Very long post, extra coffee alert
For our readers, whom do not post often or not at all - thank you to those whom have posted your opinions and conclusions over our lengthy debate, and I wish to bring something more to your attention. The post is very long so I must beg your indulgence, thank you in advance.
Several of our friends here have posted statements which, while granting that there was SOME mining activity by the Jesuits, in their words it was "modest" at most, and while not saying the term "negligible" it is implied as in the hints that it was the efforts of one or two or three Jesuit padres whom were "straying" from the personal vow of poverty and the Royal edicts banning priests and nuns from mining activities.
To contradict this view, we need only look again at the Rudo Ensayo of father Juan Nentvig, SJ, a Jesuit priest whom was working in northern Mexico and the frontier area in the time period just previous to the Jesuit expulsion of 1767; in his book describing Sonora of his day, he broke down the descriptions into various chapters, titling one chapter to cover the Jesuit missions and their properties, and another one for the Spanish mines and settlements, another for the geography etc. The reason I am posting this large extract is to highlight that there were a large number of Jesuit mines, some of which produced large amounts of silver and gold, it was not some marginal operation nor little holes where a man might dabble in mining on weekends. For your consideration, read on:
Mátape is a principal mission under the direction of Father Jacobo Sedelmayr at 29 degrees, 20 minutes latitude and 265 degrees, 8 minutes longitude and is twenty leagues north of Tecoripa. Its parishioners are Pimas, Eudebes, and Jovas. It has two dependent missions: Nácori two leagues to the southwest and Alamos seven leagues to the northwest. (It was at Mátape that the first Negro slaves were brought into the Sonora province in 1672–73 by Daniel Angelo Marras, S.J.)
Note that NO mention is made of the silver mines owned by the college of Matape, but Nentvig did bother to mention that the first Negro slaves were brought into Sonora here by a Jesuit, Danial Angelo Marras. What labor do we suppose those African slaves were put to? Sheep herding, perhaps?
Huásabas is a main mission with Father Juan Nentvig in charge who is also rector of this group of missions. San Ignacio de Oputo, the dependent mission, lies ten leagues to the north. Both are peopled by Opatas and have in their neighborhood numerous deserted mines, such as San Cristóbal five leagues to the east and San Patricio at nearly the same distance to the west.
Nentvig mentions "numerous" deserted mines in HIS mission area. He does not list them as Spanish. Continuing,
Toward the north, three leagues away,is the abandoned mining settlement of Nori, and nine leagues beyond is San Juan del Río. The village of Guachinera lies fourteen leagues northeast, and the mining settlement of Nacozari fourteen leagues to the northwest. The Fronteras presidio is twenty leagues north-northwest of Oputo.
Again, these mining settlements are NOT listed as Spanish. To continue, Nentvig proceeds to tell us of still more mines owned by the missions:
The dependent mission of San Ignacio de Oputo is located ten leagues north on the right bank of the Río Grande and is much exposed to the incursions of the Apaches. Its soil is better than that of the main mission of Huásabas, yielding besides the products already mentioned, corn, 300 fanegas for one of seed, and wheat, twenty-five to thirty for one. Of the former, less than one fanega is sown for the mission, and of the latter, eight to ten fanegas of seed are planted for the two pueblos, Huásabas and Oputo. More extensive food-producing fields are available that remain untilled because of the scarcity of natives to work them, difficulties with dams, irrigation canals, and the Apache menace.
For similar reasons the mission had to abandon a beautiful truck-farm watered by a spring. This truck-farm was located half a league west of Oputo at the foot of a mountain and kept the mission supplied with greens, legumes, and various fruits throughout the year.
In the vicinity of Oputo there are many silver mines which are abandoned because of the many outrages committed by the Apaches, such as what happened at Nori, three leagues north of Oputo, and at San Juan del Río, nine leagues beyond in the same direction. Numerous veins with good metal showings have been located southeast, southwest, and northwest of Oputo at distances of from four to fifteen leagues. The color of the mass as well as the night flashes visible during the rainy season are indicative of mineral deposits, but the utter poverty of the residents and the constant enemy danger hamper their being worked. Similar flashes occur in the environs of Huásabas, and the deposits remain untouched for the same reasons. Two rich mines that had been very productive when the Apaches were not coming in so large numbers or so often are now abandoned. One is the San Cristóbal, five leagues to the southwest near the Culebrilla Pass in the vicinity of Tonibabi and within sight of the road. Although it was not easily worked because of the hardness of the rock, it used to yield, and would yet, about half silver. The other mine, the San Patricio, an equal distance to the west, is also idle.
Talk persists among the natives that in the neighborhood of the Culebrilla Pass there is a deposit of virgin silver from which an old man dug up what he needed. He carried no mining tools, only a chopping knife to cut off the portion that he deemed sufficient to cover his immediate needs. Then he melted the mass into slugs in order to disguise the richness of the ore. The old man was accompanied by a boy who served as a sentry to warn of the approach of anyone by throwing a rock, but the old man left the boy at a point where the location of the deposit could not be seen. It has not been possible to learn the location of the deposit from either the old man or the boy.
