Our Father of Miracles
The year was 1773 and a traveling musician named Ventura Ruiz was traveling by horseback through the Sierra Catorce Mountain Range. As luck would have it the horse wondered away from the campsite and Ruiz struck off after the horse on foot in an attempt to recapture his only means of transportation. Ruiz made his way through the cactus, stumbling over the rocks and into the canyon just south of what is now Real de Catorce. As light began to dim and the cold of the night became more unbearable Ruiz temporarily gave up his quest and made a campfire to keep warm and to scare away the bad spirits. It was a small fire that did little more than create a twinkle in the canyon, leaving Ruiz feeling very small and alone.

When Ruiz awoke in the morning, his bones chilled as the campfire had dwindled to little more than embers. He looked about him, hoping that the horse had returned to feel the warmth of the fire he had built but as luck would have it, the horse was nowhere to be found. Before continuing his search for the horse, Ruiz knelt to scatter the ashes of the campfire with a stick. As he did so, he noticed a glistening reflection of the early morning sun. As he knelt before this small fire high the Sierra Catorce, alone, cold and hungry, Ruiz knew instantly that he was now being rewarded for his hardship, for there in the fire was a lump of silver ore that had been refined by the heat of the campfire.

This small lump of silver ore was the first of tons of silver to be yielded by what became known as the San Augustin Vein. Ruiz headed to town on foot to register his claim as "Our Father of Miracles." So begins the story of Real de Catorce.

Spanish Rule
At the time, Mexico was under the rule of Spain and the Spanish crown focused on mineral wealth that they believed was vital to their continued success as a world power. For over 200 years the Spanish had used Mexican labor to work the silver mines of Taxco and Zacatecas, as well as the gold mines of Guanajuato. As the resources of these mines were being exhausted the Spanish sought to establish new mines. Vast parcels of land were designated as "Reales" or royal mining districts. One of the districts was the area of San Luis Potosi state near the mountains of Catorce, thus the name Real de Catorce or the Royal Mining District of Catorce.

As King Carlos III of Spain received a fixed percentage of all production for any claims filed, prospectors were encouraged to search for new veins, in which they could create great amounts of wealth overnight by exploiting the mines and the Mexican laborers. Silver had been discovered in San Luis Potosi.   At over 9,000 feet and with no roads, the Sierra Catorce Mountain Range was not an ideal place to search as a source for silver. However, with Ruiz' finding of silver on the ground for the taking adventurous miners were immediately attracted to this new vein in hopes of generating great wealth.

Instant Wealth
Bernabe Antonio Zepeda was one of the first to find his fortune in Catorce. Zepeda was clearing a spot to create a camp. Zepeda pulled a bush from the ground and found a lump of silver clinging to the roots. He purchased a claim and called it the Guadalupe Mine. Within the first few weeks of operation his mine yielded over a half million ounces of silver. He quickly moved to acquire more land with his new found wealth in the famous Purisima Vein of silver.

Silver Belly
Padre Flores owned the most famous of the mines in Catorce. Padre Flores had purchased a small claim for 700 pesos at north end of Catorce in 1781, as several loose pieces of ore had been found nearby. Miners working under the supervision of Padres Flores began digging down into the earth following very narrow veins of ore when after descending about 45 feet he discovered a vaulted chamber filled with earth that was teaming with silver ore. The priest called his mine La Bolsa de Dios Padre or The Purse of God. This find created a wealthy man of the priest, but he continued his digging.

After the miners dug another 60 feet, they hit another chamber that was much larger than the first one and yielded even more silver ore. In the following two years, the mine yielded 7 million pesos. This was not a bad return on Padre Flores' original 700 peso investment. Padre Flores, being a generous man, kept half of the silver for himself and divided the other half with his miners.

Padre Flores became known as Silver Belly. He was so named after he had a local silversmith craft a huge buckle of silver, which he wore constantly.

Silver for Groceries
Not all the riches were created by miners. Realizing the need for necessities such as food, a Senior Zuniga opened the first business supplying the miners of Real de Catorce with meat and vegetables. There was no money and thus Zuniga charged an equal weight for his products in silver. He made so much money selling his groceries that he was able to purchase the claims to San Jeronimo and Santa Ana mines that were located in the La Luz Vein of Silver. He was making so much money at this point that he sold his grocery business for 2000 pesos and took up mining full time.

The two mines brought Zuniga almost 10 million pesos in just a few years. When Zuniga died he left a foundation to continue the mining operations and bequest 4 million pesos to charity. All this even after giving a share to the Spanish Crown.

Royal Mining District of Catorce
Originally, Real de Catorce was named, Real de Minas de Nuestra Senora de la Immaculata Concepcion de Guadalupe de Los Alamos de Catorce or the Mining Kingdom of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Guadalupe from the Cottonwoods of Catorce. Perhaps to save time in writing the name of the town or maybe no one could remember the entire name it was shortened to Real de Catorce or Royal Mining District of Catorce.

There are as many stories about the name Real de Catorce as there are people to tell them , but in truth most area a bit far fetched. The word Real means Royal Mining District and Catorce was taken from the mountain range of Sierra Catorce. One popular story printed many times over is that the name gives homage to fourteen soldiers of the Royal Crown of Spain who took refuge in the mountains and were killed by bandits. Another story simply credits the name to fourteen pieces of silver or fourteen Royal coins, but there is no significance given to such an odd number of coins.

