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MINTS AND COINAGE.

517

Pueblo and Hidalgo;^[1] petroleum in Puerto Ángel of Oajaca; naphtha in Guadalupe Hidalgo of the federal district.^[2]

The government, with a view of obtaining full as well as reliable information on the hitherto hidden wealth of the country, appointed exploring commissions, and increased their number as far as the condition of the public treasury permitted it. Among the commissions a number were instructed to study the mining branch, two being sent to Michoacan, one to Guerrero, one to the states of Oajaca and Puebla, and one to the Huastecas. The special object of the last two was to survey and make a study of the carboniferous deposits. Some of the commissions rendered their reports between 1878 and 1882.^[3]

The rapid increase of mining products, and the great distance of the mines from the mint at Mexico,

↑ No knowledge existed of coal-beds in Mexican till 1854, when the first petition for a grant was presented to the government. Méx., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1884, i. 626 et seg.
↑ Busto, Estadíst. Rep. Mex., ii. 2d pt, 6-11. Further information in Ramirez, Riqueza Min. Mex., 147-92; Diaz, Biog., MS., 474-6; Frisbie's Reminisc., MS., 39; Oaj., Mem., 1858, 22-3; 1861, 64; Escobedo, Mem., 14-15, and docs. 20-2; Perez, Dicc. Geog., ii. 224-57, 302–6; Del Mar's Precious Metals, 151–2; Wyllie's Mex. Rept Finances, 10-12; Mex., Diario Ofic., Feb. 15 to Nov. 20, 1875, passim; Jan. 28, March 13, May 7, Sept. 13, 1876; Caballero, Alm. Hist., 145-55; Chimalpopoca, Informe Min. Comanja, 1-40; Gonzalez, Hist. Est. Aguascal., 3-4, 9, 471-86; Mex., Anales Fomento, 1880, ii. 331-404, 633-87; 1881, v. 293–609; Robertson's Handbook, 7-8, 55, 61-80; Mex., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1882, i. 447-637. The largest producers of pure silver in the fiscal year 1878-9 were the states of Zacatecas, 117.417,861 kilogr.; Guanajuato, 105.311,621 kilogr.; Hidalgo, 95.501,983 kilogr.; San Luis Potosí, 67.838,861 kilogr.; Jalisco, 34.222,216 kilogr.; Sonora, 32.917.049 kilogr.; Durango, 28.534,697 kilogr.; and Chihuahua, 27.925,958 kilogr. Sinaloa, Mexico, Michoacan, Oajaca, Guerrero, and Querétaro ranged from 11.705,015 to 230.72, The different systems employed yielded the following results: patio or amalgamation, 306.284,317 kilogr.; tonel, 24.503,843 kilogr.; lixiviation, 16.107,771 kilogr.; and smelting, 142.224,667 kilogr.
↑ The commission in charge of Santiago Ramirez, intrusted with the exploration of Oajaca and Puebla, reported the results obtained in the districts of Matamoros, Acatlan, and Chiautla, in Puebla. It was also incidentally directed to explore the carboniferous deposits of the state of Tlascala, those of Tlaquiltenango in Morelos, Huetamo in Michoacan, Actopan in Vera Cruz, and to make a study of the coal of Tlaxiaco in Oajaca. The reports were published in the Anales de la Secretaría de Fomento. The two commissions despatched to Michoacan, besides procuring the discovery and examination of the coal-beds, were to study the metal deposits. Manuel Urquiza, the chief of one of them, made a report full of scientific and industrial data, which the governinent ordered published in the 7th vol. of the aforementioned Anales. Mex., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1884, i. 451-637.

[1] No knowledge existed of coal-beds in Mexican till 1854, when the first petition for a grant was presented to the government. Méx., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1884, i. 626 et seg.

[2] Busto, Estadíst. Rep. Mex., ii. 2d pt, 6-11. Further information in Ramirez, Riqueza Min. Mex., 147-92; Diaz, Biog., MS., 474-6; Frisbie's Reminisc., MS., 39; Oaj., Mem., 1858, 22-3; 1861, 64; Escobedo, Mem., 14-15, and docs. 20-2; Perez, Dicc. Geog., ii. 224-57, 302–6; Del Mar's Precious Metals, 151–2; Wyllie's Mex. Rept Finances, 10-12; Mex., Diario Ofic., Feb. 15 to Nov. 20, 1875, passim; Jan. 28, March 13, May 7, Sept. 13, 1876; Caballero, Alm. Hist., 145-55; Chimalpopoca, Informe Min. Comanja, 1-40; Gonzalez, Hist. Est. Aguascal., 3-4, 9, 471-86; Mex., Anales Fomento, 1880, ii. 331-404, 633-87; 1881, v. 293–609; Robertson's Handbook, 7-8, 55, 61-80; Mex., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1882, i. 447-637. The largest producers of pure silver in the fiscal year 1878-9 were the states of Zacatecas, 117.417,861 kilogr.; Guanajuato, 105.311,621 kilogr.; Hidalgo, 95.501,983 kilogr.; San Luis Potosí, 67.838,861 kilogr.; Jalisco, 34.222,216 kilogr.; Sonora, 32.917.049 kilogr.; Durango, 28.534,697 kilogr.; and Chihuahua, 27.925,958 kilogr. Sinaloa, Mexico, Michoacan, Oajaca, Guerrero, and Querétaro ranged from 11.705,015 to 230.72, The different systems employed yielded the following results: patio or amalgamation, 306.284,317 kilogr.; tonel, 24.503,843 kilogr.; lixiviation, 16.107,771 kilogr.; and smelting, 142.224,667 kilogr.

[3] The commission in charge of Santiago Ramirez, intrusted with the exploration of Oajaca and Puebla, reported the results obtained in the districts of Matamoros, Acatlan, and Chiautla, in Puebla. It was also incidentally directed to explore the carboniferous deposits of the state of Tlascala, those of Tlaquiltenango in Morelos, Huetamo in Michoacan, Actopan in Vera Cruz, and to make a study of the coal of Tlaxiaco in Oajaca. The reports were published in the Anales de la Secretaría de Fomento. The two commissions despatched to Michoacan, besides procuring the discovery and examination of the coal-beds, were to study the metal deposits. Manuel Urquiza, the chief of one of them, made a report full of scientific and industrial data, which the governinent ordered published in the 7th vol. of the aforementioned Anales. Mex., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1884, i. 451-637.

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