Old equipment The Church

Well here we are again in a marina. The cost of 4 days is the same as 7 so we decided to stay the 7 days. This would give the Captain time to do the oil changes to the 2 engines and genset. It would also give us more time to explore this wonderful little town.
When Ken does his oil changes it means the floors in the galley become big gaping holes. Sometime with choice words I do not want to hear. I decided to do some sight seeing.
Santa Rosalia was formerly a French copper ore mining town. The town dates back to the 1880’s when the French owned Compania del Boleo (owned by the Rothchild family) and built it under a 99 year concession with the Mexican government. Nearly all the buildings downtown are constructed with wood imported from British Columbia. Most the French style colonial homes with their verandas still stand. El Boleo began mining Santa Rosalia’s copper ore in 1885 and built the brick smelting forges and landmark stacks, a vertical funicular for ore cars, a 25 mile rail line to the docks and the wooden homes for the workers. Gypsum and manganese from Isla San Marcos were smelted here also.
The Company also assembled a prefabricated, galvanized – iron church designed by Alexandre Eiffel for the 1889 World Fair in Paris. The church hasn’t got the character that most Catholic churches seem to have, but to this day it is still used.
I found the more I dug into information about Alexandre Eiffel the more intrigued I became. He was an engineer renowned for his tower in Paris but played a very significant role in the New World. He started a company and created things such as the railroad bridges in Peru, Custom House in Chile, Gasworks in Bolivia and much more, but his most important venture ended his career. In the late 19th century he had argued strongly in favour of building a transoceanic canal across Nicaragua but a few years later he obtained the contract to build the locks for a corrupt plagued French company across Panama. Implicated in irregular contracts, Eiffel was sentenced to 2 yrs in prison and fined a large amount. Though his conviction was overturned, he never returned to his career as a builder.
Down to the docks I went with camera in hand. Here the remnants of the once viable railway were apparent. But I came across something far more interesting. A fisherman and a couple of companions were fixing their nets.
Puedo ver? May I watch?
Si.
The next thing I knew this man had me using the tool to fix his net. I did not find it easy at first but caught on to the method. They laughed as I fumbled through. They asked where I was from. I find that as a Canadian we get great respect. I told them that my Grandfather use to do this work. Mi abuelo utilizar para realizar este trabajo. I am not sure if I said it right but they nodded with smiles so I hope they understood. Its funny but this trip continues to bring up images of my childhood with my grandparent. I don’t mind one bit as they were very special people.
I returned to the boat and Ken was finished.
We continued through the week to learn and see more. Unfortunately we learnt that the El Boleo reportedly mistreated the Mexican workers, by 1903 more than 1400 died of silicosis and labour strikes continued for 50 years. The company left once the ore petered out in 1954. It continued to operate under the Mexican government until 1987.
The town had been divided into 2 sections the upper working class in the wooden homes on the East side and the poorer class living on the West side. The town however seems to be thriving and to date is the most unique town we have seen in Mexico. It has not been wrecked by tourism.
We are planning on departing tomorrow heading back to Isla San Marcos and the sea caves. We will then continue North towards Bahia Los Angeles. We will probably be out of internet range for about 3 weeks so the blog will be done by Single Side Band .

Picture of the Old Factory