El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-12

MEXICO MINING MAN TALKS Of
FAILURES THROUGH |NCOMPET ENCE
Charles Smith Cites History
Of Dios Padre and Other
Old Producers Of the Re
public.
MINING NEWS.

ChaSles Smith, a prominent mining
man, AFTER an absence Of several years
has returned to this city on business.
He is in charge of the properties called
Dfos Padre or Trinidad mines, near
Trinidad, in the Sahuaripa district, Son
ora, Mex, which belong to the Greene
Gold and Silver Mining company The
camp is so miles east of La Eura,
through which the new Cananea rail-
road passes on the way to Tonichi, and
to reach ultimately Nacozari.
Discovered by Spaniards.
The Dios Padre mine has been
worked" says Mr.. Smith, "off and on
for over 100 years. and has produced
perhaps 100000.
This rich mine was discovered by the
Spaniards, who had previously found
and were working the Santa Rita mine;
and while packing bullion over the
trail through the Sierras to Chihuahua,
they found some rich outcrops on the
trail and began exploration work on the
present yDios Padre mine.
Building vase shelters, they were so
successful that they took out q large
amount of rich ore. Subsequently. after
a long period of idleness, due TO the
raids Of indians, the mine was taken up
in the seventies by Alzuah. In four
years of that time Francisco Carleton,
an American, now living in Santa Rosa,
operated it so successfully that it
cleared over 100000 profits
English Company Gets Control.
Upon the death OF Alzuah. Ramon
Corral. now vice president of Mexico,
acting as administrator of the estate,
took charge of and bonded the mine to
an English company. The latter made
a bad job of mining, spending a great
amount of money in machinery and
surface improvements, building a 400
ton mill, cable trains, expensive roads
in short they were riOtously extrava-
CANT, as evidenced by machinery scat
tered all over that locality. Mean
while they did no development nor ex-
ploTation work on the mine. In fact,
the main shaft is down 215 feet deep.
about 100 feet below the level of the
arroyo There had not been any work
done in the mines for 80 years and it
was the sake> as when 1 was first
there in 1882
Other Owners
After that company gave up, Corral
went to work and 'chlorided 1t for the
Alzuah heirs and in four or five years
took out s125,OOO. Then Manuel Jesus
Olea and Augustine Ainsa leased It
from Corral, paying $500 rental a month
and made money. They. however. only
Quilted the old ore Slopes and pillars,
doing no development work After this
Richard Bros. took a hand and lease
and turned it over to the Greene Gold
and Silver company.
Speaks of Incompetence
whoever has had possession of the
mine and made failure. has done so
through incompetence Whenever the
Dlos Padre has not paid it has been due
to bad management. AS far as devel-4
oped, 1T showed it is a big mine 1
speak of these failures to Illustrate a
not unusual thing in that country The
state of Sonora, like many other mining
countries, Is strewn with old plants and
ruined machinery, monuments of the in
competence of the managers and folly
Of the investors. who spent hundreds of
thousands in those things instead of
exploiting and developing the proper-
ties first to find out whether the prop
critics were worth anything. There are
plenty Of the same kind of operations
going on now.
Cause of Failures.
81 don't see why this property if prop
erly managed can not be made a good
paying proposition. 1t does not make !
much water, but the water IS aciduous |
and mineralized But there is no serious
difficulty to contend with.
II will reiterate that the cause of |
most failures in mining in Mexico is (
that many American and other foreign |
companies in the first place put in in |
competent managers
ut was an old saying in Nevada that
"A mining engineer is a man with a
khaki suit and a dinky pick This re-
ferred to the fresh college graduates
without practical experience, who would
expend very little in development, and
who would when they saw a rich
streak or stringer. get excited and put
In extensive machinery
I'm the same district are La Bufa
and the Cienfga mines, famous old
producers. but now idle. Quite a num-
her Of people are down in that section
prospecting and working old mines and
more are coming all the time, now that
the Lew railway is within so miles and
former difficulties of transportation a
thing of the past.
"The troubles with the Yaquis ars
happily over. which We're really very