29 



and one with 100 tons. The first plant is located in the outskirts of 

 the city of Monterey, has ten furnaces of the water-jacket system, and 

 seven smelting furnaces for lead ore. From July, 1892, to June, 1896, 

 this plant has smelted 521,809 and 769/1000 metric tons of ore, yield- 

 ing 78,067 and 141/1000 tons of lead, with 515,382 kilograms of silver, 

 with a value of $21,824,597.93, having used foreign coke to the value 

 of $1,474,385.81, and Mexican coke to the value of $73,268.08. 



Central Mexican Smelter. The second smelter of the Guggenheim 

 Company is located at Aguascalientes. It has a department for con- 

 centrating copper ores, one for smelting the same ores, consisting of 

 three furnaces, and another with four furnaces for smelting lead ores. 

 This plant smelted from the 26th of December, 1895, 606 and 190/1000 

 tons of lead, containing 6502 kilograms of silver and 28 and 71/100 

 kilograms of gold, with a value of $341,091. 



Velardena Mining Company. This company, whose president is Mr. 

 Edward W. Nash, obtained a charter from the Mexican Government 

 on May 15, 1893, for the construction of two smelting plants in Mexico, 

 with a capacity of 200 tons a day each. From November 30, 1893, to 

 June 30, 1896, this plant smelted 110,000 tons of ore, yielding 9069 

 and 680/1000 tons of lead containing 1,850,685 troy ounces of silver 

 and 6192 ounces of gold. 



The Chihuahua Mining Company. This company, whose president 

 is Mr. John B. Shaw, obtained a charter from the Mexican Govern- 

 ment May 26, 1893, and is located near the city of Chihuahua. Up to 

 July 28, 1896, it had smelted 28,555 tons f l ea d r e, yielding 3761 

 tons of lead and 529,450 troy ounces of silver. 



The Mazapil Copper Company, Limited. This company established 

 a plant at Concepcion del Oro, Zacatecas, and has smelted 5000 tons 

 of lead ore containing silver. 



Sabinal Mining and Smelting Company, Chihuahua. This company 

 owns the mines of Santa Juliana and Santa Inez, which yield 30 per 

 cent, of lead, with a mixture of silver, and smelts their ore, notwith- 

 standing that the cost of a ton of coke amounts to $37.50. 



La Preciosa. A smelter under that name has been established at 

 Tepeyahualco, State of Puebla, but I do not have any data about the 

 company owning it, and the date of its contract with the Mexican 

 Government, nor the amount of ore smelted there. 



The Boleo Smelter. I have already spoken of this plant, which 

 smelts copper ores at Santa Rosalia, Lower California. 



OROGRAPHY. 



Mexico is traversed by two cordilleras or high ranges of mountains 

 running almost parallel to the coast, one along the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the other along the Pacific Ocean. The former runs from ten to 



