O
Old Silver
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The daily Herald (Brownsville, TX.)., June 15, 1894, Image 5
Story of a Texas mine.
Supposed to have been worked by the Spaniards many years ago.
Story of a Texas mine.
Supposed to have been worked by the Spaniards many years ago.
The Bessemer Development Co., of which Col. A. C. Schriever is president, and Col. Richard Wooley, jr., is manager, both residents of San Antonio, owns one of the most remarkable and interesting mining properties that is probably to be found in Texas at the present day. This property consists of an old Spanish working which is soon to be extensively explored, arrangements for carrying on the work now being in progress. This property is situated about ten miles from the town of Llano, in the county of that name. It has a wonderful history, some of which is traditional, but much of it has been verified by investigation into the old Spanish archives, where documents bearing on the existence and the productiveness of the mine were brought to light.
The mine was being extensively worked in the year 1823, as is shown by a letter written in that year by the superintendent of the property to the governor of this Mexican state, asking that the workmen at the mine be furnished with military protection; as the Indians were becoming troublesome and it was feared that they would be attacked and killed. This letter is still on file among the government papers in Monterey, Mexico, and was found there a few years ago by Prof. W. H. Von Steernwitz, a well known geologist of Austin, TX. It is not known whether the military protection asked for was furnished, but it is supposed that the report was not promptly granted, as the unfortunate miners met with the fate which their foreman had predicted for them. Many years later a party of the early settlers of that section of the State stumbled upon the old mine. There was one shaft apparent on the surface, and lying at the mouth of this shaft were five skeletons of men, one of which had an arrow protruding from the skull, plainly showing that they had met their death at the hands of the Indians. This discovery was made sometime in the 70's, and there were, even at that late date, a great many Indians in the section around the mine, but all of those interviewed on the subject claimed to know nothing of the skeletons or the abandoned mine.
In addition to these skeletons there were found the ruins of three smelting furnaces, which were of a large capacity, and from the immense piles of slag surrounding them it was evident that they had treated a large amount of precious ore. The finding of the skeletons was evidence that the mine was being worked at the time the massacre occurred, and that the ore body had not given out and the mine abandoned, as was the case with nearly all of the old Spanish mines, the ruins of which dot the mountainous regions of southwest Texas and Mexico. That the mine was a rich one is so stated in the letter on file at Monterey. It is called an "almagres" mine in that letter, which is a Spanish expression for a mine that contains a rich lead of precious metal covered with a body of iron.
After acquiring the property, upon which this mine is located, Manager Wooley visited the place in company with another gentleman with the view of making a casual exploration of the workings. The ruins of the furnaces are still to be seen; and growing at the mouth of the shaft is a hackberry tree nearly three feet in diameter. Colonel Wooley let his companion down into the shaft by means of a rope, and at the depth of ten feet the body of iron was found, and the single shaft separated into two shafts, one being sunk on each side of the body of iron, which is about fifteen feet across. These two shafts were explored to a depth of sixty feet, when further progress was prevented by the "damp" or gas which had gathered in the holes during the long years of inactivity. The explorer was compelled to return to the surface, and further investigation was given up for the time being. It was found that the workers of the mine had followed the vein of mineral all the way down, and it considered almost certain that they were still working on it and taking out large quantities of rich ore at the time their progress was ended by their massacre by the Indians.
The Spaniards at that early day carried on their mining operations in a crude manner, and only worked the best prospects and took out that ore which was most easily secured. In view of this fact it is believed by Manager Wooley that there is much valuable ore in the mine, even if it had been pretty well worked out by the Spaniards, and it may be that a bonanza awaits further development of the property, as there is a tradition known to almost everyone in southwest Texas and Mexico that there is a lost Spanish mine of wonderful richness situated in the vicinity of what is now the town of Llano, Texas.-St. Louis Globe-democrat.
