from the old dumps in which it had been left owing to the inefficient methods of the Mexicans, and much other ore was obtained from the workings where it had been permitted to remain as being of a grade too low to be treated by the old methods.
At one time there were employed in this camp about 12,000 Mexican miners and mill men. Some of the money paid in wages to these men reached the farmers in the vicinity who raised crops to feed the mining population, and produced a condition of great local agricultural prosperity. This work was suspended when our Government ordered all Americans to leave Mexico and return to the United States, and these thousands of Mexican labourers who were-making a good living and the Mexican farmers, who were furnishing the food for the labourers, have been the greatest sufferers.
Sierra Mojada, State of Coahuila. This important producer of lead silver ores is located in a waterless desert and, contrary to the general rule, was not discovered by the Spaniards. Work upon it was begun in 1880 by a number of Mexican miners and mining companies. The work proceeded with indifferent results due to inefficient smelting methods and lack of transportation until 1890 when American capital built a railroad eighty-five miles in length connecting the camp with the main line of the Mexican Central Railway, thus affording an outlet for the ores which, because of
