San Luis Potosi is a state of much promise in minerals and agriculture, but has been kept backward until recently from want of foreign capital to exploit its natural resources. In former times it was the third producer of bullion of the Mexican states for Spain, and it shows signs of regaining its former prestige. The valleys provide numerous agricultural products; the mountains contain, in certain places, timber, and the sterile uplands maguey. To the east rises the Mesa range of the Eastern Sierra Madre, and the state generally occupies the most elevated part of the great plateau, giving rise to the coldest climate in the country. The area is 25,400 square miles, and of its population of about 580,000 souls more than 60,000 form the inhabitants of the handsome capital—San Luis Potosi. This city is connected with the Port of Tampico on the Gulf of Mexico, by the Mexican Central Railway, which descends to the coast by an exceedingly picturesque and interesting route. The Mexican National Railway also traverses the state, connecting it with the City of Mexico. The important ore smelting works of the Metalurgica Mexicana Company are situated here, and have proved a stimulus to the works of the great mineral resources of the state. The famous Catorce mining district is situated in this state, and some well-equipped modern installations exist here. The rich Huasteca district, and other regions, form an alluring field for capitalists.
Guanajuato, Querétaro, and Hidalgo form a group of smaller states which have held a prominent place in the earlier history of Mexico, due principally to the extraordinary production of silver and gold from their mines, which has made the names of these famous the world over. These have been touched upon in the chapters devoted to mining, and the capital cities spoken of elsewhere. Most of the important mines are again producing mainly under modern methods, and the value of the output for the State of Guanajuato last year is calculated as fourteen million dollars.
The diversified character of the topography and consequently of the climate of this region, forming the southern part of the great plateau, gives rise to much variety of nature's resources and agricultural products, from sugar-cane to cereals, and indeed agriculture in some cases is the staple industry. Numerous streams permit the irrigation of the fertile valleys which abound in this part of Mexico. In some cases we may journey in a few hours from the tropical lowlands to the regions of pine and oak, and the cold and cloudy climate of the high mining districts. Great plains and plantations of maguey exist upon the tableland for the making of pulque, Hidalgo alone having 129 haciendas devoted to this industry. In some portions of these states the scenery is wild and picturesque in the extreme, varying from the soft and undulating to the stupendous. The rivers generally belong to the Atlantic watershed, flowing through the Eastern Sierra Madre to the Gulf of Mexico, debouching at Tampico as the great Panuco river.
The State of Guanajuato, with an area of about 11,000 square miles, supports one of the largest of populations of any state, reaching to 1,065,000 inhabitants, and this is increasing, due to the growing industries of the region. Querétaro, with an area and population of 4,500 square miles and 235,000 inhabitants, is one of the smallest of the states. Its capital city, of the same name, is of much interest historically, for here Maximilian fell. Some important industries are carried on, among them being the largest textile factory in the Republic, the great "Hercules" mills. The famous "Doctor" mine, vast producer in past history, is one of the remarkable features of this state, whilst in the adjoining state of Hidalgo are the great mines and ore-treating haciendas near the capital city, Pachuca. Real del Monte with its remarkable metallurgical achievements is a byeword in the annals of silver. Cold and cloudy, these high regions—Pachuca is 8,000 feet above the level of the sea—are in marked contrast to the warm valleys which, below the belt of oak and pines upon the mountain slopes, are reached in our downward journey. The area of this very diversified state is 85,900 square miles, and its population some 605,000 souls. The Mexican Central and National Railways serve these three states.
The State of Mexico comprises a rich and interesting region. It is the seat of the capital, the famous City of Mexico. With the little adjoining State of Tlaxcala it was the home of the Aztec and other republics or oligarchies of prehispanic days. Here is the classic lake of Texcoco, and on the south of the valley the famous peaks which rise beyond the perpetual snow-line—Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl, and the Nevado of Toluca—rear their gleaming crests. In this region Nature has been profuse with her resources—a rich and varied flora and astonishing wealth of gold and silver. Here the mines of El Oro give up a stream of gold to foreign pockets—principally British—the result of Anglo-Saxon enterprise of recent years.
