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Rh 1794 it had a parish church and three convents with about thirty friars, and as many other clergymen. There was also a public school supported by funds bequeathed by a resident of that town. Toward the end of the eighteenth century the population was rapidly increasing, and mining, commerce, agriculture, and stock-raising had made great progress. Fresnillo had at this period about five thousand inhabitants and was governed by a lieutenant under the

alcalde of Jerez; there was a large parochial church and a Dominican hospice. The site was little better than that of Zacatecas. The mines in the hills of Proaño, south-west of the town, belonged for the most part to the marquis of Apartado.

Most of the settlements in the province of San