Mexico and its Religion Part 24

The most important mines in the State of San Luis Potosi are those near Cuatorce. In the midst of bleak and precipitous mountain ridges is the village of Cuatorce, from which a circuitous mountain road leads to the entrance of the mining shafts, in which more wonderful things have occurred than in the wildest of the "romances." The story of Padre Flores is a familiar one, but will bear repeating.

PADRE FLORES.--CUATORCE.

The padre, being tired of the idle life of a pauper priest, bought, for a small sum, the claim of some still more needy adventurer. After following his small vein a little way, he came to a small cavern containing the ore in a state of decomposition. This, in California, would be called a "rotten vein." With all the difficulties to be encountered in obtaining a fair value for mineral in a crude state, the poor priest realized from his adventure over $3,000,000, which was considered a very fair fortune for an unmitred ecclesiastic.

The Mineral Report, mentioned in the last note, which is so full on the subject Fresnillo, insists that it is a continuation of the formation of Cuatorce and the other mines of San Luis. The mountains at Cuatorce are more dreary, bleak, and barren than in any other of the princ.i.p.al mining districts, as it is more exposed to the storms and tempests from the northeast and from the ocean. It was in this State of San Luis Potosi that Dr. Gardner's quicksilver mine was alleged to exist, and in the ineffectual efforts made to determine its whereabouts our government has become quite familiar with the location of all the worked mines of this state. The mines upon the mountains of Cuatorce are said to have been discovered in 1778 by a negro fiddler, who, being compelled to camp out on his way home from a dance, built a fire upon what proved to be an outcrop of a vein, and, in consequence, found in the morning, among the embers, a piece of virgin silver. It is a doubtful question among those who are anxious about trifles whether the name _Potosi_ given to this mine, owes its origin to the similarity between the mode of its discovery to that of the celebrated mines of that name in South America, or to the vast amount of silver at one time taken from it.

Guanajuato, when it yielded its six millions a year of silver, besides a fair supply of gold, was one of the most important States in the republic. With every successful speculation, new adventurers were found to invest their capital in resuming the working of abandoned mines, until at last men have become bold enough to undertake, for the third time, the draining of the great shaft of the Valenciana, so famous in the last century. When I was last in Mexico that undertaking was reported to have been accomplished. This mine is on a more magnificent scale than even the Real del Monte. Its central shaft alone cost a million of dollars; and though steam power can not be used, yet it is so dry that horse windla.s.ses can keep it clear of water. Its abandonment in every instance has been in consequence of some insurrectionary chief setting the works of the mine on fire, and not from any deficiency in its product of silver. When I was in Mexico, so little progress had been made in restoring the mine that it was not thought worth visiting. But the most sanguine hopes were entertained that it would again be as productive as in the times when its abundant riches secured for its owner the t.i.tle of Marquis of Valenciana, though he had worked with his own hands on the shaft which afterward yielded him its millions.

THE MINE OF LOS RAYAS.

Second in importance among the old mines of Guanajuato is _Los Rayas_.

Its history presents a new feature in the mining system of Mexico, not before mentioned, but which is important to a right understanding of the operation of the mining code. The right of discovery gives t.i.tle to two hundred _varas_ along the mine, and to two hundred _varas_ (about 500 feet) in depth. The consequence of this limitation is, that when a very rich claim is made, there immediately springs up a contest to get below it, and to cut off the lucky discoverer from the lower part of his expected fortune, and he has no means of avoiding such a result but by driving his shaft downward until he reaches a point below his first two hundred _varas_, which ent.i.tles him to claim another section downward.

This principle is strikingly ill.u.s.trated in the case of the famous mine of the priest Flores at Cuatorce, which he blasphemously named "the Purse of G.o.d the Father,"[77] where there are marks of divers attempts being made to undermine him, though without success. But the case is a different one when the _bonanza_ is upon a high ridge, and it can be undermined by drifting in from a lower level. Then commences a lively contest to determine who can dig the fastest, and make the most rapid progress in this contest of mining and countermining.

The Marquis de los Rayas owes his t.i.tle and his princely fortune of $11,000,000 to a successful contest of this character. The Santa Amita was in _bonanza_, yielding an ore so pregnant with gold that the crude ma.s.s often sold for its weight in silver.

DEEP MINING.

