THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILROAD vs. PANAMA CANAL. 179 



From a National stand-point also the preponderance of. advantage accruing 

 to us as a people, seems scarcely less than the one just considered. That it 

 accords with our policy, as set forth in the Monroe doctrine, to endorse this 

 route, the proposition of one of our citizens and untrammeled by foreign powers, 

 is only one of its many claims to a favorable consideration by Government. It 

 also offers to allow discrimination in favor of American merchandize, with many 

 other liberal concessions. The ease with which it can be defended in case of war 

 is also a not inconsiderable argument in its favor. 



Again, too — the Tehuantepec route is within Mexican territory, which, as the 

 distinguished proposer of this route well says, " Is a powerful and friendly Re- 

 public, whose history has not only pointed out her aversion to European domina- 

 tion, but has shown her ability to deal successfully with an invasion of her 

 territory." Within the boundaries of this Republic we may safely assert that it 

 will be more capable of protection than in the borders of those lesser states, 

 whose changing faith and government is so proverbial. 



So that offered control, ease of defense and in territory both friendly and 

 powerful, form a climax of argument which should neither be ignored nor lightly 

 considered. 



To sum up, in conclusion, we have seen that a Ship Railway \^ feasible, that 

 it is better than a canal, the only other suggested method, that the Tehuantepec 

 route meets these general points, and offers special advantages no less decided, 

 viewed from the time-saving, financial and national stand points. With these 

 proved, are we not justified in pronouncing that the Tehuantepec Ship Railway is 

 the best means of inter-Oceanic transit. 



OLD SPANISH MINES IN NEW MEXICO. 



A. R. GREENE. 



One of the most interesting spots in New Mexico is the old mining camp in 

 the Cerrillos Mountains, located twenty-five miles southwest of Santa Fe. These 

 mountains comprise a group of five peaks that rise to an elevation of from 500 to 

 1,000 feet above the plain, with their surrounding foot hills, in all covering an 

 area of thirty square miles. These mountains contain upward of fifty Spanish 

 mines, abandoned two centuries ago, and many of them scarcely recognizable 

 owing to the efforts of the Pueblo Indians to obliterate all traces of them at the 

 time of the insurrection in 1680. The most interesting of these are the Nina del 

 Tiro and Turquoia mines, a few miles north of Cerrillos station, on the Atchison, 

 Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. The first is a silver mine, and yielded $3,000,- 

 000, according to the records of the Catholic Church, which received tithes of all 

 mines operated at that time. The shaft is an irregular incline, and can be de- 

 scended by ladders to a depth of 120 feet, where further progress is interrupted 

 by water. Its entire depth is unknown, but judging from the amount of debris 

 at the mouth of the mine it must have been at least 200 feet. Attempts to sound 



