The Butte inter mountain., 1902-01-02


dral Of that city, constructed at cost
of about 100000, was built entirely out
OF church tax of three cents per pound
weight of silver extracted from the SAM
| ta Eulalia mine alone. In village
| church In one of the most poverty
stricken hamlets In the south Of Mexico
/ have seen an altar covered with en-
bossed silver plates Is inches square and
one-fOurth to one-half an inch in thick
4 ness. The renowned church of Guaia-
lupe, near the City of Mexico, Is said
4 to contain, In the form of altar fittings,
candelabra and sacred vessels of various
/ kinds, no less than 81 tons of solid silver
I the result of votive offerings in the
| course of its history. 1 have no reason
! to doubt this either.
I The owner of another great mine In
/ Sinaloa, on the occasion of wedding
/ In his family some 40 or so years ago, is
stated to have paved the pathway from
the church door to the brides dwelling
1 with bars of silver. laid close. Modern
! love of display is often a subject VA Sc
/ we're criticism; but 1t can scarcely devise
! q wider extravaganza than the technical
i records of mining left In the earth by
/ those bygone diggers of wealth.
The extremely preciptous characters
! OF both the eastern and western Sierra
Madres, or Mother ridge, indicates the
! presence of the deep-seated assures and
/ mineral-bearing veins which they con-
! tain.
During visit of mine to the little
town of Copala, in Snaloa a previously
| unknown chamber was discovered In
one of the old mines which had been re-
opened, and on the floor of it an inter-
esting find of antique tools was made.
A f.xs.,.. HI IA
under water, but by some means or other
1t had become drained and was now per-
! fectly dry. Among the tools found were
some of the above mentioned hammer
picks, gads and bars. The latter were
tied In bundle and all were deeply en-
crusted with a conglomerate Of rust and
! gravel, as one may see an anchor which
| mas lain for years at the bottom of the
sea. They were of a different type to
any now used, and, prior to the intro
ductlon OF explosives were no doubt as
servlceable as anything that could be
deVised-in fact, the pick would have
been a handy tool at any time
| III may be argued that these tools were
OF Spanish origin, but considering that
| the Spaniards can hardly have COM
menced mining in remote western dis
| tricts Immediately on their occupation
OF the country from the gulf side, nor
| Tor many years afterward (f indeed they
ever did so at alb, the evidences are
| against II. The concretion on the tools
Indicated long period of submerson In
| water, after which another considers BILE
| interval must have elapsed before the
chamber was completely dried out. 1t
was to my mind, more like another
| evidence of the Asiatic origin of
the west coast population, and of i'm
I portation of their arts from the trans
/ Pacific continent. If so, the implements
/ Qt not OF native MANUFACTURER may have
/ hailed from Japan, China, or the Malay
an archipelago-like so many of the Gus
toms and tribunal languages of the
! western Mexican Indians. 1t would lead
us into too engrossing a subject were we
| to try and trace back these productions
CAS- they must some day be traced)-not
to Europe, but to INDIA, Persia and
! Egypt.
Among the practical lessons of his
tory, hswever, 1t is a wholesome one
which teaches us to beware of the fas-
clnations of the extreme antiquity craze,
and the too frequent pitfalls besettlng
1t. "Bll Stumps His Mark" was a
monumental warming: and even in Mex
leo one may profit by recalling ii oc-
casionally. Those who have purchased
Aztec idols" and other curios in or near
the towns have frequently acquired this
| lesson.
The knowledge possessed by the an
Client American miners as to the treat
ment of ores furnishes collateral evil
dence on the point just mentioned, show
ing that the derivation of these arts is
not likely to have been from the
European side. 1t is known, of course
tla..
Spanish inyasion and it will be re-
membered that In those times the treat
ment must have been a necessary ac-
compartment OF the mining. 1t Is
, hardly conceivable that they had any
facilities for trading their ores to pur-
chasers at a distance, and reduction
! must have been effected at or not fan
from the mines.
Their chemical knowledge, though In
all probability empirical, must have
been the result of considerable study at
some period. | have described above the
elementary process for the extraction
of gold, but that or silver indicated 6
much more elaborate attainment, az
shown by the ancient patio proces3-tht
principle Of which still forms the basi.
: OF the silver extraction. 1t was in use
until quite recent times Gf, indeed, it Il
hold its own in modern treatment were
IL not that the handling of a single
charge, SO to call it, occupies from 40 Il
so days. OF course, the charge is biz
> one; a circular stratum of pulp a foo
7 thick, and perhaps so feet in diameter
i into which the quicksilver has to be In
! timately Incorporated But the tim,
sense was never strong characteristic
of the Mexicans: it is not so yet and II
e early days probably much less so. S,
= that whether they got out their bullion
!, in six days or six weeks was not
u matter of much moment Yet, except
;, ing for this one hindrance, the patti
u process is as efficient a saving treat
ment as any that has ever been devised
Formerly the trading in of th
"quick" on the patio was done by bare
footed boys--to their infinite DANCE
! from paralysis of the lower limbs by alb