Contests of this kind are very different from those which used to take place in California some years ago, when twenty feet square was marked off upon the top of a ridge, through which the claimant had to sink his shaft to the base rock on which the gold was supposed to be deposited.

When the rock was reached, it was often found difficult to keep the lines that had been marked off on the surface, particularly when the lead grew richer as it approached the border of the claim.

Controversies were frequent, and frequently resulted in subterranean quarrels and fights, and, of course, ended in superterranean lawsuits.

But the Mexican rival parties were seldom near enough for a fight, and the quarrel ended, as it began, in a contest to determine who could dig the fastest.

Another peculiar feature of deep mining is the construction of the main shafts. A description of the method of construction of one of these I take from Ward's Mexico,[78] a book that is otherwise of little value to a person seeking for information on the subject of mines at Guanajuata, so great has been the revolution there in a few years in the condition of mining affairs: "I know few sights more interesting than the operation of blasting in the shafts of Los Rayas. After each quarryman (_barretero_) has undermined the portion of rock allotted to him, he is drawn up to the surface; the ropes belonging to the horse-windla.s.ses (_malacates_) are coiled up, so as to leave every thing clear below, and a man descends, whose business it is to fire the slow matches communicating with the mines below.

"As his chance of escaping the effects of the explosion consists in being drawn up with such rapidity as to be placed beyond the reach of the fragments of rock that are projected into the air, the lightest _malacate_ is prepared for his use, and two horses are attached to it, selected for their swiftness and courage, and are called the horses of _pegador_. The man is let down slowly, carrying with him a light and a small rope, one end of which is held by one of the overseers, who is stationed at the mouth of the shaft. A breathless silence is observed until the signal is given from below by pulling the cord of communication, when the two men by whom the horses are previously held release their heads, and they dash off at full speed until they are stopped either by the noise of the first explosion, or by seeing from the quant.i.ty of cord wound round the cylinder of the _malacate_ that the _pegador_ is already raised to a height of sixty or seventy _varas_ [Spanish yards], and is consequently beyond the reach of danger."

The author then goes on to enumerate the risks that attend this calling of _pegador_, and the consequent high wages that have to be paid to persons who undertake this perilous office, all of which accidents and adventures must be familiar to those of my readers who have paid any attention to the business of blasting rocks; and as his hairbreadth escapes have nothing in them remarkable, we may conclude this notice of Los Rayas by adding his statement that the king's fifth from this mine, from 1556 to his time, amounted to the snug sum of $17,365,000. He gives only the sum reported, and makes no calculation for the large sums out of which the king was annually cheated at all the mines. That my reader may understand how a sum so apparently incredible as five or eight times seventeen millions of dollars could be taken out of a single mine, he must recollect that Los Rayas was a most productive mine shortly after the Conquest, and that for a century or two it was comparatively of little value, until Mr. Jose Sardaneta undertook the undermining of the rich mine of Santa Amita in 1740, and that afterward the rich product of the lower levels of the Santa Amita are included in this immense sum.

INDIANS AND SOLDIERS.

There is too much sameness in the details of the histories of the various other important mines of this State and of those in the adjoining State of Durango to justify the lengthening out this chapter, and I will conclude it with giving the substance of a statement I heard the American gentleman make on the subject of Indian depredations in the very centre of the republic, showing the great inconvenience suffered in consequence of the state of insecurity in which the people constantly live. A party of their own Indians, a most degraded band of cowardly vagabonds, that lived not a great way from the city, concluded to personify a company of northern savages, in order more successfully to plunder the inhabitants. With shoutings, these vagabonds rushed into the houses of the people, who were so paralyzed by the very sight of Indians in a hostile att.i.tude, that, without resistance, they suffered them to plunder whatever came within their reach which tempted their cupidity or l.u.s.t. At length, becoming satiated with liquor and champagne that they had taken from a carrier, they had to retire and camp out for the night. In their retreat they were pursued by a captain and soldiers of the regular army, who, being more numerous than the Indians, exhibited a great deal of courage until they came in sight of the savages, when, all at once, it was concluded to encamp for the night, and to resume the pursuit the next day, when the Indians would be at such a distance that they would not disturb their pursuers by their whooping.

[75] By reference to a long and able paper on the mines in the hill of Proano (Fresnillo), it appears that one half of the cost of four pumping-engines already in operation in that mine was the freight from Vera Cruz to the mine.

