$318,935,554.[1] One single mine, the Valenciana, yielded in less than five years about $14,000,000, and in 1791 as much silver as all the mines of Peru. Although open since the sixteenth century the work had been unprofitable till 1668, when the owners, Obregon, later conde de Valenciana, and Otero, struck a rich vein, which after 1771 gave at times as much as $2,500,000 per annum.[2] During twenty years the ores averaged five ounces of silver to the quintal.
In San Luis Potosí, the veins in the district of Catorce,[3] discovered in 1773, and worked with success since 1778, eclipsed all others, which in that region had acquired fame during the preceding two centuries. One mine alone, belonging to a priest named Flores, yielded, during the first year, 1,600,000 pesos. The product of the whole district, from 1778 till 1810, was estimated at 4,000,000 pesos yearly; and that of the entire intendencia San Luis de Potosi, from 1556 till 1789, at 92,736,294 marks of silver, representing 788,258,212 pesos. Next in importance to the mines of Catorce, were those in the districts of Bolaños and Ramos,[4] which in some years also yielded enormously, and gave weight to the general belief that they were inexhaustible.
A similar view prevailed concerning the third prominent mining region, that of Zacatecas, which,
- ↑ Yield from March 4, 1671, to August 9, 1673, 142,952 marks of silver. Mancera, Instruc. Vireyes, 292-3. From 1766 till 1803, 43,030 marks of gold, and 18,723,537 of silver, worth $165,002,145. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 505, 519. From 1766 till 1808, gold 53,881 marks, and silver 22,631,980 marks. Burkart, Reisen, i. 360. Ward gives the yield from 1796 till 1810 at 8,852,272 marks silver and 27,810 marks gold, which he chooses to value at $79,028,017.
- ↑ Total yield from 1788 till 1808, $29,558,807, netting $11,986,312. Ward, Mex., ii. 140. This differs somewhat from the figures of Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. app. 23-4, which give the total net profit from 1788 till 1797 at $7,949,923. Humboldt, lib. cit. 528-533, makes some interesting observations on the produce and working expenses of the Valenciana and rich European mines.
- ↑ For geologic and general description, see Burkart, Reisen, i. 107 et seq.; Ward, Mex., ii. 464-518. Concerning the origin of the name Catorce, there are two versions, one by Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 22, who applies it as the place of refuge for 14 outlaws; the other, by Iturribarría, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, viii. 307, who attributes it to the murder of 14 soldiers.
- ↑ Ward, Mex., ii. 139, gives statistics which show the product of the Bolaños mines, from 1752 till 1780, to have been 3,702,209 marks silver,
