Armed with the information they had obtained, the youths were able to understand intelligently the operations at the reduction-works that they visited. Frank thought they could find a cheaper way of mixing up the mass of ore than by treading it out with mules. Doctor Bronson told them that methods had been adopted in California and Nevada whereby all this work is done by machinery, but they were not generally approved in Mexico. "The Mexicans," said he, "are slow to change; they have done their work in this way for 300 years, and it is not easy to convince them that there is anything better in the world. The Americans who buy or lease mines in Mexico, and adopt the plans that suit themselves, will afford some instruction by example; the Mexicans may learn by the example, especially if they find that the new process enables their competitors to make money out of a mine they cannot do anything with."
A MEXICAN CRUSHER.
In one patio there were 120 horses at work, in gangs of twelve or sixteen, treading out the ore. "They are sorry-looking brutes," said Fred, "as their tails are shaved, and their bodies splashed with the black mud through which they are walking. To us it looks like ordinary mud, but to the eye of the expert I suppose it is altogether different, as we are told that a mining superintendent can determine almost at a glance how rich the mineral is. Evidently the horses don't know the value of what they are treading, or they wouldn't look so dejected and forlorn. Horses and mules that are old and useless for anything else are bought for this work. The chemicals destroy their hoofs, and they do not last a great while. If there were a Mexican Henry Bergh he would most certainly try to put a stop to this cruelty.[3]
"The men who are working among the horses are about as unprepossessing in appearance as the animals. They wear only a shirt and trousers, and both garments look as though cloth was dear when they were planned. The trousers come only to the knee, and the sleeves of the shirt do not reach the elbow. The men who work in the mines and about the reduction establishments are carefully searched on quitting work, to make sure that they do not carry off anything of value; their garments are without pockets, and thus they have no places for storing away stolen property. But in spite of the absence of pockets, they would manage to steal some of the amalgam if they were not so closely watched and carefully searched.
"In some of the mines, they work with scarcely a thread about them, the heat being so great that clothing cannot be borne with ease. The miners generally work in small teams or gangs, and receive a portion of the ore taken out in addition to their wages, which vary from thirty to fifty cents a day. Sometimes the payment is altogether in ore, which is sold at auction on stated days.
"We asked if the miners ever gave trouble by striking, and were told that they had not yet become sufficiently Americanized to form themselves into labor unions. The people seem to be entirely content with what they receive, and as they have very few wants, and do not try to save anything from one week to another, it is not likely they will change their ways in a hurry."
"While we are on the subject," wrote Frank, in a letter describing the visit to Zacatecas, "we may as well say what we learned about silver-mining in general throughout Mexico.
"Silver was known to the Aztecs before the Spanish Conquest, but they do not seem to have made much use of it. They worked it into ornaments and various small articles, but among the treasures of Montezuma seized by Cortez the amount of silver was very small compared with that of gold. The Spaniards had no idea of the immense value of the country when they conquered it, so far as silver is concerned."