PRODUCTION. Until recent years the silver mines of :Mexico were by far the richest on record, and in spite of imperfect . methods of mining and transportation, Mexico has produced more than one-third of the total output of silver in the world, one-half of the production of the Republic having been derived from the central mining districts of Guanajuato, Zaca tecas, and San Luis Potosi. According to Hum boldt, the Veto Madre lode of Guanajuato alone produced $250,000,000 in silver between 1556 and 1803. The total recorded production of silver in Mexico from 1521 to 1892 amounted to 83.170,307 kilograms, equal in coinage value ($41.57 per kilogram) to $3,457.389,662, al though in recent years, owing to the exhaustion of the upper levels in the mines, the production has decreased in value to about $30,000,000 per annum. Until 1860, Bolivia and Peru, followed by Chile, were next to Mexico in the importance of silver production. The total output of silver in Bolivia from 1545 to 1891, was 42.071,231 kg., while that of Peru from 1533 to 1891 inclusive, aggregated 32,199,263 kg., and that of Chile from 1545 to 1891 inclusive, is reported at 4,855,571 kg. In the last few decades the remarkable development of silver-mining in the western part of the United States has increased the out put so that it now equals that of Mexico, and at present these two countries supply nearly three quarters of the world's total annual production of this metal. In Europe Spain has been the most productive country. The richest mines are in the Province of Guadalajara. They were ex tensively operated as late as 1846, but recently the quantity of silver annually produced has de creased to about 180,000 kg, Austria-Hungary, Saxony, and the Harz Mountain district in Ger many have contributed largely to the total output of Europe. The total production of silver in Germany from 1493 to 1875 inclusive is re ported at 7,904,910 kg. The silver mines at Kongsberg, Norway, have long been famous, although at the present time the output is comparatively insignificant. The mines of Lan
rion, in Attica, famous in antiquity for their yield of silver, are now worked mainly for other metals.
The annual production of silver in the United States has increased steadily from an-average of about GOO kilograms in 1S34, to nearly 2,000,000 kilograms in 1892—the aggregate reported pro duction during tins period being approximately 85,000,000 kg. Of this the famous Comstock lode in Nevada produced approximately 5,000,000 kg. during the period from 1859. the year of its discovery, until 1891; the value of the gold pro duced with the silver at the Comstock mines amounted to more than $140,000,000 in value. Classified by States, the production of silver in the United States during 1900 was: Colorado, 20,336.712 ounces (derived chiefly from the lead, copper, and gold ores of Lake, Pitkin, Mineral, Ouray, Clear Creek, and San Miguel counties) ; Alontana, 17,300,000 ounces (chiefly from argen tiferous copper ores of Bntte) ; Utah, 9.569,183 ounces; Idaho, 6,100.000 ounces (from argentif erous lead ores of the Coeur d'Alene district) : Arizona, 1,750,000 ounces; California, 1,170,902 ounces; other States, 3,335,000, making a total of 59.561,797 troy ounces.
workable metals. For the production of silver and its use as money, see MONEY ; PRECIOUS METALS.
The world's production of silver and the ratio of silver to gold since 1492 are in the fol lowing table, compiled from statistics collected by Adolf Soetbeer and the United States Mint: - It is difficult, if not impossible, to forecast with any reasonable degree of accuracy the fu ture production of silver in the world. A large part of the output is obtained as a by-product in the treatment of certain copper, lead, and gold ores, consequently the total output of silver, to some extent, will go hand in hand with the increased or decreased output of these metals; yet any very marked increase from these sources may cause the price of silver to decline to such an extent as to render unprofitable its direct ex traction from ores that do not contain other