We were having lunch and spending a couple hours in Santa Rosalia before heading out to our ultimate destination of the day, San Ignacio about 1 1/2 hours away by van......
Santa Rosalia was founded in 1884 by the French mining company
Compagnie du Boleo. They operated the El Boleo copper mine until 1954. Unlike most mining operations which are far removed from population centers the industrial facilities for this mine were located in the middle of town. The metallurgical converter (smelter) and the reverberatory furnace (another type of smelter unit) were spewing deadly gasses and pollutants all over the town. A Santa Rosalia historian told me that about 7 or 8 people died daily directly due to the operation of these furnaces.....evidently the stacks were not high enough to properly disperse the pollutants from the melting processes and it all fell back into the town.
After the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States in 1869 many thousands of the Chinese immigrant workers who built the railroad went to Santa Rosalia to work in the El Boleo mine. Sadly many thousands died here because of the deadly working and living conditions. There is a huge cemetery on a mountain ridge overlooking the town and thousands of the white crosses up there have Chinese names on them. We didn't have time to visit up there this trip.....next time!
French train engine relic from the old days....notice the name of the mining company painted on the side....
Old abandoned mine from the glory days .....right in the middle of town!!!
French influence still here.......
Currently, a Korean consortium is in the process of reopening the mines.....
Santa Rosalia has two claims to fame. The first is a metal church that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, built in France and dismantled, then shipped here and reassembled. This church, the Iglesia de Santa Barbara is beautiful in a plain sort of way. I was expecting something along the grandiose design of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Iglesia de Santa Barbara
There was a wedding going on.....
Interior shot of the Eiffel Church....
Another interior view....you can see the metal construction of the structure above the wood facade ...pretty cool!
I regret having to leave you on the edge of your seats but you'll have to wait until next time to explore Santa Rosalia's second claim to fame.
Until then .... peace to you all...
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