Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/464

 424 MEXICO. (near the mine of Moran,) to the shaft of Dolores, (a distance of 2,807 yards ;) seven of the great shafts on the Biscaina V ein, and two on that of Santa Brigida, were repaired down to the adit level, (213 varas,) forming in all a space of 12,439 feet, that had been retimbered, and 5,921 feet that had been actually dug out anew, in order to free it from rub- bish, in the course of two years. 45,400 yards of road were likewise made during the same time, by which a communica- tion for waggons was opened from the different shafts to the farms in the mountains, as well as to the great Hacienda of Regla, between which and the mines, six hundred mules were formerly employed daily in the conveyance of Ores. At all the principal shafts buildings were erected, with maga- zines, and workshops for carpenters and smiths, inclosed by lofty stone walls. At Regla, a thirty- six feet water-wheel had been made, and a wheel-pit built for its reception. Eight of the old arastres, (worked by water,) had been repaired ; dwelling-houses for miners built ; smelting furnaces erected ; stabling completed for 500 mules and horses ; and every pre- paration made for putting the whole establishment into acti- vity, the instant that the drainage of the mines could be effected. To accomplish this, five large steam-engines, (three of WoolFs, and two of Taylor's,) together with one steam stamping-engine, and two small saw mill-engines, amounting in all to 1500 tons of machinery, were sent out from Eng- land ; all of which, at the period of my visit, had been safely transported from the coast to Real del Monte, by the party under the orders of Captain Colquhoun, whose exertions in this most arduous enterprise, had they been made in the field, instead of having occurred in the service of a private Associa^ tion, would have excited both the surprise and the gratitude of his country. Seven hundred mules were employed, during five months, upon this great work, with from seventy to one hundred men ; without including those who had been pre-