Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/468

 428 MEXICO. flourishing town created, where, two years before, nothing but ruined houses were to be seen. It is to be regretted that the sudden change of feeling, which took place in England, with regard to Mining adven- turers in general, should have compelled the directors of the Tlalpujahua Company to suspend the execution of one of the most magnificent mining works that has yet been planned in Mexico ; the execution of which, although attended with con- siderable expense at the outset, would have proved highly advantageous to the interests of the shareholders, had proper provision been made for its completion. The mines of Tlal- pujahua, having been worked at a time when the science of mining was in its infancy in Mexico, cannot be drained by machinery without a very considerable expense ; it having been found necessary, in many instances, to begin, by enlarg- ing the shafts, in order to allow of the application of the larger horse-whims, (Malacates,) used in other districts. To remedy this inconvenience, as well as to obviate the disadvan- tages with which drainage, by a multiplicity of small adits unconnected with each other, could not fail to be attended, it was in contemplation to drain all the principal mines at once, by the construction of one immense adit, {Galerie cPecoule- ment,) for which the local peculiarities of the district seemed to offer extraordinary facilities. The ground was surveyed by the principal Engineer of the Company, Mr. Moro ; and the opinion of the Director, (Mr. Rivafinoli,) with regard to the utility of the projected work, coinciding entirely with that of the Head Miner, (Mr. Burkart,) of whose indefatigable exertions it is impossible to speak too highly, — the line for this stupendous gallery was traced, and the work itself com- menced early in 1826. The whole length of this adit, from its mouth, which is si- tuated in the valley of Tepetongo, about a league from Tlal- pujahua, to the point at which it intersects the great Coronas Vein, will be 5,176 yards. At 4,976 yards it cuts the Vein