The Silver Mines of Hostotipaquillo Part 3: Ex-Hacienda Labor de Guadalupe

The Casa Grande and Capilla overlook a small but attractive Plaza. The bell on the roof is rung by the rope hanging down from it. A mural of the Virgen de Guadalupe can be seen through the arch of the arcade, just under the bell. While the Big House and its Chapel appear to be in good shape, the structures behind them are in ruins. 

The remains of Ex-Hacienda Labor de Guadalupe and the Plaza sit on a slope just above the main road that passes through the pueblo. They are another example of the many haciendas de beneficio (silver refining operations) that once dotted the rugged mountains around Hostotipaquillo. 

In the previous two parts of this series, I showed you other haciendas de beneficio and outlined the organization of the colonial mining industry. I also explained the refining processes and described a number of the problems afflicting miners in this tough and unforgiving frontier country. In Part 3, I'll tell you about the owners of the mines and refining operations and how they acquired their properties. But first, I'll tell you how to find this old hacienda.

Route from Hostotipaquillo to the hacienda. For the route to Hostotipaquillo, please refer to Part 1 of this series. As you approach the outskirts of Hostotipaquillo, the road splits. In the middle of the fork is a statue of the Virgin Mary with the pueblo's name beneath it in colorful letters. Take the right fork and drive approximately 800m (875yds) to another fork. Again, go right until you reach the "T" intersection with Camino Hostotipaquillo. 

Turn right and follow the Camino approximately 6.7km (9mi) to Labor de Guadulape. Follow the road into the town and over a small bridge. After a short distance, you will encounter the Plaza, marked by a line of trees on your right. Park and walk up a stairway and you will find the casa grande and its capilla just above the Plaza. For an interactive Google map of the area, click here.

The Casa Grande, viewed from the right. There are two campanarios (bell towers). The right one, over the Capilla, was used for religious purposes. The one on the left was for announcing the workday's beginning and end. Either one or both might be used for emergency alerts in case of fires or bandit raids. At the top of the left end of the Casa Grande is a bastion with gun slits and another sits atop the right end. Today, in more peaceful times, the Casa Grande is occupied by several local families.

The mines and haciendas de beneficio originally belonged to prospectors who arrived in the early 17th century. They discovered the ore and built the facilities to refine it. The chronicles of Real de Etzatlán, a nearby mining district, describe such early prospectors as "unscrupulous and eager for wealth." The ore they discovered was at or near the surface and easy to mine. However, as this ore ran out, they found it necessary to dig deeper. This required costly equipment, especially when they reached the water table and flooding occurred. As a result, many mines were abandoned or were taken over by men who had the necessary investment capital.

Two calendars hang in the zaguan (entrance foyer) of the Casa Grande. Cowboys and deep religious faith are part of the culture of Jalisco, especially in rural areas. Mexican cowboys (vaqueros in Spanish) long pre-date those in the US. In fact, key elements of cowboy culture, such as cattlemen's associations, livestock brands, and long distance cattle drives originated in medieval Spain. The second calendar displays the Virgen de Guadalupe, who is the patron of Mexico and particularly of its poor and indigenous people. The hacienda and the pueblo which grew up around it were named for the Virgen de Guadalupe.

Merchants were the largest investors in Hostotipaquillo's mining industry. Many small merchants, as well as a few larger ones from Guadalajara, set up shop at the mines and haciendas de beneficio to sell the mine owners and their workers everything they needed. In spite of all the silver production, actual cash was always in short supply. The merchants offered credit and the debts the mine owners incurred often resulted in foreclosures. Direct investment was another avenue to merchant ownership. By the 18th century nearly every merchant in Guadalajara was involved in the mining business.

Behind the Casa Grande, we encountered these old ruins. A set of steps leads up to a second story made of plaster-covered adobe. Near the base of the steps is a square opening that may be part of a wood-fired oven. The structures located behind the Casa Grande are all in ruins and their original functions are hard to discern. The Casa Grande's  architecture is from the 19th century. However, it may have been built later than the ruined buildings behind it. It is possible that this ex-hacienda originated in the 18th or even 17th centuries, with remodeling occurring in later periods. My information is too limited to say for sure. 

Many of the great estates around Hostotipaquillo and other parts of Jalisco originated from the work of a merchant who set up shop at a mine. Often the merchant would establish a monopoly on goods sold at the property through special arrangements with the owner. The merchant might also arrange to buy silver ingots directly from a hacienda de beneficio's owner at a discount and then resell it at a profit. This allowed him to accumulate capital which could then be loaned or invested in barras (shares) of the mine. Over time, he would establish full ownership. 