[76] This translation is bad enough, but no worse than the original.

[77] This will sound to Protestant readers something like horrible blasphemy; but it must be borne in mind that G.o.d the Father of the Catholics is an entirely different idea from the spiritual G.o.d whom we worship. The devout Protestant who recognizes but one Being worthy of adoration, veneration, and worship, never ventures to mention any of the names by which He is known but with the profoundest reverence. The Catholic, on the other hand, has a host of objects which he deems worthy of adoration, and seems to have cheapened the article by multiplying it. His senses are all exercised in his peculiar kind of worship, and, as a natural consequence, they are apt to conclude that the Almighty enjoys those exhibitions that give them the greatest pleasure. They worship him by performing a pantomime of the life and suffering of Christ, which is called the ma.s.s, and seek to propitiate him by offering the body of his Son in sacrifice. They bestow upon G.o.d gifts of jewels and of gold; and as he pa.s.ses through their streets in the form of a wafer, as they believe, the soldiers present arms, beat the drum, and discharge their cannon, as to an earthly prince. Though our Saviour (_Santo Christo_) heads the calendar of intercessors between G.o.d and man, he is seldom invoked, though they often honor him by naming their children after him. As they have conferred upon a mult.i.tude of their saints the supernatural powers of G.o.d, they have necessarily brought G.o.d himself down to earth. If I might be pardoned the expression, I should say that they treat him and his well-beloved Son with a loving intimacy. The worship of the Catholics is substantially materialism, more or less gross, according to its distance from or its proximity to Protestantism.

There is no blasphemy, according to their system, in naming their shops after the Holy Ghost, a horse-stable after "the Precious Blood," though I could never hear them mentioned or see them without having my Protestant notions shocked, while I equally shocked their feelings by refusing to kneel to the Host, and slipping out of the way to avoid it. Nor could I exhibit the least reverence to their religious emblems without committing what in me would be an act of idolatry, the two systems being so diametrically opposite that one can not go a step toward the other without breaking over a fundamental doctrine of his own belief. G.o.d is an invisible Spirit, says the Protestant. G.o.d is a Spirit, answers the Catholic, but he daily a.s.sumes the form of a wafer, and traverses our streets, and in that form we most commonly worship him. Such is the religious antagonism that will ever be found in the world while man remains what he now is, ever divided between mentalism and materialism. Forms and names often differ, but these are the two ideas into which all the religious systems of the world resolve themselves, although abortive attempts are often made to combine them.

[78] Vol. ii. p. 452.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation.--Sonora and its Attractions.--The Abundance and Purity of Silver in Sonora.--Silver found in large Ma.s.ses.--The Jesus Maria, Refugio, and Eulalia Mines.--A Creation of Silver at Arizpa.--The Pacific Railroad.--Sonora now valueless for want of personal Security.--The Hopes of replenishing the Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted by War.--Report of the Mineria.--Sonora.--Chihuahua.

LAND t.i.tLES.

It has been said in another chapter that the Apaches had extended their depredations beyond the first tier of States, and had entered Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and even Guanajuato, making this second tier of states their stamping ground, while Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, over which they now rode without opposition to a country more abundant in plunder, are left as political waifs to any who may choose to take possession of them. As in all abandoned countries, there are inhabitants here incapable of getting away, and too poor even for the Indians to notice; and there are a few miserable villages still existing, with a fragment of their former population. All the inhabitants of these wretched hamlets have their eyes fixed on the United States as the only hope of relief from their Indian plunderers.

The proprietors of estates, extending over vast districts, too cowardly to defend their claims, which exceed in extent European princ.i.p.alities, are sitting quietly down at a respectful distance, anxiously looking forward to the time when their claims will rise in value from a few dollars to as many hundred thousands by an annexation to the United States. Mexican operators in grants have not been idle. They have ascertained what the United States courts call a t.i.tle, and have been providing themselves with the necessary parchments,[79] while American operators, in connection with them, have been equally busy.

