The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-12-02
GUANAJUATo's WONDERFUL
MINES.
A district in Mexico That Has Yield
ed Half Billion Dollars.

A district in Mexico That Has Yield
ed Half Billion Dollars.
From Modern Mexico.
Who that has visited Mexico has not
heard of the celebrated mines of Gu
anajuato discovered in 154S 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, Franstos, Cata,
Sirena and a host of others; but it was
not till in the course of the eighteenth
century that Guanajuato reached a
surprising degree of wealth and pros
perity. Then all the famous mines
were at the height of their fame and
produced an enormous amount of gold
and silver. From 1866 to 1903 the
mines produced $165, 900, 900 in gold and
silver; from 1903 to 1887 the production
was 1856, ,816, 800 which makes for a
period of 122 years the enormous total
of $500 GIG, 500. These figures are taken
from the records of the ministry of en-
| couragement, and are undoubtedly cor
! rect. If we consider that these mines
| were worked for 21S years before 1916
| and produced at least $4,000,00 a year
| during that time, and that since 1887
the district of Guanajuato has pro-
duced between five and six millions an
nually, 1t will be seen that the enor-
nous total of between 1,400 and 1900
millions has 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
| prospected as yet.
The first mines worked on a large
scale were Rayas and Mellada; then
came Santa Anita San Vincente, Cata,
| Franstos, Sirena, Valenciana, La Luz
Santa Lucia, San Jose de los Muchach-
os and many others. The first of these
| San Juan De Rayas, is one of the most
| famous mines on the main vein, and
| the document of announcement Is the
! oldest in the archives of Guanajuato
| The books of the owners show that
Rayas alone paid in royalties to the
king of Spain s17,363, 900; and it has
been worked constantly for q period oil
349 years. Rayas and Valenciana arc
also noted for their great shafts of oc-
tagon shape, the first IL 81 meters in
! diameter and 3S2 meters deep, which
| cost $1,700,00o; the second 922 meters
diameter and 515 deep and walled in
with cut stone from the top to a depth
of seventy meters, which cost 81, 200, 900
Going southeast from Mellada we CONS
to the Sirena. which is now being
worked by an American company, who
have just completed a fine modern %
stamp wet crushing mill with the Boss
| continuous process of amalgamation
/ From the Sirena southeast for dis
tance of 1000 meters the vein is capped
and it has not been prospected enough
to determine it's 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 Cedro, which
has produced many thousands of tons
of ore, and has thousands of dollars
worth of modern machinery on il, in
Guiding hoist, compressor, boilers.
pumps and engines; Cardones, now
worked by the American company,
with a modern mill hoist, pumps. etc,
and the Union, which is being rapidly
developed through a magnificent tun-
mel, and producing very high grade
gold and silver ores. All these mines
are not for the amount of gold they
have produced and are producing, as
this end of the vein carries much
more gold than the end on which the
other famous mines situated. Cedrc
and Cardones, especially, have big
bodies developed, which carry n big
percentage of gold. South from Car
dones and on the same vein, which is
here of an immense width, are CanaI
les, Camacho, San Vincento and sew
eral others noted for their rich gold
ores, and on which an American COM
pany is soon to begin erecting a gold
mill of big capacity West from these
is the mine El Santo Nino del Natal
celebrated for the rich and enormous
amounts of gold ore it has produced
and which has an American company
Still further south are Villapando. Sar
Rafael Cata, Dolores, La Loca and Z
host of others. With the advent o.
modern machinery and adequate capi,
tai, with scientific working under able
mana cement, this celebrated vein Il
bound to make Guanaiuato more ia
nous in the future for the gold 1t will
produce than it has been in the pas
for the gold and silver ii has produced
mn F,TTDE nUCnEnCTA