Show AMERICAN TO STU STUDY ly RICHEST OF minesa MINES mexican wealth producer over years old washington the mines which gave their wealth of 0 gold and silver to tile lie tolteca of mexico when the spanish conquistadores discovered them years ago and which have produced unceasingly since will be included in a mineralogical survey on which a geologist left washington recently dr W F Fos liag assistant curator of mineralogy and petrology in the national museum under the will make the survey under the auspices of thi the institution and of the mineralogical department of harvard university ile he will go to chihuahua durango and cochulla coahulla Coa hulla huila and other important mining regions of northern mexico exico I as time permits in spite of the great age of and great wealth produced by medicos cos mines no one has ever described the mineralogy or geology of the region even collections are rare doctor foshag will help to remedy this lack richest in world the richest silver mines in the world are at 12 hours by rail from mexico city in historical times it has produced nearly a billion dollars worth of metal the comstock lode in nevada which was the richest deposit in the united states produced in the 30 years of operation the great main shaft upon the veta madre vein at guanajuato la Is one of the mining wonders of the world it Is 30 feet in it diameter and 1700 feet deep to the depth of feet it IF Is lined with masonry but for the remainder of the distance the rocks are firm farm and do not require timbering or masonry the reason for the great width Is to permit eight or more windlasses wind lasses to be worked at once until comparatively recent years these great mines had no machinery even the water was baled out of the shafts in cattle skins to be dumped production has therefore been slow which accounts for the long centuries of operation discovered by convicts convict two escaped convicts discovered the santa eulaila mines in the mountains south of chihuahua where doctor foshag will go farst in 1703 not daring to return to civilization they sent indian carriers to a priest with the request that he intercede with the government in their behalf they the promised that it if allowed to go unmolested they would build the finest cathedral in the western hemisphere the bargain was struck and hua bua cathedral Is the result admittedly one of tile finest specimens of spanish american architecture in existence doctor foshag has an invitation from the governor of durango to make his survey of that state and has been promised aid in getting collections and information ne ile will inspect particularly ticul arly the large gold silver copper and iron mines and possibly the opal and tin mines studying modes of occurrence of the ores minerals in the ores and it if possible how they were formed |