Mexico, its ancient and modern civilisation, history and political conditions, topography and natural resources, industries and general development; . exico lie, forms a great zone 1,600miles long—between the States of Sonora in the northto Oaxaca in the south—and 250 miles wide. These morefamous and largely-worked mines are chiefly upon thewestern slope of the Eastern Sierra, and their elevationsabove sea-level range from 3,000 feet to 9,000 feet, andmore. The minerals which are found throughout this greatregion include almost all those known to commerce, and,more or less in relative order of
Mexico, its ancient and modern civilisation, history and political conditions, topography and natural resources, industries and general development; . exico lie, forms a great zone 1,600miles long—between the States of Sonora in the northto Oaxaca in the south—and 250 miles wide. These morefamous and largely-worked mines are chiefly upon thewestern slope of the Eastern Sierra, and their elevationsabove sea-level range from 3,000 feet to 9,000 feet, andmore. The minerals which are found throughout this greatregion include almost all those known to commerce, and,more or less in relative order of their importance, are asfollows:— Silver, copper, gold, lead, quicksilver, iron, coal, zinc,salt, antimony, petroleum, sulphur, tin, bismuth, platinum;and others more rarely, as nickel, cobalt, &c. Onyx,marble, opals, emeralds, sapphires, topazes, rubies, arefound, and other precious stones, whilst diamonds are saidto exist in certain localities. Agates, cornelians, obsidian,are also among the products of this nature. The following table shows the principal distributionof minerals in the various states :— MINERAL WEALTH 271 5 =>. 272 MEXICO The geological formation of the country does not bearspecial relation to the deposits of metalliferous minerals,which are distributed in many parts of the great general terms it may be said that the abundance ofthe ores rather than their richness characterises the minesof Mexico and is the source of their wealth. Thosewhich have most steadily produced bullion generallyconsisted of a main lode containing enormous quantitiesof low-grade ore of about 60 ounces per ton; andtypical of these are the mines of Guanajuato, Pachuca,Queretaro, Zacatecas, and others. The ores, however,are not always low-grade, for great bonanzas of exceed-ingly rich ore were encountered, making rapid fortunesfor their discoverers. Silver.—The main lodes in those places enumeratedhave ranged up to hundreds of feet in width, and formthe most potent s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1910
