Silver Mines in Guanajuato, My Ancestors worked in them

Article written about Guanajuato and photos found online. Great treasure find.




Mines



Guanajuato had its beginnings in the discovery of prodigious silver mines, which at the end of the eighteenth century converted the city into the largest silver producer ever known up to that time. The first discoveries are shrouded in legend, making it difficult to distinguish reality from fiction. However, there seems to be no doubt that it was in the year 1558 that work began on the first mineshafts of the Rayas and Mellado mines, and it was in that same year that the famous mother lode of Guanajuato was discovered from those very mineshafts. This generous vein runs through the hills that border the city to the north and northeast, and it has left on the surface a constellation of mines and mineshafts channeling downward to catch the vein in its sinuous trajectory.

On the tops of these hills, there are quite a few impressive ruins which signal the presence of mining work. Sure enough, nestled in the spaces between these hills one finds the mines of Calderones, El Cedro, and El Cubo, at the south end of the city; and in the hills at the north end, Peregrina, Villalpando, Peñafiel, San Nicolás, Sirena, La Garrapata, Rayas-Mellado, La Cata, Tepeyac, Valenciana, Santa Ana, La Luz, and many more.

Bolded pueblecitos where my Grandfather knew and Great Grandmother was born in La Luz and actually showed me and my sister Linda, where these cities were located.