Page:Memoir of a tour to northern Mexico.djvu/32

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I am sorry that I have no wash-gold from old Placer at hand for a comparative analysis, but the above mentioned result shows that if any difference exists between the two ores, it cannot be considerable.

Two gold mines are worked at this time in new Placer; one by Mexicans; the other by an American. They are said to be very similar to each other. I visited but the nearest, belonging to Mr. Campbell, an American resident of new Placer. Mr. Campbell commenced mining only a short time since. His amalgamation mill was not yet in operation; but he had already collected heaps of gold ores, and invited me to see the mine that he had opened. It lies about one and a half mile southwest from the town, near the top of a high mountain, to which a rough and steep road leads, accessible only to pack-mules. The gold mine is found, as in old Placer, in sienite and greenstone; it runs horizontally from east to west: the gang is iron ochre and crystallized quartz. The vein was from eight to ten feet wide, and explored only to the length of about 20 feet, and to the depth of about 10 feet. The ore seems to be very rich in gold, and the prospects it offers to Mr. Campbell are certainly very flattering.

The new Placer adds to the attraction of the gold ores, which seem to be found in this whole range of mountains, that of a better situation as a town than old Placer, and of more passable roads. But many other mining places will no doubt spring up in this neighborhood as soon as the state of the country allows it. Up to this time many causes have existed to prevent rather than to encourage mining enterprise. Though the law in New Mexico was generally very liberal in granting lots for mining, the instability of Mexican laws, and their arbitrary administration, have neutralized and annihilated it. When a New Mexican wants to work a gold or other mine, not yet occupied by another, he has to apply to the nearest alcalde; (justice of peace of the district,) who, according to the means and intended work of the individual, allows him a smaller or larger tract of land, measured only in front, and reaching in depth as far as the owner pleases to go. The price of the land is trifling; but if the owner does not work a certain portion of the mine every year, it falls back to the government. Foreigners were, in consequence of the eternal revolutions and new law-codes in Mexico, sometimes excluded, sometimes allowed to participate in this privilege. By taking a Mexican as partner, they obviated the law; but the most dangerous enemy was generally the avaricious Mexican government itself. Often when a foreigner had opened a profitable mine, those trustees of justice interfered for some reason or other, and ejected the owner of the property. Several instances of such proceedings are known. If we add to these causes the isolated situation of New Mexico, the thin population, the want of good mechanics and real miners, the hostilities and depredations of Indians, it will not astonish us at all, that notwithstanding the great mineral resources of the country, so few mines are worked at present.

The annual production of gold in the two Placers seems to vary