Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/640

620 1810, when a Company, formed for the purpose in Zacatecas, divided upon its dissolution, in 1817, the sum of 75,000 dollars upon each "barr." But the mine was ruined in the course of their operations, and though contracted for by the United Company upon false representations, it was given up in 1825 by Mr. Alaman, who found, upon personal inspection, that the drainage could not be effected for a less sum than 400,000 dollars, while the accounts of the lower levels were too contradictory to afford any certainty that this large investment would be repaid.

On entering the mountains North of Zacatecas, about a league from the town is found the first of the two great parallel veins by which they are traversed. Upon this are situated the mines of San Bernabé, Malanoche, Pĕrĕgrīnă, and Rōndănēră, the three last of which are considered as one "negotiation."

San Bĕrnābĕ was the first mine denounced in Zacatecas. The vein was worked by the "Conquistadores," à tajo abierto, (by an open cut,) for the space of 800 varas; and the opinion then entertained of its productiveness is recorded by an old song still in the mouths of the lower classes at Zacatecas, and composed in commemoration of the marriage of its first proprietor Ibarra, with the daughter of the Viceroy Velasco. The Company