Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/624

604 on the way are Onābăs (on the Southern bank of the river Yaqui,) and Los Ălămŏs, a celebrated mining district, situated between the rivers Mayo and El Fuerte, in a barren plain, where supplies, even of the necessaries of life, are drawn from the valleys of Oposura and Sonora in the upper part of the State.

The mines of Alamos lie nearly five leagues to the North of the town. They resemble those of Catorce in the character of the veins, which are mostly from six to eight varas in breadth, and produce ores varying from fourteen to thirty marcs of silver to the monton. The principal mining proprietors are four brothers of the family of Almādŏs, who are said to possess a capital of half a million of dollars each: but the merchants are numerous and wealthy, and the town itself, which took its origin from the mines, is built with considerable magnificence. It contains six thousand inhabitants, and from three to four thousand more are employed daily in the mines.

To the North-east of Alamos, and nearly due West of Jesus Maria, upon the slope of the Sierra Madre, towards the Gulf, lies the "Mineral" of San Jose de Mŭlātŏs, discovered in the year 1806, and registered as a "Placer de Oro," on account of the quantity of gold found in the small stream which descends from Mŭlātŏs to the river below. On investigating the ravine, from which this stream issued, three elevated crests were discovered, (one of them more than one hundred varas in height,)