228 EL PASO 
only a plot of about a couple of acres for cultivation, 
and that seems to have been used asa garden. The 
hills around furnish excellent grazing for any number 
of animals; but for agricultural productions, the popu- 
lation depended upon the cultivated districts at the 
south, in the valley of the San Miguel or Casas 
Grandes, from which they received regular supplies of 
corn, flour, beans and other articles of subsistence. 
These provisions and merchandise were taken to the 
mines by large trains of wagons, either on private 
account or on account of the establishment. There was 
also a considerable trade carried on with the frontier 
towns in Sonora. The nearest settlement was the Pre- 
sidio of Janos, a frontier military post on the San Mi 
guel river, 150 miles off; though the trains with their 
chief supplies were sent from the city of Chihuahua, 
situated at a distance of 400 miles. The return trains 
took back copper ore: this was afterwards sent to the 
city of Mexico, where, owing to the superior quality of 
the metal, it was used chiefly for coinage. It is said 
that the owner had a contract with government to 
deliver the copper there at 65 cents a pound, and that 
sufficient gold was found in it to pay all the cost of 
transportation. I do not doubt the truth of this state- 
ment, as Mr. Courcier, who first worked the mine to 
advantage, amassed a large fortune from it, and Mr. 
McKnight, his successor, also found it very profitable. 
In 1838, a large train from Chihuahua, with sup- 
plies, was attacked and overcome by the Apaches in 
the cafion leading to the mines. Such of the contents 
of the wagons as the savages wanted they took, as 
well as the mules and horses, first giving each man 
