Show GUfflAS MEXICO A Land Abounding in Precious Minerals SOME INTERESTING HISTORY The lower California Gold ExclteentTe Introduction of American Customs Introducton Amer Into Sonora Eto I GCAYMAS Mex Oct 2 18S9lSpeci Correspondence of Tlc HEIIALD Soneras mineral resources are excelled by 1 those otnostate in the Mexican republic there being within its limits no fewer than five thousand registered mines of silver alone and copper are also abundant coal is known t exist andead tin iron and plumbago are found in various places Severalcopper mines of considerable value lyingidle for WAST OP CHEAP TKA SPCETATIOX they being situated from two to two hundred hun-dred and fifty miles distant from the coat and far from any lineof railroad One of the most important of the several coal deposits in the state lies on the Yaqui river 250 miles above its mouth and more than a hundred miles distant from Guaymas I is anthracite of fair quality the only anthracite an-thracite known anywhere on the Pacific coast and therefore very valuable The valley containing It is about two thousand feet above sea level and perfectly easy of access but it costs upwards of 30 perton t transport ito Guaymas the nearest port by the pr sent rods while to attempt it by the river with its succession of shallows and rapids and low water moro than half the year would be uncertain it best and even more unprofitable There are two mints 1 the state esta fished and owned by English residentsun dernprivilege from the goverment one at Hormosillo the state capital and the other at Alamos 43 miles southeast of qUi man masOne One CAXsror AcatauB ABSOLUTE TITLE t mining property here as in the United States but may nominally own the mine as long as he works it a given number of months in every year a wise provision I probably t keep things feoing among so I lazy a people I the theoretical ccwne fails tocomply with these comlitions n matter how much he may have paid for the property or how many improvements he has previously made upon itit can be de nounoed as the teriii is and reverts noulo verts in that case to the government or to the dcnOnncsrs For those who are in this secret however and in favor with the powers thatbe there is a way of ting arpunt all th by means of which actual labor in the mines can b dispensed with and the over still retain possession by obtaining ob-taining what is called a prologue pay tag a specified sum to the government say S per month 01 each claim during the When time comprehended in theprologue THE CHEAT GOLD EXCITEMENT broke out at Muleje just across the gulf from Guaymas near the eastern coast of the Mexican territory of Lower California it was felt here more than on > the peninsula penin-sula where the bonanza was said to exist A Mexican brought over about fort ounces of coarse gold which he says was taken out by three Indians in less than a week I had the pleasure of seing this gold the largest nugget of which weighed exactly ex-actly fifteen ounces the next largest piece about half that size and the Others about as large as good fat peas I wss indeed a sight calculated t set people wild with thoughts of such treasures lying around loose on the top of the earth waiting only t be picked up Parties were immediately organized to invade the newEl new-El Dorado with pas and shovels tho main expedition and the very first to sail consisting con-sisting of twentvliveminers of Tombstone ntheminersoTombstone Arizona headed by a womanthe same who made herself notorious a few year earlier by heading a party on snowshoes ito the Prazer river country What became be-came of THIS ESTcismisixo AMAZON whose character of course was not even questionable nobody seems to know but doubt ss like others df the genus miner she is still searching somewhere for treasure with speculation in her eye and the gold fever burning unquenchably in her veins The party however sent back word t their friends not to follow until further word vas received there being a suspicion that a trick had been played and a false excitement created for the sake of getting up a boom for that section of country No word ever came hack and therein still a great diversity of opinion on the subject as to whether the parties aforesaid failed to find the locality or found so good a field that they concluded to keep it t themselves After time the state of Sonora laid claims to the territory and sent surveying parties ties which would indicate that the government govern-ment possessed some favorable information concerning i The placers are said to be located between the filth and 29th degrees of latitude about thirty miles from the coast It is also asserted that there is MO WATER ANYWHERE near there but if the gold abounds in nuggets nug-gets as large as those I have seen a man could carry enough water to sustain life vhile picking up a fortune with his fingers without the trouble of washing it By the way if we may be permitted to digressa most interesting discovery has recently been made a little way northeast I from here in an old Spanish mine in ChiI huaha on an immense estate owned by parties in New York and El Paso The nine which is called the San Pedro St Peter lies near the Casa Grande river and on it is an