Such vast wealth as was extracted from some of these mines brought not only material riches, but royal honours and State positions to their owners. Titles of nobility were given by the Spanish sovereigns to fortunate mine-owners, some of whom had afforded loans or rendered other services, and they received the high reward of being admitted into the ranks of the Spanish aristocracy. Thus the builder of the great church of Valenciana at Guanajuato, which has been described in this chapter, from plain Antonio Obregon became Count of Valenciana. And, again, another miner of that city, Sardaneta, who drew millions from the famous Rayas mine, from the _bonanza_ which his persistent adit upon the "mother lode" laid bare, received the title of Marquis of Rayas. Still another--marquis and viscount--this wonderful city and its silver mountains afforded in Francisco Mathias, the owner and worker of mines upon this mighty ore deposit. To some of these men, as related, there have remained monuments in the great churches they built. The Marquis of Sardaneta raised up the massive and enduring structures which form the buildings of the Rayas mine at Guanajuato, whose striking architectural features of flying buttresses, massive walls, and sculptured portals arrest the traveller's attention. No sheds of props and corrugated roofs are there; but arches, pillars, and walls of solid stone, cut and carved, defying the centuries--and above their portal is the sculptured image of Michael the archangel. Pachuca, the wonderful silver-producing city not far from the capital of Mexico, produced a Mexican noble. This was Pedro Romero de Terreros, who, in 1739, having discovered a great _bonanza_, enriched himself by this characteristic stroke of fortune. He rendered some service to the King--presenting a battleship to the Imperial Navy--and was created a count--Conde de Regla. It is not to be supposed that the Spanish Government did not recognise, in its demands for bullion from its colony of Mexico, any necessity for scientific advancement in mining. A petition sent to Carlos III. in 1744 by various prominent persons, and originated by one of the foremost miners of the country, secured the Royal assent to the creation of a "Mining Tribunal," and towards the close of the century this was established, with a school where the sons of poor miners received gratuitous education in mining, without distinction of caste or colour. Indeed, the sons of Indian chiefs of the Philippines were brought over and instructed here, and returned later to stimulate gold mining in their native land. A special tax on miners was then imposed for the purpose of raising an adequate building, and this was completed in 1813, and it has been considered one of the best architectural features of the capital. It contained a special chapel, where services were held for the students up to the time of the Reform, after which it was turned into a library.