mine was almost paying its own expences in 1826, the weekly sales being about seven hundred dollars; but the drainage was proceeding very slowly in consequence of the difficulty of coming to an arrangement with the proprietors of the neighbouring mines. The works in Tĕpĕyāc were likewise suspended, the contract with the proprietor. Colonel Chico, being considered disadvantageous; it was thought, however, that more favourable terms would be obtained. In 1826 the Alimentos were 16,000 dollars; making a yearly disbursement of 88,000 dollars in all on the part of the Company, the periodical recurrence of which, in conjunction with the very large investment required by some of the mines, has proved a burthen heavier than many of the shareholders were inclined to bear.
That they might have commenced their operations on more favourable terms, had they possessed the knowledge of the country which they have since acquired, there can be little doubt; but even now, deducting from their future profits all their unnecessary expenditure in salaries, and machinery, and confining their works entirely to their principal mines, it is the opinion of their agents, that their whole outlay may be repaid in three years, and that their profits will amount subsequently to twenty-six and a half per cent, upon their nominal Capital.
I do not vouch for the correctness of this calculation, but I give it as the opinion of a gentleman extremely temperate in all his views, much