Chihuahua and Sonora are the States or Departments to be affected by our Pacific Railroad. Sonora is the most valuable of the two, not only on account of its inexhaustible supply of silver, but also on account of its delightful climate and agricultural resources. It is like the land of the blessed in Oriental story. California does not surpa.s.s it in fertility or in climate. With industry and thrift, it could sustain a population equal to that of all Mexico. The table-lands and the valleys are so near together that the products of all climates flourish almost side by side. Food for man and beast was so easily procured that the descendants of the early settlers sunk into effeminacy long before the breaking out of the great Apache war of the last century. Drought, however, makes the formation of artificial lakes and reservoirs necessary to the full development of its agricultural wealth.

CHIHUAHUA AND SONORA.

But it is the remarkable abundance of silver which distinguishes it above all other countries except Chihuahua. I have described, in a former chapter, the long and laborious processes by which silver is produced from the ore in the southern mines, and also the great depths from which it is raised. In Sonora, silver is most commonly extracted from the ore by the simple process of fusion. But in the district of Batopilos, it is, or rather was, found pure. If we should adopt the theory that veins of ore extend through the entire length of Mexico, then I should say that they "crop out" in Sonora, or, rather, that the silver _lodes_ which are here above the surface dip toward the city of Mexico, and also northward toward California. The mountain chain which traverses California under the name of the _Sierra Nevada_ appears to be only a continuation or reappearance of the mountain chain here called _Sierra Madre_ (Mother Range), which forms the boundary between the departments of Sonora and Chihuahua.

On the western declivity of this mountain range, the most remarkable ill.u.s.tration of this fact of cropping out is found at Batopilos, already mentioned. This town is in a deep ravine. The climate is, like that of the California gulches, intensely hot, but remarkably healthy.

Here the _lodes_ of silver ore are almost innumerable,[80] with crests elevated above the ground. The mine of _El Carmen_, in the times of the vice-kings, produced so immensely that its proprietor was enn.o.bled, with the t.i.tle of Marquis of Bustamente. This was the beginning of the family of Bustamente. A piece of pure silver was found here weighing four hundred and twenty-five pounds. I should like to continue in detail to enumerate the rich surface mines in the southern portions of these two States, but, lest I should weary my reader, I must omit them, and refer those who wish to learn more to the translations from the last official reports of the _Mineria_, ent.i.tled Chihuahua and Sonora, which are embodied in the Appendix.

"The 'Good Success Mine' (_Bueno Successo_) was discovered by an Indian, who swam across the river after a great flood. On arriving at the other side, he found the crest of an immense _lode_ laid bare by the force of the water. The greater part of this was pure ma.s.sive silver, sparkling in the rays of the sun. The whole town of Batopilos went to gaze at the extraordinary sight as soon as the river was fordable. This Indian extracted great wealth from his mine, but, on coming to the depth of three Spanish yards (_varas_), the abundance of water obliged him to abandon it, and no attempts have since been made to resume the working. When the silver is not found in solid ma.s.ses, which requires to be cut with the chisel, it is generally finely sprinkled through the _lode_, and often serves to nail together the particles of stone through which it is disseminated."[81]--"The ores of the _Pastiano_ mine, near the _Carmen_, were so rich that the _lode_ was worked by bars, with a point at one end and a chisel at the other, for cutting out the silver. The owner of the Pastiano used to bring the ores from the mine with flags flying, and the mules adorned with cloths of all colors. The same man received a reproof from the Bishop of Durango when he visited Batopilos for placing bars of silver from the door of his house to the great hall (_sala_) for the bishop to walk upon."[82]

The next mine of interest in our progress northward is the _Morelos_, "which was discovered in 1826 by two brothers named Aranco. These two Indian _peons_ were so poor that, the night before their great discovery, the keeper of the store had refused to credit one of them for a little corn for his _tortillas_. They extracted from their claim $270,000; yet, in December, 1826, they were still living in a wretched hovel, close to the source of their wealth, bare-headed and bare-legged, with upward of $200,000 in silver locked up in their hut.

But never was the utter worthlessness of the metal, as such, so clearly demonstrated as in the case of the Arancos, whose only pleasure consisted in contemplating their h.o.a.rds, and occasionally throwing away a portion of the richest ore to be scrambled for by their former companions, the workmen."

Near the Morelos is the _Jesus Maria_. Though on the western or Sonora slope of the mountain, it is only eight leagues from Chihuahua. This, like Morelos, is a modern discovery, and, of course, was not included in the number of those Sonora mines which produced such an intense excitement about a hundred years ago in Mexico, and even in Spain.

