And with this motive the Junta has the honor to repeat to your Excellency the protestations of its consideration and esteem. God and Liberty. Mexico, April 21st, 1846. VINCENTE SEGURA, President. The Secretary being occupied, YSIDRO R. GONDRA, First Clerk. To His TORNEL, } Director of the National College of Mines. Seventh. In reply to the foregoing communication, General Tornel, Director of the College of Mining, on the 29th April, 1846, addressed to the Junta de Fomento the following: DIRECTION OF THE NATIONAL COLLEGE OF MINING. Received the 3d Don Tomas Ramon del Moral, President of day of this present the Junta of Encouragement of the National College of Mining, in an official communication. of the 24th ultimo, says to me as follows: May. terday. V. SEGURA. May 4th, 1846. "Excellent Sir:-The Junta Facultativa Let it be trans- having examined the documents which your mitted to the Gov. ernment, manifest- Excellency referred to on the 21st of the presing that the com- ent month, relative to a deposit of cinnabar dismunication was covered in California by Señor Don Andres only received yes- Castillero, and another of coal in the Bay of San Francisco, has the honor to inform your Excellency that the specimens sent by said Castillero, were deposited, some in the Mineralogical Cabinet, and others assayed by the Professor of Chemistry, Don Manuel Herrera. The assay gave a ley of thirty-five and a half per cent., a mixture of the different specimens having been taken to make the assay, for there are some so rich that they are pure cinnabar. The Junta believes that Señor Castillero has, by such an important discovery, made himself deserving of the efficacious protection of the Supreme Government, and of the Junta for the Encouragement of Mining, and is persuaded that your Excellency will interpose all your influence to the effect that this individual. may receive a proof that the Supreme Government knows how to distinguish and reward those citizens who contribute to the prosperity of the country. And with this motive I repeat to your Excellency the considerations of my esteem and respect. And I have the honor to transmit it to your honors as the result of your despatch on the matter. God and Liberty. Mexico, April 29, 1846. To the President and Members of the Junta for the Encouragement of Mining, of the National College of Mining. JOSE MARIA TORNEL." Eighth. Having thus acquired the necessary information on the subject, the Junta de Fomento in discharge of one of the principal duties imposed on them by law, addressed to the Supreme Executive, through the Ministry of Justice, the following communication, on the 5th May, 1846. JUNTA FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND No. 573. Communicates the discovery of a deposit of cinnabar, made in the Presi in Lower Califor of quicksilver ex Guadalcazar. Most Excellent Sir:-Professor Don Tomas Ramon del Moral having presented to this Junta some specimens of cinnabar from the Mission of Santa Clara, in Lower California, which Don dio of Santa Clara, Andres Castillero sent him, together with the nia, the assays of annexed copies, with the object of inciting the which have yielded Supreme Government, that it may be pleased to the highest ley aid so important an enterprise, said specimens. known, and with this motive com- were immediately sent to his Excellency, the municates the re- Director of the College, that the proper assays sult of the quantity might be made. His Excellency, in an official tracted until the communication of the 29th of last month, end of March, in received yesterday, says that which follows: 'Señor Don Tomas del Moral, President of the Junta Facultativa of the National College of May 9th, 1846. Noted with satis- Mining, in an official communication of the 24th faction the discove- ult., says to me as follows: 'Most Excellent ry, and of having Sir-The Junta Facultativa having examined asked already of Senor Castillero the the documents which your Excellency referred kind of resources to it on the 21st of the present month, relative he requires. to a deposit of cinnabar discovered in California. statement given of by Señor Don Andres Castillero, and another the quicksilver ex- of coal on the Bay of San Francisco, has the tracted by the mi- honor to inform your Excellency that the specimens sent by said Señor Castillero, were deposited, some in the Mineralogical Cabinet, and others assayed by the Professor of Chemistry, Don Manuel Herrera. The assay gave a ley of thirty-five and a half per cent., a mean of the different specimens having been taken to make the assay, for there are some so rich that they are pure cinnabar. The Junta believes that Señor Castillero has, by Noted also, the ners of Guadalca zar. such an important discovery, made himself deserving of the efficacious protection of the Supreme Government and of the Junta for the Encouragement of Mining, and is persuaded that your Excellency will interpese all your influence to the end. that this individual may receive a proof that the Supreme Government knows how to distinguish and reward those citizens who contribute to the prosperity of the country.' 