At the Butters' Divisadero Mines, located twelve miles distant from the Butters' Salvador Mines, a much larger quantity of ore, but of a lower grade than at the Salvador Mine, is treated, about 10,000 tons a month being handled on this property. The Government student has here the privilege of seeing ore, of about $5 a ton, mined and milled. A large electric plant is established, by means of which all the hoisting and pumping are carried on. A large quantity of water is encountered at this mine, and where formerly it was found impossible to handle the water by the use of Cornish pumps, it is now kept under control by means of the Sulzer electrically-driven centrifugal pump. Two sinking pumps, of a capacity of 600 gallons per minute each, have been installed, which are suspended from the surface, and are calculated to operate down to 600 feet in depth. These pumps lift 300 feet to the 300 feet level, and deliver to horizontal station-pumps erected at this level. The most modern electric-generating plant, hoisting, pumping, and ore-compressing plants, are at work upon this property. The mill is of the best-class construction, with a capacity of crushing between 8 and 9 tons per stamp, with tube-mills, Butters' Patent Vacuum Filter, and special methods of precipitation.
At both of these mines complete shops are established, including iron-foundry and wood-working machinery. The shops are competent to deal with the heaviest repair jobs on the machinery in use, and as many spares as are found economical to manufacture, so that a large staff of mechanics are kept busy in the shops.
In a new country like Salvador, it is absolutely essential, for the establishing of the mining industry upon a firm footing, that a large force of natives should be educated in the repair and manufacture of the machinery and extra parts in use at the mines. There are native Salvadoreans who have been educated in these shops, and they have become highly competent mechanics, able to cope with almost any difficulty occurring at the mines. The result of this education will be that less and less foreign help will be required to carry on the business in Salvador.
Anyone living in Salvador who desires to know of the "latest thing" in mining and metallurgy is permitted, through the arrangements which the Salvadorean Government has made with Mr. Charles Butters, to take up any course of study he may desire.
CHAPTER XV
Transportation—Salvador Railway Company—Early construction—Gauge—Bridges—Locomotives—Rolling-stock—Personnel of railway—Steamship service—Extensions—Increasing popularity—Exchange, and influence on railway success—Importers versus planters—Financial conditions—Projected extensions—Geological survey—Mr. Minor C. Keith's Salvador concession.
The means of internal communication are perhaps more apparent and more systematically undertaken than in any of the smaller States, Salvador possessing at present over 100 miles of railway track and a number of excellent roads and bridges, which are being added to and improved continually. The only organized railway system at present is in the hands of a British company, the Salvador Railway Company, Ltd, and its relations with both the Government and the public are of the best.
The concession granted to the company was dated 1885, but it was four years later when a public issue was made—namely, in October, 1889. The concession is for a period of eighty years, dating from April, 1894; at the expiration of the period the railway and all its accessories become the property of the Salvadorean Government. In the meantime, however, it is open to the Government to buy up the existing railway in 1940 if it so desires, at a price to be agreed upon or fixed by valuation. The railway company enjoys protection from competition, and has also preferential privileges (except as against the State) for constructing future extensions.