84 



FAMILIES ENRICHED. 



shares, which originally cost $22,800, were still held by Spaniards 

 and Mexicans. These mines were originally wrought by the state 

 of Zacatecas ; but, in 1836, Santa Anna took possession, by an 

 alleged right of conquest, and rented them for twelve years, to the 

 successful company. In the first half year of 1841, they produced 

 $1,025,113, at a cost of $761,800, or a clear profit of $263,313. 



Mexico, under the colonial system with the immense product of 

 her mines, and notwithstanding the richness of her soil for agricul- 

 tural purposes, became almost entirely a silver producing country. 

 The policy of Spain was, as we have already often stated, to be 

 the workshop of the New World, while Mexico and Peru were the 

 treasures of the Old. The consequence of this was natural. 

 Mexico, one of the finest agricultural and grazing lands in the 

 world, but with no temptations to export her natural products, as 

 she had no markets for them elsewhere, and no roads, canals, or 

 rivers to convey her products to seaports for shipment even if she 

 had possessed consumers in Europe, at once devoted herself to her 

 mines which were to be both wealth and the representatives of 

 wealth. Her agriculture, accordingly, assumed the standard of the 

 mere national home consumption, while the pastoral and horticul- 

 tural interests followed the same line, except perhaps, within late 

 years in California, where a profitable trade was carried on by the 

 missions in hides and tallow. From this restrictive law of expor- 

 tation we of course except vainilla, cochineal and a few other minor 

 articles. 



The sources of the wealth of the principal families of Mexico 

 will consequently be found in her mines, and an interesting sum- 

 mary of this aristocracy is given by Mr. Ward in his Mexico in 

 1827," to prove the fact. The family of Regla, which possessed 

 large estates in various parts of the country, purchased the whole 

 of them with the proceeds of the mines of Real del Monte. The 

 wealth of the Fagoagas was derived from the great Bonanza of the 

 Pavellon at Sombrerete. The mines of Balanos founded the Viban- 

 cos. Valenciana, Ruhl, Perez-Galvez, and Otero, are all indebted 

 for their possessions to the mines of Valenciana and Villalpando, 

 at Guanajuato. The family of Sardaneta, — formerly Marqueses 

 de Rayas, — took its rise from the mine of that name. Cata and 

 Mellado enriched their original proprietor, Don Francisco Matias 

 de Busto, Marquis of San Clemente. The three successive for- 

 tunes of the celebrated Laborde, of whom we shall speak hereafter 

 when we describe Cuernavaca, were derived from the mines of 