old incline running into a mountain at an angle of fortyfive degrees evidently following the richest ore streak In a zigzag zig-zag manner At the end of this incline a iubterranedn chamber was found which had evidently been fashioned with great labor and care into a Catholic ctlaDel The I chamber is thirty feet square and about twenty feet high Seats running entirely around it have been cut from the solid rock and an altar and oulpit have also been carved out of THE FOUNDATION OF TlC ETERNAL HILLS Standing in this weird and ancient sanctuary in total darkness except for the flickering light of a torch with ears alert to certain scamperings and rustlings and idings in moldy corner and upon the slimy walls indicating the presence of rats lizzards scorpions centipedes and erhapspoisonous serpents one thinks of the Huguenots the persecuted followers of Christ in many countries and the mysteries of a religion that has cost millions of lives in innumerable wars and pain and torture and terror enough to win heavens favor for all the tribes of earth from its creation I t the end A tradition exists among the natives of the neighborhood that many years ago a regiment of Spanish cavalry was stationed sta-tioned at the presidio of Janos twentyfive miles distant from the mines and that a pious Indian at the confessional disclosed the secret of the mine to the priest who had spiritual charge of the regiment This man of God went into partnership with the colonel and they detailed the soldiers of the command TO WORK TIC SjINES which were found to be exceedingly rich After a time complaints were made about this enforced labor at headquarters in Spain and the colonel was called home to answer the chargenot so much for having made his men work beyond their proper business as for having appiopriated to himself him-self what rightfully belonged to the Spanish Span-ish crown The Spaniards however arranged ar-ranged among themselves somehow so I that the priest and the colonel divided between be-tween themselves tho treasure already eel lected the colonels share alone being I sufficient to load eighty mules which I he took across the country to Vera Cruz and there shipped for Spain while I the Spanish government gobbled all the rest t the entire exclusion ofthe Indians who were the rightful owners They compelled com-pelled thelatter t spend their lives ia the mine taking out treasure for th conquerors ors unpaid poorly fed and worked t the utmost limit of human endurance but THESE MONSTERS OF PIETT consoled their victims with the comforts of religion and built this sanctuary in the darkness wherein they might thank God for their condition No richer field for exploration n and investigation can be found anywhere inNorth America than the country coun-try to theCasa Grande and Sank Maria rivers Prehistoric ruins abound many of them traceable the ancient Aztecs Az-tecs and the tribe thatpreceded them many antedating any authentjcr cords and everywhere are objects of deepest interes t the archaeologist and the naturalist To return t Sonora There are three weekly papers issued in the state beside the official organ of the government in which both state and federal laws are published pub-lished The chief agricultural pi oducts are wheat corn and beans There is on cotton mill in the state of 70 looms which consumes the entire cotton crop in the manufacture of manta a sort of coarse sheeting A coarse kind of dark sugar is made from Sonora cane but not lnough for home consumption Abouftwothirc of from all the sugar used in the state comes TiE SOl I COAST DF MEXICO and a Ito from e United States Cattle form an import t item jot Soneras exports ex-ports The best lands are those in the Yaqui and Mayo valleys the area of which exceeds five hundred thousand acreswell adapted to the growth of cotton and sugar cane The climate and soil are also well adapted to orange culture and many young groves are now to be seen in southern So noT Tho northern part of the state is fit for little but cattle raising the country being covered with nutritious nu-tritious grasses American agricultural implements are at last coming into general use here entirely changing the ocharacter of the farming The forked stick the clumsy sickle and the flour mills of water and mule power giving way to the modern plow thereaper and wheels propelled by steam with most profitable pro-fitable results The railroad now brings t Guaymus 1 daily mal from the UnitedStates There I is a semiweekly mal brought on bore back from below as the southern cast is called and there is also ir i regular communication of the sam kind with all towns of importance in the state Ocean steamers bring monthl budgets down from San Francisco and semimonthly mails are brought up from the coast ports by other vessels The Sonora So-nora railway running daily trains throughout out the year gives quick and regular communication com-munication gves the United States both east and west This road and its connections connec-tions have brought Guaymas in the northwestern north-western corner of the republic within four days travel of Mexico city instead of thirty days as formerly by stage and horseback and within six das of New York FANNIE B WARD |