since its discovery in the middle of the sixteenth century, had always offered a vast field to enterprising persons.[1] That it was not unfounded becomes evident from the estimated production for one hundred and eighty years, till 1732, which is placed at $832,232,880. After this period the yield increased, and in 1808 Zacatecas furnished nearly as much silver as Guanajuato.[2] The principal vein, the Veta Grande, gave in eighteen years, from 1790 till 1808, 1,293,463 marks of silver, valued at $11,317,792.[3] The exploitation of mines in the district of Sombrerete was for a time equally successful, the celebrated Veta Negra there having produced within six months more than 700,000 marks of silver, and about four million pesos of net profits. To this period probably belongs the story that a rich miner of Zacatecas on the occasion of his daughter's wedding had the streets paved with bricks of silver, from his house to the church.[4]
In the northern provinces of Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua, though most of them were supposed to be equal if not superior in mineral wealth to the other districts, mining was conducted on a smaller scale.[5] The reasons must be attributed to
- ↑ The geological feature of Zacatecas is described in full by Berghes, Descripcion de la Serrania de Zacatecas, 1-39. See also Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 534-6, where some peculiarities of that region, as compared with others, are minutely given; Laet, Novus Orbis, 288; Ward, Mex., ii. 519-48, 612-18.
- ↑ In 1728 the aggregate product amounted to $1,800,000, or one fifth of all the silver then coined. Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 100-1. Humboldt estimated in 1803 the average yield at 402,000 marks silver. Essai Pol., ii. 535. Arlegui, Hist. Chron. Zac., 74, makes the startling assertion that the Pabellon mine gave during five years, $20,000 daily.
- ↑ The product from 1795 till 1808 is given by Burkhart, Reisen, ii. 74, at 1,072,656 marks silver. Ward, Mex., ii. 44, for the same period, makes it 1,146,393 marks.
- ↑ Santos Chronología, ii. 464. The same author adds that some time after the miner died in poverty.
- ↑ In the mines of Batopilas in Durango pieces of pure silver 400 pounds in weight were found on several occasions. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 509. The mines of Sinaloa were not discovered till 1753. Castro, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. iv. 161-2. In the beginning of this century the entire yield of gold in Sonora was estimated by Humboldt at 7,000 marks. The same author refutes the supposition that platina existed in that province;
worth $30,543,720. During the preceding period, from 1646 to 1752, the annual yield has been estimated at from three and a half to four million pesos. The ores of the Ramos mines gave after 1798 frequently 14 ounces silver to the quintal. Burkart, Reisen, ii. 121.
