The Santa Brígida Mine

The Santa Brígida Mine (HM25B5)

Location: , Guanajuato San Luis de la Paz
Country: Mexico
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N 21° 13.953', W 100° 27.914'

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Mineral de Pozos

Mina de Santa Brígida
El Camino de la Plata se extendía desde Zacatecas hasta la ciudad de México, lugar al que llegaban todos los metales extraídos de los distintos sitios del territorio nacional para acuñar monedas, generalmente. Dicho camino, en ciertos tramos, se encontraba asediado por algunas tribus indígenas, como era el caso de los chichimecas en la zona de Mineral de Pozos. Debido a ello, los españoles decidieron construir en esta área un fuerte para defenderse de los ataques, el cual, años más tarde, sirvió como edificio principal de la Mina de Santa Brígida, una de las más antiguas de Guanajuato y la primera en Mineral de Pozos.A finales del siglo XVI, el virrey de la Nueva España concedió a la Orden Jesuita la extracción de metales en esta zona, por lo que se cavaron diversos pozos con hasta 250 m de profundidad, algunos de los cuales aún se encuentran expuestos sobre la superficie árida. En 1595 los jesuitas construyeron los famosos hornos de adobe en forma de pirámides cuadrangulares, que hoy fungen como el símbolo más representantivo de Mineral de Pozos. Los chacuacos, nombre con el que también eran conocidos los hornos, se utilizaban para fundir la plata, misma que se producía con la ayuda del azogue o mercurio. De esta forma se enviaban a las distintas casas acuñadoras



de monedas para, posteriormente, distribuirse a los largos de Europa y Asia. Gracias a esta mina fue que el pueblo de Mineral de Pozos comenzó a formarse. Después de los jesuitas, algunos particulares se adueñaron de la mina; se formaron otras minas adyacentes y el pueblo alcanzó gran auge, siendo uno de los máximos productores de plata y otros materiales de la zona. No obstante, con el paso del tiempo la cantidad del material extraído se redujo y la Revolución Mexicana se econtraba en plenitud, por lo que el pueblo fue abandonado paulatinamente hasta quedar vacío, de ahí que se le denomine "pueblo fantasma".
English:
Santa Brígida Mine
The Camino de la Plata stretched from Zacatecas to Mexico City, where all the metals extracted from different parts of the country arrived to mint coins, generally. That road, in certain sections, was besieged by some indigenous tribes, like the case of the chichimecas in Mineral de Pozos. Because of this, the Spanish decided to build in this area a fort to defend themselves from attacks, and which, years later, served as the main building of the Santa Brígida mine, one of the oldest in Guanajuato and the first one in Mineral de Pozos.
In the late XVI century, the Viceroy of the New Spain granted the Jesuit Order the extraction of metals in this area, so many wells



were dug up to 250 m deep, some of which are still exposed on the arid surface. In 1595 the Jesuits built the famous adobe furnaces in a pyramidal pattern that today are the symbol of Mineral de Pozos.The chacuacos, name with which the furnaces were also known, were used to melt silver, which was produced with the aid of quicksilver or mercury. In this way it was sent to the various minting houses and the coins could be distributed throughout Europe and Asia.Thanks to this mine the town of Mineral de Pozos began to grow. After the Jesuits, some other people took over the mine; other adjacent mines were formed and the town reached a boom, being one of the top producers of silver and other metals in the area. However, over time the amount of the extracted metal was reduced when the Mexican Revolution was in full, so the village was abandoned gradually until it became empty, hence being labeled as a "ghost town".
Details
HM NumberHM25B5
Tags
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, February 5th, 2018 at 10:02pm PST -08:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)14Q E 347944 N 2348589
Decimal Degrees21.23255000, -100.46523333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 21° 13.953', W 100° 27.914'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds21° 13' 57.18" N, 100° 27' 54.84" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling North
Closest Postal AddressAt or near Camino Real de la Plata, Guanajuato , MX
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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