being worked
by an American company, who have
just completed a fine modern 20-stamp
wet crushing mill with the Boss con-
tinuous process of magamation. From
the Sirena southeast for a distance
of 1000 meters the vein is capped and
it has not been prospected enough to
determine its value.
Then we come to another important
group of gold mines of the Cedro and
Cardones district, consisting of the
Belgrade, San Jose, San Matias, San
Guerra. Cardones and Union, of which
the most important are the Cedro,
which has produced many thousand
tons of ore and has thousands of dol
lars worth of modern machinery on it,
including hoist, compressor, boilers,
pumps and engines; Cardones, now
worked by the American company, with
modern mill hoist, pump, etc, and
the Union, which is being rapidly de-
veloped through a magnificent tunnel,
and producing very high grade gold
and silver ores. All these mines are
noted for the amount Of gold they have
produced and are producing, as this
end of the vein carries much more gold
then the end on which the other fam
Gus mines are situated, Cedro and
Cardones, especially, having big bodies
developed, which carry a big percent
age of gold. South from Cardones and
on the same vein, which Is here of an
immense width, are Canales, Camacho,
San Vincento and several others noted
for their rich ores, and on which an
American company is soon to begin
erecting a gold mill of big capacity.
West from these is the mine Ell Santo
Nino del Nagal, celebrated for the rich
and enormous amounts of gold ore 1T
has produced and which has a modern