Daily camera., 1899-07-19
OUR SOUTHERN NEIGHBoRs.

8. A. Giftin Receives an Iuteresttng Letter
From Central Mexico.
The following extracts from letter
written from Central Mexico by Mr.. l..
H. Rutherford to S. A Giffin will be of
interest:
Tepezala. Ags.. July 18th. 1899.
Dear Mr.. Gifin:-I intended to write
you some time ago. but have been very
busy familiarizing myself with the de-
tails Of my new duties. They are numer-
GUS and not easy to grasp all at once.
! am located at the copper mines of the
Guggenheim Smelling Co. situated about
two miles from small town called Tepe
zala, which is our P. o. address. We
are out about twelve miles from the
nearest R. r. station, which, in turn, is
thirty miles from Aguas Calienres. city
of 10000. They are dve mines working
in this group. not counting few pros
poets. Seven or eight hundred men are
employed in the mines. The Americans
here are the present Supt. and his wife.
the mine doctor and his wife, two fore.
men, an assayer, cashier. and master
mechanic and wife. The mines keep
up their own hospital to take care of
injured or workman who may be sick.
They also run general store and butcher
shop. but these are for the convenience
of the miners and not to rob them, as no
one is obliged to take any part OF his pay
in trade. The present Supt. is to leave
from the 18th TO the latter part of this
month and then am to take his place
and fill it as far as l can. He is very
valuable man, and the company intended
giving him wide field in making him
general superintendent for alltheir mines
in this country. My greatest difficulty
is in not knowing much about the Ian.
guage and it comes slow at first.
would not like to lose my knowledge of
French. but think would be willing to
trade it for awhile. Spanish would be
considerably more useful. OF course no
one remains in this country for any length
of time without learning Spanish. bui in
Aguas Calients met several gentlemen
who spoke not only the native language
and English. but French and German
as we'll. ..
The Guggenheims have a large smelter
in Aguas. where the ores from these
mines and many others are treated
That means quite number of Americans
there are many others mostly engaged
in some kind of mining business.
The natives. such as we see them about
the mines. are wretched race. They
eat scarcely anything but beans and
half baked cakes of cornmeal, which they
have ground themselves between two
stones. m -t
They wear no clothes to speak Of. Their
shoes are fiat pieces of sole leather tied
on their feet with thongs. the sandal Of
Bible times. imagine. Their homes
are generally holes dug in bank Of earth
or rock without doors of any kind and Of
course no windows. Here whole fami.
lies eat and sleep. and if rich enough 10
have pigs, poultry or goats. the domestic
amin lls share the common domicile.
There are always couple OF dogs and
generally more. The burro is the beast
of burden and is everywhere present.
think the burro is considerably smaller
than in Colorado. and yet a common
measure OF weight here. the cargo:or 900
lbs. is supposed to be what burro can
conveniently carry. We have ! good
many carts and wagons to carry the ore
to the station. shipping about 100 tons
per day. but when it comes from places
inaccessible 10 wagons, it is loaded on