Qualla: Valenciana Mine https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Valenciana Mine https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine Valenciana Mine: Introduction https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine/ Photo credit Sangall90, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1803, Alexander von Humboldt descended into the Valenciana mine and came back up astonished. In his "Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," he recorded that the mine had generated "four hundred to six hundred million pesos, at least, of annual utility" for its owners. Even by the standards of colonial excess, those numbers were extraordinary. Six kilometers northeast of Guanajuato's historic center, the Bocamina -- the mouth of the mine -- still opens in the earth directly behind the wall of the San Cayetano church, as if the wealth and the gratitude for it grew from the same hole in the ground.

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/9exz-valenciana-mine-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Valenciana Mine: A Young Man's Gamble https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine/ Photo credit Sangall90, CC BY-SA 3.0. The mother vein of Guanajuato was discovered in 1548, but the Valenciana mine did not reach its peak until more than two centuries later. In 1760, a young man named Antonio de Obregon y Alcocer borrowed money from Pedro Luciano Otero, a merchant connected to the nearby Rayas mine...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/9exz-valenciana-mine-a-young-mans-gamble.mp3 0:06 2 full Valenciana Mine: The Church That Silver Built https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine/ Photo credit Sangall90, CC BY-SA 3.0. Obregon expressed his gratitude the way wealthy colonial miners did: he built a church. Construction of the Temple of San Cayetano began in 1775 and was completed in 1788, directed by architects Andres de la Riva and Jorge Archundia. The style is Churrigueresque -- an ornate vari...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/9exz-valenciana-mine-the-church-that-silver-built.mp3 0:06 3 full Valenciana Mine: Decline by Degrees https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine/ Photo credit Sangall90, CC BY-SA 3.0. Silver does not last forever, and neither did the families who controlled it. When Obregon's son inherited the mine in 1788, the property was divided into twenty-four shares among three families. Production held for a time, but the nineteenth century brought floods, undercapitali...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/9exz-valenciana-mine-decline-by-degrees.mp3 0:06 4 full Valenciana Mine: From Revolution to Cooperative https://qualla.com/valenciana-mine/ Photo credit Sangall90, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Mexican Revolution suspended most mining operations around Guanajuato. American capital revived the sector after 1922, but the crash of 1929 and declining ore quality brought another downturn. In 1936, miners at La Valenciana went on strike; the dispute lasted into 1937. When...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/e/x/z/valenciana-mine-wp/9exz-valenciana-mine-from-revolution-to-cooperative.mp3 0:06 5 full