Chapter XXXIV

Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation.--Sonora and its Attractions.--The Abundance and Purity of Silver in Sonora.--Silver found in large Masses.--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 TITLES.

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 principalities, 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 title, 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 surpass 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 illustration 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 ennobled, with the title 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_, entitled 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 massive 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 masses, 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 hoards, 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 constituted 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 embassador. After examining the old records which I have quoted, I have no doubt that the facts surpassed the astonishing report; for in Mexico, the propensity has ever been to conceal rather than over-estimate the quantity 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 masses 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 masses 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.

A hundred years have passed since the once formidable Apaches swept over northern Sonora like a deluge, blotting out forever the hopes which the Spanish court had conceived of retrieving the fallen finances of their empire from this _El Dorado_. But Providence had ordered it otherwise. The Spaniards had done enough to demonstrate its inexhaustible wealth, and then they were driven away from this "creation of silver,"[83] and the whole deposit held for a hundred years in reserve for the uses of another race, who were destined to overrun the continent.

I should have but half performed my task should I omit to speak of the excellent bay and harbor of Guaymas, in the southern part of Sonora. After San Francisco, it is the finest harbor on the Pacific, and is the natural route through which our commerce with the East Indies should be directed. The long experience of Spain taught her that a western route to the East Indies was so much superior to the one by the Cape of Good Hope as to compensate for a transhipment of all of her East India merchandise upon mules' backs from Acapulco to Vera Cruz. Much more advantageous must it be to us, when a railroad from El Paso, passing through the midst of the silver district I have described, shall transfer our commerce with Japan and China to the Pacific side of our continent. Here the very silver necessary for the purchase of tea is nearly as abundant as tin in some of the European mines, and, as in California, the prospects held out to the farmer are equal to mineral attractions.

It would be folly for our government to acquire Sonora without first providing for connecting it with our country by railroad, and equally foolish to acquire it without making provision, in the treaty of acquisition, for reducing all land-titles to the size of a single township, in consideration for the superior value given to the property by the annexation, and for annulling all land-titles under which there is not an actual occupancy. The Spanish courts concede to government this power over private rights, and for this reason a treaty of acquisition from Mexico would prevent the confusion that now exists in California, and enable American settlers to locate understandingly at once. All titles should continue to be subject, as they now are, to the right of the miner to enter in search of precious metals, thus no conflicts in relation to the rights of land-owners and miners could arise. The principle on which the Mexican mining laws and the California mining customs are established should be recognized by the United States. But that right of entry would not arise until the construction of a railroad should afford the means of actually reducing the country to possession, which Spain never has accomplished, and Mexico never can accomplish.

[79] When I was first at the city of Mexico, Governor Letcher
introduced to me a son of the late emperor, who had a claim for
land in California which he had not located before the
annexation. I advised him, without a fee, that our courts did not
recognize foreign "floats," and that, by his own _laches_, he had
lost his claim, which he now spread along the Sacramento River
for 400 miles. Finding out, after an expenditure of several
thousand dollars, the defect, he got a new claim from the late
President Lombardini of thirty miles square, which he will
probably now pin tight in Sonora. The defect of our two last
treaties with Mexico was in not having a clause inserted reducing
all titles to land to six miles square, as a consideration for
the enhanced value by the annexation.

[80] I would not like to make such extravagant statements on my
own authority, however satisfactory the testimony might be to
myself, for the abundance of silver in Sonora is beyond the
belief of most men. But, fortunately, I have, in Ward's "Mexico,"
an authority that can not be disputed. The work is accessible to
all my readers. The author was charged by the British government
with an examination of the mines of Mexico.

[81] Ward, vol. ii. p. 578.

[82] Ibid.

[83] I do not know exactly how to translate the Spanish idea
attached to the words _creador de plata_ unless by saying
that it is a spot where baser substances are supposed to be
converted into silver by some unknown process of nature.