The Placer herald., 1865-02-11

NAV lose his all, by working upon All III
ci'o>en spot few instances have occurre IN
which district Of known richness has failed
to make a profitable return. Some OF the
mines have proved siugu.ary rich, AS the
great mine of La Luz, to which reference
has been made, to which may be added the
mine OF Zavala, which produced "a 900 900
worth Of silver in two years; and the metal
iferous dust collected at the mouth Of lhe
mino was eagerly bought by proprie,"r- OF
ANA ganalion works, who Travelled from fiji
to sixty leagues for the purpose of ob,aini' 9
it, at the rate Of 81 for the pound OF ore.
Workings of this high return are not, how
ever, the most enduring, and the greatest
losses in Mexican mining have been ooca
stoned by the injudicious search for rich
neg elected The great Real del Monte mine,
to the operations Of which we shall presently
advert, raised annually 10000 tons of ore,
from every ton of which is extracted sixty
ounces of silver; or six feet cube of pure
metal was produced from a cube Of seventy
four feet of rock.
This mine, or rather group Of mines,
affords one Of the most striking illustrations
Of the fluctuations Of prosperity on record.
Prior to the year l749 little was known Of
the Real del Monte, except that it had yield
ed considerable quantities of silver from
irregular and detached surface workings, and
it was temporarily abandoned, as the diff
Guilty of keeping the water increased; but
having been taken in hand by the celebrated
Count de Regla, he pursued the rich veins to
the depth of two hundred yards from the
surface, employing for pumping five thousand
mules. lie thus extracted, at comparatively
small cost, up to the time OF his death in
1871, silver to the value of 81 5 100000. In
1898 the mines were abandoned from the
impossibility, with the means at command,
of longer coutendng with the water. In
1924 they we're taken by an English com.
pany, machinery of enormous power was
transported from England to Vera Cruz, and
from thence at immense cost to the mines
They were found quite as rich as had been
anticipated, but the result Of twenty-ihree
years of energetic working was that, al
though the mines had produced al0,4sl AIS
worth Of silver, the expenditures had reached
the larger sum of SIS, ,3sl ,633 leaving a loss
of nearly $5,00O,O00. 1t is scarcely sur
prising that even the energy and persever-
ance of English advenurers should have
been exhausted after so long a period Of
heavy outlay and hopes deferred. The Eng
lish company was accordingly dissolved and
its mines and property were sold to com,
pany OF Mexican adventurers.
One of the veins which had been acquired
by the English company, but which had been
neglected by reason Of the comparative pow
erty OF its ores, was then worked energeti
cally by the new company. 1t is now the
Rosario mine. The sum of &C., 900 only
was expended in putting it into working or
der, and this was repaid by the produce Of
the following year. AT the end Of twelve
years the working of the Rosario mine has
resulted in the net profit of $3.50, ,205, or
81, l,769,04l. During the latter portion of
this period, however, the mine SO much inn
proved that, in the five years terminating in
December, 1862, a clear profit of G9s6, 100
was realized, being at the rate of f24G, 527
per annum.
The group Of mountains in which the
mines of the Real del Monte are situated, is
from l 900 to $500 feet above the level Of
the plain which runs for about sixty miles
nearly on level from their foot to the city
of Mexico. Within this group there are
three principal mining districts, namely, the
Real del Monte, Pachuca and El Chico. The
Real del Monte may be said to have acquired
all the principal mines Of that district, and
also those Of Pachuca, but there are many
places not included in their rights in which
other Rosarios may lie hid. An English
company is now at work near Rosario, in
the hope of obtaining similar prize. The
town of Real del Monte enjoys delightful
climate, and at no great distance from it is
the village Of ST. Sebastian, lying at the bot
tom of one of those glens or barrancas SC
frequent on the table.ands of Mexico. From
the edge of stupendous precipice the spec
tator may look down perpendicular gorge
$500 feet in depth. St. Sebastian possesses
high temperature, and supplies Real del
Monte with pine apples, oranges, plaintains
and other tropical fruits. In the descent to
it from Real del Monte, distance of twelve
miles, a traveller may pass in winter, in three
hours from a region Of ice to one of the
sugar cane and the banana.
London Quarterly Repiew, April, 1864