The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-10-19
MONTANAN WORKS
OLD AZTEC MINES
JACK HOY TAKING SILVER FROM
ANCIENT SHAFTS THAT BE-
LONGED TO MONTEZUMA
Modern Machinery Installed in Old
Workings on the Arizona-Mexican
Line in Ore Bodies that Have Been
Worked at Various Times Since
Before Columbus Found America.

A Butte man, Jack Hoy, is mining
silver in shafts originally started b.
the prehistoric Americans, down OF
the Arizona-Mexican line. These ore
bodies have been worked intermit
tently since long before the coming
of Columbus.
The white man, applying white
mans mining location laws, has cut
the ancient mining claims into dim.
ensions conforming to present usage
He is equipping them with modern
machinery and using dynamite where
the primitive prospector used an elk
horn pick.
The Mexican character is not gen
orally understood, according to Hoy,
who has spent many years along the
border and GRO the line and who
insists that the Mexican is the vic
tim Of much propaganda" in this
country.
"I rode 10000 miles in old Mexico
during the revolution" he said, land
was never bothered. The Yaqui In
dams, the best soldiers in Mexico,
were always friendly to the United
States.
"There was a temporary change in
their attitude, it is true, when Presi-
dent Wilson allowed Mexican troops
to cross into American territory to
attack Villa. The feeling of resent
ment was natural. Villa was a pop
ular idol in the north. The other
military forces were detested.
"That feeling of antipathy has sub
sided. A new government has come
into power. Another strong man, a
kindly broad-minded statesman, sits
in the seat of Diaz.
President Obregon, whom I hap
pen to know personally, is a Godsend
to Mexico. Competent soldier that
he is and idolized by the fighting men
and particularly by the Yaquis, he
occupies a position invulnerable to
attack from within his own country.
His liberal attitude toward the for
eigner is winning him friends in other
countries.
"Originally Of Irish stock, the
O'Briens came to Mexico about the
time those other Irish, the O'Higgins
for whom the Chilians once named
the flagship of their navy. The name
of O'Brien gradually corrupted into
Oregon.
"This statement has been contra
dicted, but the fact is that the presi-
dent of Mexico comes of ancestry that
once breasted the broad bosom of the
Shannon or heard the banshee's cry
amid the hills of Kerry.
"He has made property as safe in
Mexico as it is in Montana and is
becoming known to Americans in Old
Mexico as the president of the square
DEAL Mexico reminds one very much
of Montana. There are unlimited op-
pOrtunities, vast mineral wealth as
yet untouched. The scenery of the
northern part is very like our own.
I'VE need capital for development
just as Montana needed capital in the
days when Boston had lot yet started
to invest in Montana mining ven
lures"
One of the best known of the old
Aztec silver mines on American ter
ritory has been known since the civil
as the Mowry mine.
The Mowry shaft owes it's name to
an old-time army lieutenant who, in
he early sixties, when the war be-
,ween the north and the south be-
came imminent, resigned his commits
sion rather than fight against his
native state.
During his service in the west,
Mowry had heard of these ancient
mines. He set out to locate them
succeeded. He worked the shaft
hat bears his name for some time,
IMPLYING silver to the confederacy.
The federal government learned of
lis activities and confiscated the pro-
,erty. 1t lay idle for many years.
II 1871 it resumed operations. The
lump in silver in 1898 closed the
property and it remained closed I'M
1912. This old mine now has !
thousands of tons of ore blocked out. |
he assay shows large percentage of
10Th silver and lead.
The pre-Columbus Aztec miner l
worked with crude tools, with flakes
f "smoky topaz" obsidian and flint. 5
dug comparatively shallow shafts.
lie brought out his ore in a bag on ,
is back and supported from a band !
round his head. His means of as {
emit and descent was a rude chicken
adder such as may be found in old .
Iexican mines to this day. It was q
othing more than a tree with not I
hes cut in it. |
Attention has been attracted to the 6
'atagonia mining district by the .