Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/143

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MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA
127

their character, had to be treated in modern smelting furnaces in order to recover the silver they contained. At first the ores were shipped to Argentine, Kansas, later to El Paso, Texas, and still later to smelters in San Luis Potosi and Aguas Calientes, also built and operated by Americans. At one time prior to the present revolution, the camp of Sierra Mojada produced ore at the rate of about 1,000 tons per day, from which one ton of pure silver was extracted. A number of the more important mines remained in the hands of their original Mexican owners, but were operated under the direction of American mining engineers. The camp is now entirely inactive due to the precarious railway transportation and because of its exposed situation inviting bandit raids. In the meantime, of course, thousands of Mexican miners, who were earning good livings, have been thrown out of employment and have really been the greatest sufferers by this suspension of an important industry carried on by American capital and enterprise.

Santa Eulalia, State of Chihuahua. This important camp on the outskirts of the city of Chihuahua was discovered and worked by the Spaniards at an early date, but the output was never very important, because the operators tried to smelt the lead silver ores in antiquated furnaces made of stone and adobe. Production here did not reach full tide until American capital erected