The state is mountainous, with the great culminating peaks before mentioned; but extensive plains and fertile valleys occupy much of its area, with grassy uplands in the higher regions. The Lerma river is the chief watercourse, born near the snows of Toluca, and after long winding over several states it traverses the Western Sierra and falls into the Pacific Ocean. The cold plains and temperate zone produce abundant supplies of maguey and cereals; oak and pine and cedar grow freely in the mountain timber belts, whilst the list of agricultural products and fruits, from sugar-cane and tobacco upwards, almost exhausts the flora of the country. Water-power is a valuable asset of the state, the numerous streams furnishing power for the plant of numerous manufactories—woollen, cotton, electric light, flour mills, and others. The area of the state is 8,950 square miles, with a population of nearly a million inhabitants. The fine haciendas which dot the state, and the important industries and cities, form a rich and important centre of Mexican civilisation. All the main lines of railway connect this state with the rest of the Republic.
The little State of Tlaxcala, which bounds that of Mexico on the east, has an area of 1,700 square miles and population of 173,000—the smallest of the political divisions of the Republic. Above the clay and sand plains of this state rises the beautiful Malinche peak to a height of 14,720 feet above sea-level, crowned generally with snow, which fancy has pictured in the form of a woman. The principal agricultural products are maguey and cereals, from which a large revenue is derived by the haciendas devoted to the industry. The city of Tlaxcala was the site of memorable scenes of the conquest of Mexico, and its brave inhabitants were the fierce foes first, and the faithful allies afterwards, of Cortes and his Spaniards, as has been described in the historical portion of these pages. The ancient ramparts, built by the Tlaxcalans, existed up to the seventeenth century.
Morelos is a small state lying south of Mexico, with an area somewhat less than 2,000 square miles and a population of 160,000. This state might almost be termed a vast sugar-cane plantation, as the greater part of its cultivable territory is given over to this branch of agriculture—grown under irrigation principally from the rivers which flow from the perpetual snow-caps of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl. Correspondingly, the principal industry is that of sugar and rum-making, for which industry there exist numerous haciendas, equipped in most cases with modern machinery. The historical and archæological associations and remains of the state are of much interest. Cuernavaca, the picturesque capital, which is the centre of these, is much of a favourite health resort since it became connected by railway with the City of Mexico. The Franciscan church carries us back to 1539, and the palace of Cortes and the gardens of Maximilian bring into recollection episodes of the history of this romantic region of the Pacific slope. The climate invites to dalliance, and the varied landscape—canyon, forest, and stream—open out in their pleasurable variety as we make our way westward. The small, quaint, Spanish-built towns with their Indian names, such as Tetecala,[39] Tequezquitengo, and others, seem to carry us back to the Middle Ages. This latter village was inundated and lost from the waters employed in the irrigation of the valleys. The various streams which cross the state have their outlet to the great Balsas river, which drains the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre, falling thence into the Pacific Ocean. The Mexican Central and the Interoceanic Railways connect the chief towns of Morelos with the City of Mexico, traversing the interesting and rugged routes of this region.
39 Visited by the Author.
Puebla is one of the most important of the Mexican states—both in natural resources and in its general flourishing condition. It occupies the region south of the great tableland, extending beyond this, however, both to the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds, its central part forming the divortia aquarum of the continent in this portion, its rivers on the west running to the Pacific Ocean and those on the east to the Gulf of Mexico through the State of Vera Cruz. In the northern part of this region the mountains form a scattered group, unlike the Cordilleras of the Sierra Madre of other parts of Mexico. The topography and scenery are rugged and picturesque. The northern mountains include the Sierra Nevada, which form the boundary of the valley of Mexico and the great plateau. Here rise the beautiful snow-capped peaks which are so prominent a feature of this part of Mexico—Popocatepetl (17,300 feet), Ixtaccihuatl (15,700 feet), Malintzin (13,462 feet), and others, on the boundary with the States of Puebla and Mexico. Orizaba (18,250 feet) and the Cofre de Perote (13,400 feet), on the border of the State of Vera Cruz, descend to high-spreading tablelands, watered only by the snows of these mountains, as they are riverless. The beautiful valley wherein the capital city of Puebla is situated, some short distance to the east of Popocatepetl and its sister peak, is, however, traversed by the remarkable river Atoyac which, rising beyond the borders of the state, forms the headwaters of the great Balsas river, debouching, after a trajectory of more than four hundred miles, into the Pacific.