Guatemala will never be a manufacturing country unless coal is found in greater abundance than has yet been done. Even the fuel used in locomotives is imported, and it becomes very expensive because of long and difficult transportation. Some waterfalls exist which might be utilized to develop electric power. This would be a profitable undertaking at this time as some small factories for domestic needs always exist, and electric energy for light and electric street railway system is needed. The only factories that are now found are for the manufacture of coarse textiles, hats, pottery, foundry products and the necessary railway repairs. Pottery ware in the average home is used for flour barrels, cisterns, stoves, baths, stew-pans, coffee-pots, dishes, lamps, floors, etc. The looms in use are of the very crudest pattern, being simply two harnesses worked by the foot of the weaver, and the bobbins are wound on bamboo sticks which are shoved in and out through the web.
The mineral riches have been practically unexploited. The mining archives of the old colonial government show that during the three centuries of Spanish occupancy more than thirteen hundred mines of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin and iron were successfully worked and were a source of great revenue to both church and state, and that enormous quantities of gold and silver were taken from those mines. From one group of mines the records prove that nearly fifty millions of dollars in silver were coined besides large amounts that were shipped to Europe in bullion. From 1627 to 1820 more than thirteen hundred mines of valuable metals were discovered and worked under the Spanish domination, for that government kept an elaborate and accurate record of the mines of the precious metals. On the banks of the Montagua River a few gold mines are being worked. Judging from the few American miners I met, not all of them, at least, are getting rich out of the precious metal. Guatemala is not as highly a mineralized section as Mexico. Little scientific prospecting or exploiting has been done as yet. In Honduras several valuable gold mines are being worked, and Guatemala, sandwiched in between that country and Mexico, must contain some gold. Silver mines are being worked profitably in some parts of the country, and very rich veins of argentiferous lead have been located. Lead, tin, copper, antimony, marble of superior quality, sulphur, asbestos and alabaster have been discovered, and coal in small veins. Mining experts have reported extensive veins of all those metals, but little has been done since the establishment of the republic in working them. These mines will offer great inducements as soon as the transportation facilities are improved and new cyanide mills constructed for the thorough and economical working of the raw ores. The very isolation of the mines and difficulty of establishing communication have heretofore prevented the working of the veins already known. The small quantity of coal is a serious detriment to the development of manufactures, for fuel becomes an expensive item in manufacture. There are a number of waterfalls, however, which might easily be used for the generation of electric power for manufactures and railroads. This field remains entirely undeveloped at the present time, but it is certainly worth investigation.