Santa Rosalia (day six) A little of France in Mexico.
The Log of Captain Pieter Visser
Throughout the early hours of the morning we continued on a Northerly course 4 nautical miles off the East coast of Baja California. We passed Isla Carmen, which is of volcanic origin. At dawn we approached the anchorage of Santa Rosalia and the tenders began to take passengers ashore.
Santa Rosalia history below images.
Click on thumbnails for full size image, then back bar to return here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Boarding Tender |
Heading for shore |
Famous bakery |
Waiting for bread |
El Boleo ore Dock |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Eiffel designed |
Church interior |
School girls |
French ore engine |
El Boleo smelter |
||||
|
church |
helped passengers |
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
French influence |
School |
School girls |
City Hall |
City Hall verandah |
Santa Rosalia is a mining town with a French flavor. In 1885 the French company, El Boleo, initiated the operation of rich deposits of copper within a concession for 99 years. In exchange, the company was obligated to build a town, the port, public buildings, establish a maritime route and create employment. This is an old town with wooden houses and buildings painted in pastel colors, set in blocks and streets set right in the middle of the desert. The El Boleo sites have been abandoned for years but the ruins remain as a unique industrial museum.
The galvanized iron church was designed and built in Paris by Alexandre Eiffel. It was then disassembled and shipped to Santa Rosalia. (Just as the Eiffel Tower was to New York.)