Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/581

Rh gates of Durango. The Cerro del Mercado is entirely composed of iron ores, of two distinct qualities, (crystallized and magnetic,) but almost equally rich, as they both contain from sixty to seventy-five per cent, of pure iron. The operation of smelting these ores is attended with considerable difficulty. It is not understood in the United States, in England, or Silesia, where ores of from twenty to twenty-five per cent, are those in common use; and an iron-foundery lately set up by two natives of Biscay, (Messrs. Ŭrqŭiāgă, and Arĕchēvălă,) upon the banks of the river, twenty leagues from Durango, has failed from the want of a knowledge of the proper mode of treating the ores. The adventurers are likewise cramped in their operations by the smallness of their capital. A Hacienda has been built in a situation where there is both water for machinery, and an abundant supply of timber and charcoal; but as the proprietors do not possess the means of constructing a road for carts, (although, from the nature of the ground, it might be accomplished with a very inconsiderable outlay,) the conveyance of the ores on mules to the reduction works materially diminishes the profits of the speculation. With regard to the difficulty of working them, it might undoubtedly be overcome, as, from the affinity of the iron of El Mercado to that of Danemora, Swedish forgemen would understand the nature of the process at once.

The Constitution of Durango is framed in a very