Here, within the circuit of three leagues, two hundred metallic _lodes_ were registered in one year. The story of the mine of _El Refugio_, discovered by a fellow of the name of Pacheco, gave occasion for anecdotes like those of the Arancos which we have just recited. A dealer had an old cloak which took the fancy of Pacheco, and to purchase this thing he gave ore from which the dealer realized $8000.

Three twenty-fourths (three bars) of the product of this mine netted, between the years 1811 and 1814, $337,000. On the Sonora side of the mountain is _Santa Eulalia_. The ores of this _real_ [district] are found in loose earth, filling immense caverns, or what are called "rotten ores" in California, and are easily separated by smelting. One shilling a mark ($8) was laid aside from the silver which one of these caverns produced, which shilling contribution const.i.tuted the fund out of which the magnificent Cathedral of Chihuahua was built.

THE MINE OF ARAZUMA.

Proceeding northward, we come to a spot the most famous in the world for its product of silver, the mine of _Arazuma_. For near a century, the accounts of the wealth of this mine were considered fabulous; but their literal truth is confirmed by the testimony of the English emba.s.sador. After examining the old records which I have quoted, I have no doubt that the facts surpa.s.sed the astonishing report; for in Mexico, the propensity has ever been to conceal rather than over-estimate the quant.i.ty of silver, on account of the king's fifth; yet it is the king's fifth, _actually paid_, on which all the estimates of the production of Sonora silver mines are based. Arazuma (which, in the report of the Mineria that I have translated for this volume, appears to be set down as Arizpa) was, a hundred years ago, the world's wonder, and so continued until the breaking out of the great Apache war a few years afterward. Men seemed to run mad at the sight of such immense ma.s.ses of virgin silver, and for a time it seemed as if silver was about to lose its value. In the midst of the excitement, a royal ordinance appeared, declaring Arazuma a "creation of silver" (_creador de plata_), and appropriating it to the king's use. This put a stop to private enterprise; and, after the Indian war set in, Arazuma became almost a forgotten locality; and in a generation or two afterward, the accounts of its mineral riches began to be discredited.

We have the following record in evidence of the ma.s.ses of silver extracted at Arazuma. Don Domingo Asmendi paid duties on a piece of virgin silver which weighed 275 lbs. The king's attorney (_fiscal_) brought suit for the duties on several other pieces, which together weighed 4033 lbs. Also for the recovery, as a curiosity, and therefore the property of the king, of a certain piece of silver of the weight of 2700 lbs. This is probably the largest piece of pure silver ever found in the world, and yet it was discovered only a few miles distant from the contemplated track of our Pacific Railroad.

I might continue enumerating the instances of mineral wealth brought to light in these two states, Sonora and Chihuahua, if I supposed it would be interesting to my readers; but as they have heard enough of silver, I may add that rich deposits of gold were found at Molatto in 1806, and a still greater discovery of gold was made a few years ago. In this latter discovery, the poor diggers suffered so much from thirst that a dollar was readily paid for a single bucket of water, and at length, by reason of the drought, this rich _placer_ had to be abandoned.

FUTURE OF SONORA.

Such is Sonora, a region of country which combines the rare attractions of the richest silver mines in the world, lying in the midst of the finest agricultural districts, and where the climate is as attractive as its mineral riches. But its richest mineral district is near its northern frontier, and is almost inaccessible, and can never be advantageously worked without an abundant supply of mineral coal for smelting; nor can any of its mines or estates be successfully worked without greater security for life and property than at present exists.

The capitalists of Mexico will not invest their means in developing the resources of Sonora, and in consequence, the finest country in the world is fast receding to a state of nature. I found in the Palace at Mexico a copy of the last report of the Governor of Sonora upon the state of his Department, in which he mentions, among many other causes of its decadence during the last few years, the extensive emigration of its laboring population to California.

Extravagant as are these statements of the mineral riches of Sonora, they probably do not come up to the reality, as the largest of them are founded on the sums reported for taxation at the distant city of Mexico, when it was notorious, as already stated, that a large portion of the silver was fraudulently concealed in order to avoid the taxes.

Such concealment could be successfully carried on in a region so distant and inaccessible as Sonora was in the time of Philip V., for it was in the reign of that idiot king, before the liberal mining-ordinances of Carlos III., that the Sonora mining-fever broke out.