A MEXICAN HACIENDA 



577 



tanks throughout the dry season. If the 

 tanks are located in the vicinity of steep 

 drainage areas, they are likely to become 

 silted up in a few years, thus necessitat- 

 ing an increase in the height of the dam 

 or the selection of another site for a new 

 one. 



MINING PROPERTIES OP GREAT VAPUE 



Many of the haciendas are mining 

 properties of great value. Copper, silver, 

 and lead are the most abundant products. 

 The mountains of the region are richly 

 mineralized, and here and there on a high 

 crest may be seen the outward evidence 

 of the more or less extensive operations 

 going on within the mountain. Some of 

 these mines were worked by the early 

 Spaniards and are still productive. On 

 the Naranjera property, at San Pedro 

 Ocampo, the hill is honeycombed with 

 pits and galleries from which in the early 

 days ore was taken without science or 

 system, except as the richness of the rock 

 indicated the most profitable direction for 

 the expenditure of effort. The work is 

 now carried on under modern methods. 



In the village of Cedros stands an old 

 smelter, typical of the methods formerly 

 in use. It was built of adobe and the 

 fuel used was charcoal, probably pro- 

 duced at Mazapil. Huge piles containing 

 a half million tons of slag are close at 

 hand, and contain, it is said, precious 

 metals abundantly sufficient for a re- 

 smelting, so crude was the process then 

 employed. The plant was also equipped 

 for crushing the ore, as indicated by the 

 presence of two large overshot wheels, 

 supplied with water from the hillsides by 

 means of a high aqueduct, the arches of 

 which are still standing. 



The ore was brought for miles on the 

 backs of burros or in carts from the 150 

 mines formerly in operation on the haci- 

 enda. As no mines of any consequence, 

 however, occur within 10 miles of this 

 site the amount of labor involved in these 

 operations was enormous. 



On the opposite side of the village is 

 a large inclosure, with extensive build- 

 ings, concerned with mining operations 

 of a different sort. Though long in dis- 

 use, some of the old arrastras, or rude 

 mills of stone for crushing ore, still 



stand, and the paved court and the old 

 furnaces bear witness to the extraction 

 of silver in former days. 



EXTRACTING SIPVER 



An early traveler in Mexico cites the 

 method then in use as involving first a 

 thorough crushing of the ore by means 

 of a heavy rolling stone, water being 

 added in the meantime to form a thick 

 paste. The paste was finally removed to 

 an open square and deposited in circular 

 beds about 10 feet in diameter. Salt or 

 salt earth was then sprinkled over it, 

 with a little pulverized pine bark or ma- 

 nure, and it was then thoroughly mixed 

 by treading with horses or mules and al- 

 lowed to stand three or four days. It 

 then received a mixture of magistral and 

 quicksilver in considerable quantities, 

 was trampled as before, left for a day 

 and trampled again, and so on from day 

 to day until the metals were fully amal- 

 gamated. The mass was then trans- 

 ferred to an elevated vat and the water 

 drained off. Water was afterward added 

 in large quantities and the whole mixed 

 until the amalgam settled, when it was 

 filtered through canvas and made into 

 triangular bricks, which were set up with 

 spaces between under a copper bell. 

 Charcoal was then heaped upon the bell 

 and ignited. After 12 hours of heating 

 the mercury and silver were separated 

 and the latter removed pure. 



PIBER PPANTS 



But Cedros is no longer a mining haci- 

 enda. Other interests have superseded, 

 and in late years the Campania Ganadera 

 y Textil de Cedros represented stock and 

 fiber as its chief sources of revenue. 

 Fiber-bearing plants are one of the nat- 

 ural resources of the country, and the 

 amount of fiber shipped from this haci- 

 enda alone amounts to over 90 tons an- 

 nually. 



Two kinds of fiber are produced in 

 large quantities. One is from the leaves 

 of a yucca-like tree commonly called by 

 the natives palma, and the other goes 

 usually by the name lechuguilla, and is 

 derived from a small relative of the 

 century plant, exceedingly abundant 

 throughout the northern half of the Re- 



