ruin, the works having been suspended during the Revolution, and the possibility of re-opening them, at present, to any extent, being impeded by a lawsuit between the heirs and executors of the former proprietor.
Without entering into similar details, respecting each of the other districts mentioned in the Table of the Northern Mines, (No IV.) it will be sufficient to state that, with some few exceptions,[1] they all possess, in a greater or less degree, the same advantages; (richness of ores, and veins productive almost at the surface;) that few have been worked to any extent; and, consequently, that the risk of making the necessary experiments there is trifling, in comparison with the immense outlay required by the old mines of the Southern districts, which have, in general, attained an enormous depth. The money which has been invested in the Valenciana, or in Rayas, or in the Biscaina vein, would be sufficient to make a trial of half the Mining districts of the North at once; for no expensive works need be commenced there, until the character of the veins, which it might be in contemplation to work, was sufficiently ascertained. The undertaking would, indeed, require an
- ↑ The ores of El Parral, Măpĭmī, and Cuēncămē, are amongst these exceptions, being poor, and abundant. But it is worthy of remark, that none of these districts are included within the range of the Sierra Madre. They all lie in the flat country to the East of it, and partake more of the character of the Central and Southern districts.
