21 



Coinage of the Precious Metals. Mexico has produced about one- 

 half of the silver supply of the world. In the statistical portion of this 

 paper I shall give full details of the production of gold and silver in 

 Mexico, coinage, etc., and here I will only append the total coinage of 

 gold and silver according to official statistics of the Mexican Govern- 

 ment, which is the following : 



COINAGE OF MEXICO FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MINTS IN 

 I 537 TO THE EN]D OF THE FISCAL YEAR OF 1896. 



SUMMARY. 



Colonial Epoch .. .1537 to 1821 $2,151,581,960 



Independence 1822 to 1873 809,655,251 



Republic 1873 to 1896 569,346,066 



Total $3,530,583,277 



Iron. Iron, the most useful of all the metals, is found in such vast 

 abundance in Mexico that, could it be even partially utilized, that Re- 

 public would become one of the wealthiest of modern communities. 

 One of the largest mines was discovered by Gines Vazquez del Mer- 

 cado, in Durango, in 1562, and its appellation of " Cerro del Mercado" 

 still preserves his name. The hill, which is 4800 feet long by uoo feet 

 in width and 640 feet in height, is almost a solid mass of mineral, aver- 

 aging about seventy per cent, of metal and from which could be ex- 

 tracted more than 300,000,000 tons of solid ore ; this only to the level of 

 the plain, beneath which it probably extends to an unknown depth. 



The iron is also magnetic to a high degree and its power is greater 

 when the grain is fine. This may delay fusion, but the result is an ex- 

 cellent wrought iron, with none of the inconveniences caused by earthy 

 substances mixed with the iron. I have no doubt that when the coal 

 mines are developed the iron industry will make great strides and 

 that we will be able to manufacture most of at least the low grades of 

 the iron goods required for our comsumption. In several other places 

 besides our Iron Mountain we have iron with very little phosphorus, 

 which makes first-class steel and is as good as the best produced in 

 Cuba or Spain. 



