DECLINING PRODUCE
CHAP. XXV.
234
“ If,” says Mr. Ward, “ it were possible toobtain returns from the other mining districts,the disproportion between the produce before andafter the year 1810 would be found to be equallyStriking. In each district the principal mineswere abandoned, the machinery was allowed togo to ruins, and the silver raised was merely thegleanings of more prosperous times ; the workings(where any were attempted) being confined almostentirely to the upper levels 1 .
The only exception to this general decline wasin the mines of Tasco, which was a military sta-tion constantly defended by a numerous body ofroyalist troops. Though once taken by the in-surgents, it was speedily retaken, and the Tribunalde Mineria undertook to work the mines whichhad formerly been the property of Labord, a mancelebrated for wealth acquired by mining, andtheir operations were attended with such successthat the annual produce amounted to four hun-dred thousand dollars.
“ It is a fact,” remarks Ward, “ universallyadmitted, that in almost all the mining districts,although the towns have been ruined by the emi-gration of the wealthy inhabitants, whose capitalswere formerly invested in mining operations, thelower classes have, throughout the revolution,found means to draw their subsistence from the