Another such silver deposit is said to exist on the skirts of the eastern mountain opposite and within sight of the Huásabas Mission. It was thought that the exact location was known to an Indian who died in 1760. However, there is a belief among the natives that he who reveals the site of a mine will soon die. Therefore, a native will not show a mine to a Spaniard for any price, regardless of how advantageous it may be to him, the native, even if the missionary pledges the fulfillment of promises made and the assurance that his life will not be shortened but the Almighty will prolong it if he has the courage to ignore a superstition more fit for old women than brave, sensible men.
The Indian who died in 1760 was half persuaded to show a Spaniard the location of a vein so abounding in silver that the sample he brought flattened when pounded, but while on the way, the Indian must have changed his mind, because when they reached the spot where the sample had supposedly been found, there was no sign of such a vein. After digging all over the hill and finding nothing but dead earth, the Spaniard realized he had been deceived and gave up the search.
During the last two years placer gold has been found on the right bank of the Río Grande in three different locations not far from Oputo, but the nuggets were small. Also, the natives are inexperienced at washing the alluvial deposits and unwilling to do so. Rather, they are fonder of roaming about than seeking wealth. They depart for distant places and return poorer after many days away, and by then their scanty crops have been lost. Richer placers producing larger flakes or grains have been found in the vicinity of El Alamo north of Tepache, and although the residents of Tepache have wealth so close at hand, they prefer to subsist on roots and wild fruits rather than travel three or four leagues to obtain the means to live not only decently but lavishly.
Five leagues north of Huásabas and slightly more than a gunshot east of the road to Oputo there is a vein-like deposit over six yards wide that encircles the base of a small hill which runs from north to south on the eastern side. This vein produces round, stone objects that vary in size from a hen's egg to a cocoanut. The stones are red streaked with white veins and resemble jasper10 in the rough. Many stones are loose on the surface of the ground; others are entirely submerged. Some of the smaller ones are in clusters of three, four, and six or even more and attached to one another. All of them, large and small, have a pocket in the center filled with a white somewhat yellowish substance which is almost transparent except for a film that covers it like a coating of turpentine. The substance sometimes becomes detached from the walls of the pocket. When this happens, the stone will rattle when shaken. When opened, the cores in most of them are found crystallized in angular patterns so well united, so resplendent and perfectly finished, one would think they had been made by a lapidary. These crystals are set in a hard, flint-like, pearl-bluish, or purple colored substance, difficult, if not impossible, to detach for experimental purposes without defacing them. It has been said that in the beginning this core was of a consistency similar to the white of an egg, and in 1752 I had in my hands a specimen in which the core had not entirely hardened. But upon exposure to the air, it soon petrified. It is evident that this is a rare and new product of nature which, although it brings no revenue to the royal treasury, could be of interest to investigators who, rising above materialism, ascensiones in corde suo would admire and praise the power, wisdom, abundance, and beauty of Him who controls all.
Furthermore, around the Huásabas Mission there are abundant deposits of alum and chalk and two hot springs. One is half a league north, and the other is one and a half leagues west. In Oputo there is a similar hot spring half a league west which contains quantities of red ochre of excellent quality.
This is a rather detailed report of the mines and mineral deposits of the mission and dependent areas, all of which are mission property as no Indians were allowed to own property, and as pointed out, Nentvig listed the Spanish mines in a separate chapter or makes it a point to state when a mine belongs to the Spanish rather than the missions. As an example,
The main mission of Bacadéhuachi lies at 30 degrees, 53 minutes latitude, 266 degrees, 46 minutes longitude and has two dependent missions: Nácori ten leagues east, and Mochopa two leagues further in the same direction. Father Manuel Aguirre is in charge of the mission, and its inhabitants are Tarahumara and Jova Indians.
The Tarahumara ranch of Sátechi twelve leagues farther away is also under the jurisdiction of Bacadéhuachi. Twelve leagues beyond in the depopulated town of Guainopa there used to be rich silver mines that were worked by a few Spaniards. Another silver mine with its own smelter existed about three leagues northeast of Bacadéhuachi.
We might also take note of the rather remarkable story Nentvig includes about lost mines and the padres direct involvement in trying to learn the secrets thereof. Note too that Nentvig was taking notice of any and all mineral deposits like alum or salt, which might be turned to a profit for the missions, and Jesuit Order.
to continue;
There were some silver mines being worked near Bavispe when the Apaches were not so much the masters of the country. Now, because we are in the adjacent mountains and at the last mission of this rectorate, we see the Apache fires almost every night.
<snip>
Once at the pass, we must travel six more leagues to Bacoachi, dependent mission of Arizpe where the renowned gold placers are located. These placers have produced nuggets of two, three, and four pounds but are not so productive at present because the prospectors have been frightened away by the death-dealing Apaches.
