Gilpin observer., 1901-08-08
Mining In Mexico.


istic methods of working, says Il. z.
Dargin.
With few exceptions the miner
works ON contract. The top men are
usually paid by the day, the under
ground work being usually by contract.
AS the Mexican miner is generally too
poor to take a contract on his own re-
sources, the mine manager has to
guarantee the pay of the men employed
by the contractor. The latter is sell
dom allowed to make more than SO II
week, but if he does. the mine man
ager generally hunts up some clause in
the contract reducing the price or to
cancel the contract altogether, which
is then let to some one else at Il low
er price.
The miner who works on the ore
body in the slopes are paid for the
number of feet of drilling done in
day. They nearly always work in
pairs, one man striking while the other
turns the drill. In the state of Chihua-
hua they are paid three reals (31h
cents per foot of drilling, and eight
feet of drilling is usually considered a
days work for two men. 1t should be
remembered that this wage of S1.5O
day is equivalent to 75 cents American
money and in many mining camps in
Mexico they earn only half this
amount.
There are some single-hand drillers
who turning with one hand and strik-
ing with the other, will do as much
work in a day as two ordinary miners,
hence these men are able to earn
double wages when allowed to work.
But mine managers as n rule do not
encourage this class of miners, AS they
object TO sending in pay rolls show
ing men earning SO day.
The days work is usually finished
about 4 p. M, when the foreman goes
around and measures all the holes. He
is followed by the powder man, who
loads and fires.
II the stope is not arranged so the
ore falls into the shoots it is shoveled
in by contract at so much per car. The
car man in the drift below takes the
ore from the shoot and trans it to the
shaft at given figure by the car, de-
pending on the distance between the
ore shoot and the shaft.
When hosted to the surface the ore
is dumped on patio, or yard, and
there sorted and shipped, methods of
transportation depending on location
and accessibility of the mine. Mules
and burros are usually employed to
pack to the nearest railroad.
The development of a mine in MeNi-
co under the direction of an expert
enced American manager is somewhat
different from the mode of procedure
in the United States. After the shaft
has been sunk deep enough to provide
stope, a drift is run on the vein and
upraises made every fifty or 100 feet,
as the case may be, blocking out the
ore body. Instead of repeating this op-
Grafton on the levels below, wines
(called 'posoes'' in Mexico) are sunk
every fifty or 100 feet to the lower lev
ell. The ore body Is often proved up in
this way long before the next drift is
started, or the drift and posoes may be
going ahead at the same time. When
1t is desired to push the work, drifts
are started each way on the vein after
the posoes have reached the drift level
and connections made from half doZ-
en- posoes before the drift from shaft
is connected. This method has several
advantages when n mine relies on nat
ural ventilation. The miner works in
better air than Is possible in an up
raise and the ore body is proved up be-
fore the next level is run. This is i'm
portant in some cases where it Is nee
essary to drive hundreds of feet
through hard barren rock from the
shaft before reaching the ore body. 1t
also permits the completion of a drift
In Il much shorter time than 1t would
otherwise require, because working
Two faces from every poso. This meth
od can only be employed 80 advantage
In mines not too wet and with MeXi-
can labor. The ability of II Mexican
miner to pack heavy loads on his back
makes this practicable and cheap, as
1t only requires n cowhide bag with n
strap to 90 over his forehead and n
chicken ladder to complete n Mexi-
cans hosting machine.
The chicken ladder is n Mexican in
Vention and consists of n peeled round
pole or tree from six to eighteen inches
in diameter and usually from fifteen 90
twenty feet long with notches n foot
apart cut about SIX inches deep In the
pole to step on. This pole Is placed
mt approximately an angle of forty-fve
degrees and tied to stulls In the shaft
The miner with 200 pounds of ore on
his back climbs out ON these poles-a
decidedly sklttish operation for n be-
ginner ms he is obliged to balance on
the pole and walk out with nothing TO
hold on TO. If the feet slip the hands
would be Of little service In preventing
fail. This does not trouble the Mex
lean miner, as he usually goes bare
footed and runs very little risk of los
Ing his footing.
In the early days. Mexican mining
was carried on entirely In this way and
some of the old Spanish mines look like
prairie dog holes ana In some eases not
much larger. Their method was to fol
low the incline Of the vein down fifty
or sixty feet then drift from few feet
to several hundred feet. always making
the drift as crooked and uneven as II
was possible TO make It, ana so small In
places that the ore packers were oblig-
cd 10 crawl through on hands and
knees, pulling their sack Of ore behind
them.
This method Of poso and drift Is con.
tlnucd on often to water level. never