Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/380

364. In 1794 they were re-opened, and the Mine continued in activity till 1801; when, although the produce in the seven years had amounted to six millions of dollars, the undertaking was given up, as not affording sufficient profit to compensate the risk.

Since then no attempt has been made to reach the deeper levels, the works, which have been partially carried on, having been confined to portions of the vein, which had been previously neglected. Even these were abandoned during the Revolution, when the amount of silver raised, (as has been shown,) did not exceed 200,000 dollars.

The Company now stands, with regard to Count Regla, exactly in the position in which Bustamante and Don Pedro Tereros, (the ancestor of Count Regla,) stood with regard to the original proprietors of the Biscaina vein. The value of the mines is known, and the abundance of the ores in the lower levels ascertained, but these levels have become inaccessible in consequence of a defective system of drainage; and the application of the powers of steam is now to effect what was attained, in the first instance, by the gallery of Moran. It is immaterial whether the necessity for a change of system occurs at one hundred and twenty, or at two hundred and seventy yards below the surface, provided the powers of the machinery are equal to the increasing difficulty of the task. In 1727, the enterprise was upon a comparatively small