CHAPTER XI
MINING AND COMMERCIAL MEXICO
Mining is by far the most important industry in the Mexican Republic, and vast sums have been expended upon the opening up of territories which seemed to offer the probability of a rich harvest in precious metals. It is estimated that nearly £13,000,000 has been sunk in capital in gold-, silver-, and copper-bearing property.
The Spanish conquistadores, eager for gold, merely followed the primitive methods of the Aztecs in their mining operations. But, later, mining was undertaken more intelligently. It was found that the Northern territories of "New Spain" were richer in gold and silver than the Southern. But only the richest ores could as yet be treated, so backward was mining science. In 1548 the famous silver lodes of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi were discovered, and, later, those of Pachuca and Guanajuato. In 1557 a miner of Pachuca, one Bartolome de Medina, discovered the amalgamation process of extracting gold and silver with the aid of quicksilver, an invention of vast importance to the industry of mining. Bodies of ore which before had been regarded as not worth the trouble of working were speedily developed, and within five years Zacatecas alone had thirty-five reduction works. The most remarkable progress in gold and silver mining occurred during the latter half of the eighteenth century, under the auspices of a board formed by representative miners for mutual aid and protection, and authorised to maintain its own bank, college, and tribunal, the last with privileges almost as exclusive as those of the Army and clergy. The consequence was a large increase of production, reaching at the beginning of the present century an average of £5,000,000 a year. To this a certain percentage must be
