Evening star., 1916-04-28
THIRD Of WORLDS SILVER
COMES OUT OF MEXICO
Close Contender With United States
for First Place-Fifth in
Gold Production.
Black Chapters Written in Earliest
Days Of Country's Mining
Activities.

With one-third of all the silver in the
world today having come from the mines
Of Mexico the metallurgic history OF thls
country has fully justified Humboidts
famous description of it as the treasure
house of the world according to bulle-
tin issued today by the National Geo.
graphic Society, which says:
"a close contender with the United
States for the first place in the produc-
tion of silver-the two having produced
nearly 20 per cent of the worlds output
in 1s14-and ranking fifth as gold pro-
ducer, Mexico is easily maintaing its po-
sition as one of the worlds richest ma
tions with respect to minerals, position
1t has held since the Spanish conquista-
dores first began to extort gold from the
vanquished Aztecs.
when Cortez landed in Mexico he told
the natives that the Spaniards suffered
from "a disease which only gold could
cure and the chivalrous. credulous AZ
tees II is said, sent the European great
wheels of precious metal as well as orha-
ments of all sorts, which. reckoned in
values of today, were worth SSo.o0oooO.
Spaniards Work Mines.
Immediately after the conquest the
silver mines of Mexico, but many miner
alogists are of the opinion that there are
gold mines which were known to the AZ
tees and worked by them, but which even
to this day have been hidden from tne
white man, the Indians, actuated by
superstition. keeping their secret AS II
to substantiate this attitude OF the
natives the handsomest monument tnat
graces the City of Mexico between the
t@1 Nd
stands to the memory of Cuauhtemoc, the
Aztec prince who refused to reveal to the
conouerors the source OF his people 8
wealth. even though his torturers IN tneir
eudeavor to make him disclose the where
abouts of this vast wealth burned the
soles from his feet.
1.-The modern investigator OF social and
industrial conditions paints drab pictures
~ the natives in some of the Mexican
mines, but these are bright pages com
pared with the black chapters OF the
early days in the rich mines OF Guam,
ajuato, where the laborers. under cruei
taskmasters. toiled from great depths up
notched poles, bearing gone-hundred-p pound
bags of ore on their backs and then were
driven back after scarcely time Tor a
breath of fresh air. 1t was not until
about the time of the death of Shake
speare, whose tercentenary the world is
celebrating this month. that law was
passed in this mining district forbidding
the branding of slaves on the face
White Men Massacred.
BRUTAL taskmasters did not always
escape unpublished. however. For in
stance in the Valenciana mines. which
produced $500. 100000 worth of silver
in fifty years. the slaves rose in 1860
and massacred every white man in that
region.
IAN apocryphal story. strongly remi-
niscent of the Peruvian tale of fire
built against an overhanging silver
boulder, is told of the discovery of the
rich silver deposits of the Guanajuato
district. 1t is related that band of
muleteers discovered in that neigh
borhood one morning the ghtter OF re-
fined silver in the dead ashes of their
campfire.
"AlI the stories of early mining
operations in Mexico are not blotched
with the blood of poems. There is an
interesting. authentic account OF the
famous Avino mine, worked as an open
quarry and decided by the owner to all
the white men who would build their
houses close together for mutual pro-
lection against hostile tribes. This was
the beginning of the prosperous City
of Sunshine Durango.
Hunts Mountain of Silver.
1T is of the Durango vicinity, Incl
dentally. that one of the most pathetic
stories of an ancient prospector's g
blasted hopes is told. Thirty years
after the conquest a wealthy Spaniard.
hearing of mountain of solid silver.
started on journey of exploration.
He Travelled for days. hoping each
morning that the rising sun would re-
veal a gigantic peak of glistening
treasure. At last 1t came in view. He
hastened on. but when he reached the
base of the mountain he discovered
that it was iron instead of silver.
Crushed in spirit, he camped that night
at the foot of the mass of ferrous ore
Indians fell upon his band and some
of his followers were killed. while the
leader himself was mortally wounded
He died while making his way back
10 the capital. The adventurer's name
is perpetuated in the famous mineral
mountain. Cerro de Mercado, one OF
the richest outcroppings of iron ore
In the world.
NO ancient mines of Mexico were