Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1920-12-18
A BACKWARD AND A FORWARD LOOK
 AT MINING INDUSTRY OF MEXICO
(By Kirby Thomas, Assistant Con-

sulting Engineer, New York.)
 Aliens and alien capital have, since the days of the prolonged. revolu- tion, which made Mexico a politically independent country, played a very important part in the development of Mexico's great mineral resources, and during the successive periods of activity and prosperity in the indus try, have been preponderant both as to financial interest and as regards the practical and technical operations of the country's varied and vast min- ing developments. As early as 1924 English capital engaged in large and widely distributed mining operations in Mexico. Through the efforts of Lucas Aleman, Mexican exiled in London, John Taylor, a mining en- gineer, founder of the present Len don firm of John Taylor & Son, was sent to Mexico to investigate the his toric and famous properties at Pa chuca. The result was an extraord- mary mining boom in Mexican un- dertakings, said to be one of the greatest periods of mining excite ment ever known in London. The Real Del Monte company.a at Pachuca was capitalized for e40O,000, the Bo- lanos, in Central Mexico for 9150,- 900 and the Tlalpujahua, west of Mexico City, S1sO,OOO. These com- panies are said to have all paid handsomely for time, the latter company having a record of return ing all of it's capital and heavy divi- dends in a few years. An English company, the United Mexican associ. ation, started in 1924, continued op- erations for more than seventy-five years. Its scope extended from Minas Nuevas, Sonora, and Jesus Maria (Ocampo,) Chihuahua, to the city of Durango, where it operated an iron shelter, from there to Som- Brete and Zatataces, to the present famous Fl Gro mines, and to Temas- caltepec, and Zacualpan, in the state of Mexico and to Fl Chico and Cap ula in Hidalgo. The same company leased the mint and worked the inn portant mines at Oaxaca. The Ang- lo-Mexican company worked mines on the Veta Grande, Guanajuato, and at Zimapan, Catorce and Real del Monte. Another English company operated the Fl Doctor mine in Quer- taro and mines in Michoacan. A Scotch company established a mint at Guadalupe y Calvo, in Durango, and operated at Velardena, near Tor reon. During this early period minor operations were carried on by German and French companies also. The records do not show any Ameri- can operations, a fact to be expected on account of the complete absorption of American energies in the develop ments of domestic resources during that time.
 By the middle of the last century practically all of these foreign com panies, which had made such a wig orous and effective beginning in the development and realization of Mex ico's great mineral resources had withdrawn from the country. The reason for this decline in an essen- tial and especially favored industry, as can be read in the records of the diplomatic correspondence in Down. ing street, London, was chiefly due to the bad internal conditions which continued to grow worse in Mexico from very bad start at the begin ming, and to difficulties growing out of the failure of the local Mexican governments to protect life and to in- sure the integrity of property. Pre- vious to the constitution of 1857, no foreigner in Mexico could own real estate or mines, and consequently these foreign companies, operating under leases and through local com panies were constantly harassed and perpetually in danger in the courts and through the various decrees and