Next, the merchant/miner might purchase a hacienda de beneficio to avoid paying someone else to refine the ore from his mine. Having integrated these operations, he would then buy a hacienda de ganado y agricola so that he could supply his other operations with food, leather, and mules. Some of these mules would power his machinery and pumps and others would haul the ore from the mine to the mill and then take the ingots to Guadalajara. With all parts of his organization supporting each other, the owner could profit mightily, as long as the silver veins held out and he could obtain the mercury to refine it.

More of the ruined structures. The walls in the foreground are of brick, covered with plaster. Because of their cost, bricks weren't widely used in rural Mexico until the 19th century, so this structure was probably built in that time period. The brick wall is up against another structure made of rough stone, which is probably from the 18th century, or even the 17th. The structures follow the rise of the slope behind the Casa Grande. 

Church organizations and individual clerics were also heavily involved in the mining business. This was in spite of a royal decree in 1642 explicitly forbidding it. The Crown was worried about the Church amassing too much economic and political power. However, this prohibition was widely ignored because Crown officials were far away in Guadalajara or Mexico City. In addition, many of those officials were related to the clerics who became mine owners, or had ties to Church organizations with mining interests.

In the absence of a formal banking system, convents and other ecclesiastical organizations often functioned as investment banks. If the owner of a mine or refining operation defaulted, the Church became the owner. Ownership was also achieved through donaciones (gifts) or through the wills of mine owners who were apparently attempting to buy themselves a "stairway to heaven." A individual cleric who obtained a mine ownership through a family inheritance was expected to divest himself of it over time, but many did not. 

A spiky agave grows in the middle of what was once an adobe room. 

Other owners/investors in the silver mining industry were government officials. Like members of the clergy, officials were forbidden by Crown decree from participation in mining. And, like the clergy, many officials ignored the prohibition. Their public duties resulted in direct contact with owners of mining businesses and official decisions could have significant impacts those businesses. For example, some officials acted as agents for the sale of mercury, vital to the refining process. Others were assayers of silver quality. Still others were tax agents for the Royal Treasury.

In the performance of their duties, government officials could grant favors, overlook transgressions, and affect the course of lawsuits. In return, they might receive a donación, such as a part ownership of a mining property. In some cases, when the favor was great and an owner was particularly wealthy, they might even receive a whole mine. Nepotism was also a factor. Officials would often obtain jobs in the mining business for their relatives or friends. All this was expressly prohibited by the royal decree, but it was impossible to enforce given the distances involved and the greed of the officials.

Firewood stacked against an adobe wall. While electricity and natural gas are available in much of rural Mexico, cooking and heating with firewood are still used in many households. Although it requires more work, firewood is cheaper than the other two energy sources. It is sometimes said in Mexico "things are expensive, but labor is cheap."

Members of the military were yet another important group of owners/investors. A study of Hostotipaquillo's 18th century mining industry shows that at least 38 military officers were owners of mining properties. These included 3 colonels, 31 captains, and 3 sergeants. In many cases, it appears that these military men were primarily doing business with each other rather than with outside parties.

How did they acquire their mining properties? Of the 38 military men, 20 received ownership through donaciones. What may have been given in exchange for these "gifts" is not clear. By contrast, existing records show that only 5 properties were directly purchased by someone in the military.  Another 3 were obtained through herencia (inheritance),  embargo (foreclosure), or denuncio (claiming an abandoned property). The method of acquisition is unknown for the remaining 15 properties.

A rough shed stood next to the firewood. I have always admired how rural Mexicans use whatever is at hand to solve a problem, often with considerable ingenuity. In this case, the shed's builder eschewed cut lumber or some other manufactured support in favor of a forked log. No doubt the lower fork will be useful when the owner of the shed wants to hang something to keep it off the floor. Except for the corrugated metal roof covering the rough branches used for rafters, this could have been a structure from early colonial times.

The merchants, clerics, government officials and military men did not usually run their mining operations themselves. They each had their own professional duties to perform, so they employed relatives or professional administrators to operate the business. In some cases, they simply rented out the properties. The resulting income, whether it was direct or through rentals, enabled the owners to live comfortable lives in Hostotipaquillo or even as far away as Guadalajara.

I found this old stone trough inside one of the ruined buildings. It is impossible to say whether this is an artifact of a bygone era or a more modern creation. Such troughs have been in use for watering animals for hundreds of years and still are. I didn't see any livestock in the ruins, but it is possible that they were somewhere else at the time.

This completes Part 3 of my Hostotipaquillo series. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please leave any questions or thoughts in the Comments section below. If you leave a question, please remember to include your email address so that I may respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim