Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/408

336 to the last mentioned period, Chihuahua was divided into the partidos of Aldama, Allende, Balleza, Batopilas, Concepcion, Cosihuiriachi, Galeana, Hidalgo, Jimenez, Paso, and Rosales, formerly Tapacolmes.

Nature has endowed Chihuahua with a pleasant and temperate climate and a fertile soil, which is said by those who are best acquainted with the State to be capable of producing abundantly, if the county is ever freed from savage inroads and filled with an industrious population of agriculturists. The forests, the streams, the valleys and the plains, all yield their tributes of valuable articles of trade. Vast herds of cattle are fed upon the large haciendas de ganado; and the mountains are veined with the precious deposits which form the wealth of so many other Mexican States. The prompt settlement of the frontier, and the security of its inhabitants against the Indians, under the protection of armed forces by the conterminous Republics, seem to be all that is requisite for the development of the fine natural resources of this hitherto neglected State.

Field and garden cultivation is not much attended to by the present inhabitants; but wherever farming operations are carried on in suitable spots, corn, wheat, barley, frijoles, and all the finest fruits, plants and vegetables, are found to repay bountifully the husband man's labor. Even indigo and cotton are found growing wild in some of the districts, notwithstanding the proximity of the mountain region, and the bleaker exposure of the soil.

At El Paso del Norte, the right bank of the Rio Grande, is covered for a distance of seven leagues with excellent vineyards, whose capital fruit produces an abundance of wine, which is greedily purchased in the markets of the adjacent States. In the neighborhood of Aldama, Allende, and of many other towns, the grape is also successfully cultivated, and the liquor produced is highly esteemed by competent judges. But the chief sources of the present prosperity of Chihuahua are its mines and cattle. The best data in our possession assign to this State 56 large estates, upon all of which about 70,000 horses, 190,000 horned cattle, and 550,000 head of sheep, swine and goats are constantly fed. The silver, gold and copper mines have been in former years exceedingly productive, and even in 1844, the mint of Chihuahua, struck $61,632 in gold, and 290,000 in silver. In 1814, the coinage of the same institution reached the sum of $1,818,604 in silver, after which period it ceased operating until 1832; but since then its annual emission has never exceeded $544,244 in coins of both the precious metals. Gold was first struck at this mint in 1841, and in 1842 it sent into circulation