THE STATE OF DURANGO.
Durango is bounded on the north by Chihuahua; on the west by Sinaloa; on the east by Coahuila, and on the south by Zacatécas and Jalisco.
This State is penetrated, from near its centre, in a north-westwardly direction by the main artery of the great Cordillera; and whilst the north-eastern section of Durango slopes gradually downward towards the waters of the Rio Grande, its south-western part lies high up among the table lands and mountain spurs that lean towards Sinaloa and the Pacific coast. The climate of this mountainous State is healthy and cool, and its agricultural productions are similar to those of other Mexican States whose geological formation resembles it.
Durango is divided into twelve partidos or departments:—Durango, San Juan del Rio, Nombre de Dios, San Dimas, Mesquital Papasquiaro, Oro, Indee, Tamasula, Cuencamé, Mapimi, and Nasas;—comprising 38 municipalities, 4 cities, 5 towns, 54 villages, 52 mineral works, 48 parishes, 111 haciendas, 48 estancias, and 521 ranchos. The population is estimated at about 300,000.
The chief streams and bodies of waters in the State are the Rio Nasas, Rio Guanábas, Rio Florida, and the lagunes of Cayman and Parras, the latter of which, though lying in Coahuila, bounds upon the edge of Durango.
The wealth of Durango exists in its minerals and in its cattle estates. Its haciendas de cria produce immense quantities of horses, mules, sheep and horned beasts which are readily sold in the various markets and fairs of the republic. At the hacienda of La Sarca, a stock of 200,000 sheep and 40,000 mules and horses, is constantly kept on hand, and at Ramos, which contains four hundred square leagues of land, 80,000 sheep are annually fed for their fleece, skins and carcasses. About 150,000 sheep are every year sent from Durango to the market of Mexico alone.
In the valley of Poanas, fifteen leagues east from the capital, there are fine corn lands; and in the deep valleys of the Sierra Madre even sugar is raised wherever the exposure and the moisture of the situation permits the successful cultivation of cane. Indigo and coffee grow wild in the warm barrancas on the genial slopes of the Cordillera; but neither of these articles is as yet cultivated by the planters. Cotton is grown in the vicinity of the Rio Nasas, and the town of Cinco Señores is the centre of a district covered with plantations which supply most of the factories of San Luis Potosi, Zacatécas and Saltillo. Mescal, a species of brandy is distilled in large quantities from the maguey which grows abundantly in Durango.
The capital of the State, seat of government, and residence of the bishop, is the city of Durango, sometimes known as La Ciudad de Victoria, or, Guadiana. It lies under 24° 25´ north latitude and 105° 55´ west longitude, at an elevation of 6,847 feet above the level of the sea, and sixty-five leagues north-westwardly from Zacatécas. It is in the southern section of the State, and was originally founded, in 1559, by the Viceroy Velasco, as a military post designed for the control of the Chichimecas. Its population at present may be estimated at between thirty and forty thousand.
This capital, and most of the other noted towns in Durango, owe their existence to the mineral wealth of the neighborhood. Before the mines of Guarisamey were discovered the city of Durango was a mere village, or pueblo ranchero, containing, as late as 1783, no more than eight thousand inhabitants. But the exploration of the mines infused life, activity, and wealth into the population, and the State progressed rapidly as its resources were developed. The fine streets of the capital, its great plaza or square, its theatre, and all its public edifices were erected by Zambrano, who is said to have extracted upwards of thirty millions of dollars from his mines at Guarisamey and San Dimas. A mint has been established in the city, and, besides this, it possesses factories of cotton, glass and tobacco.
The towns of Villa del Nombre de Dios, with 7,000 inhabitants, San Juan del Rio with 12,000 and Cinco Señores de Nasas, are almost the only ones in the State unconnected with mines. The two first are supported chiefly by the sale of Mescal distilled from the maguey or aloe; and the last, by the extensive cotton plantations which have been already mentioned.