From Bacoachi we will follow the course of the Sonora River to another dependent mission of Arizpe: Chinapa, eight leagues to the southwest, leaving the real de minas of Basochuca five leagues away to our left and the real of Bacanuchi four leagues away to our right. The Cananea mines are eight leagues to the northwest. Traveling in a southwesterly direction, we will pass the cattle ranch of Guepavérachi which is owned by gente de razón, and three leagues beyond we will reach the main mission of Arizpe which is located on the right bank of the Sonora River at 31 degrees, 30 minutes latitude and 264 degrees, 55 minutes longitude. Its missionary is the Visitor-General Father Carlos de Roxas, with whose gracious permission we may rest a couple of days, and being in a more populated area than that through which we have been traveling, we can move about with less apprehension.
Note the ranch specifically stated as owned by "gente de razon", also the mention of our padre so recently discussed Roxas, and the then-famous silver mines of Cananea, whose current city govt states were first opened by the Jesuits - and note that Cananea is NOT listed as owned by Spaniards nor gente de razon.
West of Arizpe six or seven leagues is Santa Rosalía, a site that once had very rich gold mines.
Continuing our journey, we enter the abandoned real of Tetoachi three leagues south, and three leagues still farther by a watery road we reach Sinoquipe, a dependent mission of Banámichi which is five leagues south. About halfway between Banámichi and Sinoquipe we pass the abandoned real of Motepore.
Banámichi, the principal mission, is located on the left bank of the Sonora River at 31 degrees, 2 minutes latitude and 264 degrees, 56 minutes longitude and is administered by Father Francisco Javier Villaroya, S.J. Three leagues farther south we pass through Hüépac, also a dependent mission of Banámichi, and about three leagues beyond we pass by the real of Sonora. One league farther brings us to Aconchi, a main mission administered by Father Nicolás Perera, S.J., at 30 degrees, 56 minutes latitude by 264 degrees, 56 minutes longitude. Then we continue our journey in a southerly direction and reach Babiácora four leagues farther on. Three leagues beyond on our left we pass a small place named Concepción, a dwelling place of Spaniards, and still farther down the river we reach the house of Núñez where he and his family and servants reside.
From here the Sonora River turns westward and follows a winding course through mountain cuts and narrows which we must cross and recross more than thirty times, traveling over rocky slopes for more than ten leagues before we reach level ground. Finally we arrive at Ures, the head mission in charge of Father Andrés Michel since the death of Father Felipe Ségesser [September 28, 1761]. Its geographical position is 30 degrees latitude by 264 degrees, 20 minutes longitude. Its dependent mission, Santa Rosalía, is twelve leagues to the southwest. The real of San José de Gracia is seven leagues west, and the deserted real of Antúnez is six leagues northwest. San Miguel de Horcasitas is about ten leagues west of Ures, and Nacameri, the dependent mission of Opodepe, is six leagues northeast of Antúnez. Nacameri is inhabited by Eudebes, while the Indians in Opodepe are Pimas. Opodepe,31 where we are going out of curiosity, at 30 degrees, 40 minutes latitude and 264 degrees, 3 minutes longitude, is six leagues almost due north of Nacameri. One league north is the real of San José, and two leagues beyond, there used to be a settlement of gente de razón, breeders of cattle. The mission of Opodepe, ministered by the Rector Francisco Loaiza, has silver and gold mines within its district, the latter having the reputation of producing ore with the highest fineness, and I have seen a piece of gold without rocky mixture weighing seven ounces.
Do we need to keep pointing this out - thus far the number of mines is certainly NUMEROUS and belonged to the Jesuit missions, NOT to the Spaniards nor gente de razon. Does anyone wish to take the position that Nentvig really meant that all these mines listed under his chapter on the Jesuit missions are Spanish and NOT Jesuit owned? If so, why bother to list the Spanish mines in a completely separate chapter? All of these listed above, are in the chapter titled and about the Jesuit missions in Sonora/Pimeria. We might also take note of the census info, which shows VERY few Spaniards or gente de razon living in the various missions' districts.
I am not throwing stones at anyone for NOT picking up on this separation of the Jesuit mission mines being listed in a completely different chapter from the Spanish mines, for I did not pick up on it for some time either. Nentvig does not tell all about the Jesuit mines either, for example he mentions nothing about la Esmerelda, an important silver mine of San Xavier del Bac and which probably helped provide the impressive silver seen in the mission church by later visitors, only to be hidden away by the Indians when the padres left, which dates to Kino's day as he was shown a piece of the ore on his very first visit there.
My reason for posting this huge extract is to point up that this is
not an inconsiderable amount of mining activity. It does not match the sheer number of mines of the Spanish, but is certainly more than negligible or the efforts of one or two Jesuits whom were "straying" from the personal vow of poverty. These missions were expected to become self-supporting, not needing the Royal subsidy, though the Jesuits managed to keep that subsidy going and getting exemptions from paying taxes on properties for many decades; with that goal of self-sufficiency in mind, the Jesuits put their efforts into every and any kind of commerce or agriculture to try to make the operations financially sound.
You can read this entire chapter online at:
The Jesuit Missions
The entire book is online as well, just follow the link on that page, it is one of the best books on Sonora and southern Arizona of the colonial period in my opinion.
Sorry for the long-winded post, good luck and good hunting amigos I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Oroblanco
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