Judas at the Jockey Club (3.)
Austin Pabian

As an American in the late 1800's, owning a farm was not too uncommon, especially if that farm was located in Mexico. At this time, though, Mexico was in the Porfirian Era (1876-1911). In this certain era, Mexico was being encountered by two very different cultures at the same time: the industrial, and the traditional. These distinctively separate cultures impacting Mexico made it as what can be described as "backwards" in a sense, as Mexico was practically regressing as the world around it was moving on to bigger and better things. Mexico was so behind that "many had concluded that Mexico had yet to advance beyond chipped rocks as utensils." (p.67). Mexico at this time had locked itself in …show more content…

The tools the actual miners utilized was a steel-tipped iron rod, rather than the contemporary pick of the modern age. These drillers, or barrateros, were known as the elite society of the underground, also being paid much better than others. As far as the ore-transferring process went, it was very dangerous, in the fact of ascending up these wooden poles to the surface. Its said that the workers would rest the bag filled with ore, usually around 150-200 pounds, on his back and begin the ascent. It's also said that the carrier would often have to hold the bag steady with one hand to prevent it from falling, climbing and retaining balance with the other. The process Mexicans used for processing the ore was also deemed very inefficient and mediocre, as "one engineer estimated that using these techniques Mexican miners took away about 60 percent of the metal contained in the raw ore." (p.76). Mexicans also sported yet another downfall, as they relied on rawhide as a crutch for and any all repairs. "Thongs yoked the plow to the ox, bound cargoes on the backs of mules, stitched together everything that could be laced, tied rails to fence posts, and held rafters in place." (p.76). That previous sentence pretty much sums it up- the idea that "what a Mexican could not do with rawhide was not worth doing." (p.76). Mexicans had virtually eliminated the need for any sort of pins or nails in their society. However, though this rawhide-repairing technique was useful on