Source: Bernstein, Marvin D. Albany : State University of New York, 1964 [i.e. 1965] p. 22 “Robert S. Towne... started working for the Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company. He organized the Mexican Ore Company which bought Sierra Mojada ore, shipping it out by mule train to the Kansas City company's smelter at Argentine, Kansas. He also obtained control of two of the largest mines for the Kansas City company. In June, 1887, Towne supervised for his employer the construction of a smelter at El Paso, Texas, to work Sierra Mojada ores.... Because of El Paso's location at the crossroads (where American ore moved east and Mexican ore north) and the prevalence of cheap labor, which offset fuel and transportation costs, the financial success of the plant was assured.” p. 22 “Believing themselves threatened by Sierra Mojada ore, American lead-mine operators, over the opposition of smelter owners, prevailed upon Congress to insert a duty of lead imports in the McKinley Tariff of 1890. Towne completed the Mexican Northern Railway the same year.” p. 39 “Robert S. Towne chartered the Compañía Metalúrgica Mexicana in New Jersey in 1890. He obtained a concession to open five smelters in Mexico but actually built only one plant at San Luis Potosí in 1892. It became an immediate success working ores from Sierra Mojada, Aguascalientes, and San Luis Potosí. The plant processed Towne-owned ores and did custom work for independents.” p. 61 “Robert Safford Towne was an empire-builder almost unknown outside mining circles. Born in Ohio in 1858, he received a degree in mining engineering in 1880. Gaining experience in Colorado mining camps, Towne joined the Kansas city Smelting and Refining Company. He established its ore-buying agencies in Sierra Mojada and organized the Mexican Ore Company to buy mines there and in Parral. Towne then helped build the El Paso smelter and the Mexican Northern Railroad, serving as president of the railroad. The El Paso smelter and the Mexican Ore Company (but not the railroad) were merged with several other units to form the Consolidated Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company. When it joined ASARCO [American Smelting and Refining Company] in 1899, Towne disposed of his holdings to devote himself exclusively to Mexican affairs.” p. 61 “The heart of Towne's enterprise was the Compañía Metalúrgica Mexicana, a corporation chartered in New Jersey in 1890. He built a smelter in 1891-92 at San Luis Potosí to take advantage of the railroad tapping the mines of Sierra Mojada, the northwest Pacific coast area, and the many mining camps in San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and Oaxaca. Although the bulk of the ore came from the Towne-controlled San Pedro mines, the excellent rail connections overcame the distance from other sources of ore, and the smelter prospered.” p. 62 “Towne's interests were very extensive. To supply the smelter and service his neighboring mines, he controlled the Potosí & Rio Verde Railway and Mexican Mineral Railway, as well as the Mexico Northern. His Alvarez land and Timber Company supplied the needed lumber. To assure a basic ore supply for the smelter he leased mines in the San Pedro district of San Luis Potosí. Towne also held the Veta Rica at Sierra Mojada, which sent about 2,500 tons a month to San Luis; the Montezuma Lead Company, controlling lead mines in Santa Barbara, Chihuahua; and the rich Sombrerete mines in Zacatecas. With the Mexican Lead Company, the Sombrerete Mining Company had additional holdings in La Noria and Chalchuites, both in Zacatecas. Later Towne acquired the tremendous Proaño Hill in Fresnillo, Zacatecas. He organized the Fresnillo Company and opened a 700-ton cyanide plant to treat the silver ores and the old dumps. To help supply the copper furnaces at San Luis, Towne held the Cerro Prieto and the adjoining mines at Concepción del Oro, Zacatecas, and the San Pedro and San Pablo mines in Nuevo León. He acquired minor interests in properties Guachinango, Jalisco, the Urique district of Chihuahua, and a lease on properties in Flojonales, Hidalgo. Towne also headed the Tezuitlan Copper Company in Puebla,... When Towne died in August, 1916, he left an estate appraised at $2,500,000. The value of the property under his control, but not owned personally, was greater.” p. 145 “ASARCO's greatest coup was the absorption of a large part of the Robert Towne properties. Towne's death in 1916, the ravages of the Revolution, and the erratic metal market left his Compañía Metalúrgica Mexicana and its subsidiaries in bad financial straits.... Finally in June, 1923, ASARCO announced that Metalúrgica had been taken over by a holding company, Towne Mines, Inc., whose activities would be directed by ASARCO, although Towne's heirs still held title to the properties. Under a complicated arrangement, ASARCO agreed to provide working capital;... In turn, ASARCO was given a 60 per cent interest in a number of Towne mines, to integrate with ASARCO's own operations... ASARCO appointed all officials of the new company with the exception of Towne's old crony and general manager, Donald C. Brown, who was retained as Vice-President to represent the Towne interests.”

Source: Best, Gerald M. Berkeley, Calif. : Howell-North Books, 1968. p. 73 Monterrery Mineral & Terminal Railway. “Built in 1894 and 1895 between Monterrey and San Pedro, in the State of Nuevo Leon, this connected the mines at San Pedro with the smelters in Monterrery. It was owned by the Mexican Lead Co. and in 1899 was bought by the Mexican Metallurgical Co., at which time the name was changed to Mexican Mineral Railway.” p. 74 F. C. Potosí Rio Verdi. “... primarily a mining railroad, but was a common carrier and furnished passenger service of sorts during its existence. It was built in 1899 and 1900 by the Cía. Metalúrgica Mexicana, a U.S. corporation controlled by the American Smelting & Refining Co.”