Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/382

314 residence of the priest Hidalgo, under whose auspices the revolutionary movement against Spain originated.

The mineral products of this State have been and still continue very valuable. The chief silver mines are those of Guanajuato, Villalpando, Monte de San Nicolas, Santa Rosa, Santa Anna, S. Antonio de las Minas, Comanja, El Capulin, Comangilla, San Luis de la Paz, San Rafael de los Lobos, El Duranzo, San Juan de la Chica, Rincon de Zenteno, San Pedro de los Pozos, El Palmar de la Viga, San Miguel y San Felipé. All these mines and mineral districts recognize the jurisdiction of the Deputacion de Mineria de Guanajuato, although some of them lie out of the immediate boundaries of the State.

Besides the silver yielded at these places, copper and iron are produced by some of them; and at El Gigante cinnabar has been discovered disseminated among other substances. Lead is taken abundantly from the mine of La Targea; but the mining operations of the State are chiefly confined to silver.

In the southern part of the State large quantities of soda are found near Celaya, Salamanca and Valle de Santiago; and in the north, in the vicinity of San Felipé, the earth is impregnated, in many places, with nitrate of potash or nitre. Mineral waters and thermal springs exist on the southern slope of the Cerro del Cubilete, near Silao, and are used by invalids; while in the jurisdictions of Leon, near Irapuato or San Miguel Allende and Celaya, other warm and sulphur springs are found which are beneficially frequented by persons who suffer from rheumatism and cutaneous diseases.

This rich metallic region and State lies between the 21st and 25th degrees of north latitude and 102½ and 105½ west longitude from Paris. It is bounded on the north by Durango and Nuevo Leon on the east by San Luis Potosi; on the south-east by Guanajuato; and on the west and south-west by Jalisco. Its greatest breadth, from Sombrereté to Real del Ramos, in the State of San Luis, is fifty-seven leagues, and its extreme length is 90. The superficial area of the State is reckoned at 2,355 square leagues.

Zacatécas is a mountain country of the high pleateau of Mexico, cut up by spurs of the Cordillera and inhospitably arid. The region between Catorcé in San Luis Potosi, and Sombrereté and Mazapil in Zacatécas is a broad plain, interspersed by a few