It was estimated that the shrinkage of traffic between 1876 and 1885 was not less than $2,000,000 per annum as compared with the period of highest prosperity of the Nevada country. The decrease was due in the first instance to the working out of the ore deposits, not only of the Comstock lode but of nearly all other camps within the states of Nevada and Utah west of Ogden which were tributary to the Central Pacific line. Following this, there was a large falling off in traffic, consisting of mining machinery and all kinds of supplies previously required by the miners at the mining camps, and also a large falling off in passenger travel as compared with the first and prosperous years of operation.[512] Besides the loss of the Nevada mining traffic in the late seventies and early eighties, the Central Pacific also had to reckon with a certain loss of business by reason of the opening of transcontinental competing routes such as the Santa Fé in 1881 and the Northern Pacific in 1883. In the early part of the period the decline in business seems to have been due mainly to local conditions; in 1884, however, as was to be expected, a serious decrease in the earnings from through business occurred. Later Earnings As a contrast to the unsatisfactory character of the returns for the years 1883, 1884, and 1885, the reports of the companies show that, taking the Central Pacific-Southern Pacific system as a whole, the total earnings from 1885 to 1891 steadily increased, both in the aggregate and per mile of line. If we compare the condition of the system in 1891 with its condition in 1885, we find a progress which may be summarized as follows: COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF MILEAGE, CAPITALIZATION, EARNINGS, AND EXPENSES OF THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC SYSTEM, 1885,(*) 1886, and 1891 Item 1885 1886 1891 Mileage operated 4,698 4,847 6,376 Capital stock $171,036,160 $198,668,170 $264,375,066 Funded debt 158,970,716 181,041,680 205,621,373 Gross earnings 25,006,106 31,797,882 50,449,816 Operating expenses 12,149,824 18,514,656 31,163,612 Net earnings 12,856,282 13,283,226 19,286,214 (*) The figures of earnings for 1885 represent the results of from nine to ten months’ operation only.