The Mother Lode
By 1779 there were over 100 mines in operation in Real de Catorce and more than 300 new claims were filed each year. Real de Catorce produced the richest mines in all of Mexico and the veins were much purer than any other vein in Mexico at the time. The town of Real de Catorce was second only to the La Chota mine in Peru for the quantity of silver being produced for the Spanish Crown. They had not seen such an abundance of silver ore in over 200 years. This was indeed the Mother Lode.

Simple Becomes Complicated
It has always been true that man makes simple things complicated at times. No where else was this more true than in Real de Catorce. When Ventura Ruiz and his peers first began mining operations they need little more than a shovel to dig away the surface of the earth to find a great quantity of silver.

When Padre Flores began following the narrow threads of silver ore he found it necessary to dig shafts deep into the earth. His excavations revealed that most veins ran East to West , but there were opposing veins running north and south at times. It seemed that the veins took on a life of their own in the rugged terrain of the Catorce.

In order to dig deep into the earth, the miners needed ladders and shoring to keep the walls of the tunnels from caving in on them. The hills were stripped of all available trees and the vegetation has still not grown back in some places.

The Peasant Uprising
In 1783, the Spanish required all miners to register claims and work them rigorously while paying huge royalties to the Spanish Crown. King Carlos III required mining the riches and paying royalties to Spain to be a patriotic duty of all Mexicans. From 1522, with the Spanish conquest of Mexico to 1800, the estimated production of silver bullion was said to be in the billions of pesos.

For thirty years the people of Mexico, mostly peasants were forced into slave labor to mine the silver and gold, while the wealthy became more wealthy. In 1810, the peasants began uprising against the slave labor and the taking of their land by the Spanish. By 1820, the uprisings were taking their toll on the mining operations. Spaniards and wealthy creoles were expelled as Mexico regained its independence from Spain. As the money stopped flowing to Spain, the Mexican politicians began making requests for the mine owners to contribute a share of the mines to the cause of independence.

Water In the Desert
Up until this time the high and very dry conditions of Real de Catorce had made mining easy as shafts could be dug without fear of water seepage. As the requests for more and more money came from the political arm of Mexico, the mine owners were forced to dig deeper and deeper. The shafts became more vulnerable to water seepage. It was necessary to continue mining day and night to keep the seepage from filling the mines.

Machinery was needed to drain the seepage from the mines but no such devices were to be found in Mexico. A steam engine was ordered from England to solve the problem. An Englishman, Robert Phillips, was hired to accompany the engine from England to Tampico, Mexico and insure its installation in Real de Catorce.

Phillips arrived in Tampico on May 16, 1822 and immediately recognized that traveling a quarter of the way around the world was just the beginning of his trip. There was no direct passage from Tampico to Real de Catorce, some 300 miles to the northwest. Phillips would have to move the huge engine north to Monterrey and then south to Real de Catorce over 900 miles in total. Even then there were no roads and his men had to clear passage by hand as they progressed north to Monterrey.

Three months later they arrived in Linares having completed only one-third of their journey. Five months into the journey they reached Saltillo, Mexico and headed south to Real de Catorce. They finally arrived in Potrero and their equipment was taken up two miles of steep mountain trails to Real de Catorce. The trip had taken 12 months from England to Real de Catorce. It would take another year to put the equipment in place, place the pipes and have the steam engine ready for pumping, but by this time the funding had run out and the project was abandoned. The steam engine was left in place as Phillips returned to England and local workers attempting to use the engine allowed it to blow up.

By 1850, the miners had learned to collect and raise water from the mines using rawhide bags that were lowered into the mines by boring mills. They were able to move up to 400 gallons a minute with the rigs and once again the La Concepcion Mine was the lead producer in the Purisima Vein.

Civil War
By 1856, the troops of dictator Benito Juarez were becoming so abusive in the collecting of the royalties that many miners, merchants and townspeople were threatened away by the fear of violence. As the political turbulence continued, transportation was interrupted and huge amounts of unrefined ore stood stacked high at the mine entrances. As the merchants left the supply wagons dwindled and thus were not able to take the ore from the town. Eventually, the mine owners found the situation hopeless and ceased production rather than continue paying royalties on ore that they could not get to market. As the mining operations ceased the shafts begin filling with seepage and soon were so filled that mining came to a complete halt.

Production Resumes
At the end of the Mexican Civil War, silver production was resumed but still the miners were plagued by the water seepage as they dug deeper and deeper. The problem of water seepage was finally solved with the construction of Mexico's first electric plant in Real de Catorce in 1896. Electric motors begin pumping the water from the mines and this was such an amazing innovation that President Porfirio Diaz came to Real de Catorce to dedicate the electric plant.

Mining operations continued for many years and the Santa Ana Mine was so successful that it survived the Mexican Revolution. It was finally closed in 1938 after the price of silver dropped and stayed down for many years.

Today, there are still mining operations in Real de Catorce and one company has just invested another 5 millions dollars in resurrecting one of the veins.