The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent., 1922-10-27

NAONAO14 NAAOssAACEy Au0GUA10O IN O4O
Workings ON the Arizona-Nfexican
Line In Ore Bodies that Have Been
Worked 1t Various Times Since
Before Columbus Found America.
A Butte man, Jack Hoy, is mining
silver in shafts originally started by
the prehistoric Americans, down on
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 across the line and who
insists that the Mexican is the VIC
tim Of much propaganda" in this
country.
II rode 10000 miles in old Mexico
during the revolution" he said, "and
was never bothered. The Yaqui In
dians, the best soldiers in Mexico,
were always friendly to the United
States.
'There was temporary change in
their attitude, 1t 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
Obregon.
"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.
1--WE need capital for development
just as Montana needed capital in the
days when Boston had not 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
war as the Mowry mine.
The Mowry shaft owes its name to
an old-time army lieutenant who, in
the early sixties, when the war be.
tween 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 ancien,
mines. He set out to locate them
and succeeded. He worked the shaft
that bears his name for some time
supplying silver to the confederacy
The federal government learned o.
his activities and confiscated the pro
perty. It lay idle for many years
In 1871 it resumed operations. The
slump in silver in 1898 closed the
property and It remained closed un
til 1912. This old mine now ha.
thousands of tons of ore blocked out
The assay shows large percentage o.
both silver and lead.
The pre-Columbus Aztec miner
worked with crude tools, with flake,
Of "smoky topaz" obsidian and flint
He dug comparatively shallow shafts
He brought out his ore in a bag OF
his back and supported from a bant
around his head. His means of as
cent and descent was rude Chicken
ladder such as may be found in oil
Mexican mines to this day. It wa
nothing more than a tree with not
ches cut in 1t.
Attention has been attracted to tn,
Patagonia mining district by tn,