Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/562

542 of that time, having concluded a contract with the United Company, and ceded to them, as "Aviadores," or Habilitators, one half of the negotiation, he obtained the necessary funds for carrying on the undertaking, and on the 3d of December, 1825, the drainage recommenced. A difference of opinion prevailed, for some time, between the proprietor and the Company, with regard to the best mode of effecting this; Mr. Alaman being desirous to confine his operations to the vein of the Pavellon, while Mr. Anitua maintained the impossibility of ever entirely clearing that vein of water without attacking the Veta Negra at the same time.

From the difference in point of elevation between the two veins, the waters of the Păvĕllōn flow, at first, into the Veta Negra, but, as the extreme depth of the levels of the Păvĕllōn is much greater than that of the lowest workings upon the Veta Negra, the waters, upon rising in the last to the level of the Crŭcĕrŏ of San Răfăēl, flow back again into the Păvĕllōn; and although they might be restrained for a time by building a wall across the Crucero, (as was formerly attempted,) still the danger with which such an accumulation of water would be accompanied, in the event of the present attempt to explore the vein of the Pavellon to a still greater depth proving successful, induced the Company to resolve upon comprehending the Veta Negra in their enterprise, as the only means of ensuring the safety of those engaged in it.