'And with this motive, I repeat to your Excellency the considerations of my esteem and respect. And I have the honor to transmit it to your Excellencies, as the result of your dispatch on the matter.' The Junta, on inclosing the foregoing communication to your Excellency, has the honor to inform you that it has already asked Señor Castillero what kind of aid or protection he needs for the encouragement of his brilliant enterprise, congratulating the Supreme Government on a discovery, which, if it meets, from the beginning, with all the protection it deserves, may change completely the aspect of our mining, freeing it from the the neceseity in which it has been until now, of foreign quicksilver. With this motive, the Junta takes advantage of the opportunity to inform your Excellency that, as on the twentyfourth of this month, the bounty terminates which the law granted, of five dollars premium on each hundred weight of quicksilver extracted from the mines of the nation, the miners of Guadalcazar have proved that they have taken out one thousand five hundred and seventy-five quintals, from December, eighteen hundred and forty-four, to the end of March last, which result exceeds the calculation, which, until now, has been made, that the product of this mineral was one hundred quintals per month. The Junta, on this occasion, reiterates to your Excellency the assurances of its distinguished consideration and esteem. God and Liberty. Mexico, May 5, 1846. The Secretary being occupied, VICENTE SEGURA, President. YSIDRO R. GONDRA, First Clerk. To His Excellency, the Minister of Justice. Ninth. On the 9th May, 1846, the Minister of Justice, in reply to the foregoing communication, addressed the following to the Junta de Fomento: MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Most Excellent Sir:-By your Excellency's note of the 5th inst., and copies which you were pleased to transmit therewith, His Excellency, the President ad interim of the Republic, learns with satisfaction that in the Mission of Santa Clara, of Upper California, Señor Don Andres Castillero has discovered a deposit of cinnabar of excellent quality, according to the assays made in that College, and that said Señor Castillero has been asked by that Junta what kind of assistance he needs to encourage his brilliant enterprise. His Excellency is likewise informed of that which the Junta reports relative to the quantity of quicksilver extracted from the mines of Guadalcazar, the result of which has exceeded the calculations which were made. This is what I have the honor to say to your Excellency in answer, repeating to you with this opportunity the assurances of my consideration and esteem. God and Liberty. Mexico, May 9, 1846. His Excellency, Don VICENTE SEGURA, BECERRA. Tenth. Castillero having appeared before the Junta de Fomento, and given a verbal account of his discovery, as appears from their minutes; and having been requested to make a written statement as to what aid he required from the Government in the prosecution of his brilliant enterprise, handed in to the Junta on the 12th May, 1846, the following proposals: Stamp third.-Four Reales.-For the years eighteen hundred and forty-six and eighteen hundred and forty-seven. I, Andres Castillero, resident and miner in the Department of Upper California, before your Excellency and your Honors, as I best may proceed, say: That, having discovered in the Mission of Santa Clara a mine of quicksilver, of leyes as rich, certainly, as were ever seen before, not only in the Republic, but perhaps in all the world, as proved by the assays made by the order of the Junta Facultativa of the College of Mining, which, mixing together of all the specimens I brought, from the best to the worst, have given a result of thirty-five and a half per cent., while there have been specimens of the best kind which must produce much greater leyes, I see myself in a condition to satisfy my desires in favor of the progress of my country, of benefiting exclusively Mexicans by the flattering and well founded hopes which such a discovery offers. In virtue of this, I have denounced and taken possession not only of said mine named Santa Clara, but also of an extent of three thousand varas in all directions from said point. I have formed a company to work it. I have constructed the pit, and complied with all the conditions prescribed by the ordinance; the mine yielding ore, with the notable circumstance that the specimens which I brought and which have been assayed, have been taken out of the mouth. It would have been very easy for me to have given the necessary extension to the negotiation by accepting the repeated and advantageous offers which have been made to me by several foreign houses in California; but as the undertaking does not require that kind of assistance, which would result in advantage to foreigners, when it may be entirely national; and I have not, for that reason, hesitated to apply to your Excellency and your Honors, to obtain the small and only resources which I need. These are reduced to a small advance of five thousand dollars in money, in consideration of the excessive scarcity of coin in that Department, and the quick remittance to it of retorts, cylinders, and other small distilling apparatus, as also iron flasks, for bottling up the quicksilver. I would have proposed a contract of partnership to the Junta, an "avio," or some other agreement, if there had been time to be able to furnish the proofs and details which would be required for said contracts; but being under promise to the Supreme Government to leave this capital within a few days, I find it necessary to restrict myself to that which appears to present no difficulty, and which may open a way to our future agreements; I am well persuaded that the Junta will accede to my request so far as may be within its powers, and that it will send up to the Supreme Government with a recommendation that which may require the decision of the latter. My propositions, then, are the following: First. The Junta, in the act of approving the agreement, will give me a draft for five thousand dollars on some mercantile house in Mazatlan. Second. On my part, I bind myself to place in said port, within six months after leaving it, fifty quintals of quicksilver, at the rate of one hundred dollars each, which I will send from the first taken out, with absolute preference over every other engagement. Third. The Junta will order that there be placed at my disposition, before leaving the capital, the eight iron retorts which it has in its office, and all the quicksilver flasks which can be found in the negotiation of Tasco, which are fit for use; and lastly, it will deliver to Señor Don Tomas Ramon del Moral, my attorney, the sums to pay for the retorts, cylinders, |