Jim and I went across the street to the smelter. It has been closed for several years and unlike the one in Tacoma, this one has been left to rust and fall apart. You can see why mining companies would rather do business outside the US. NO CLEAN UP COSTS. Also no security. If you want to walk through the smelter and check out the old buckets and cranes, go for it. No fence or signs telling you to stay out. The buckets hooks and cranes were all as they were left the last day the smelter was run.



These big drums must have spun around and crushed rock so the copper could be removed. The gearing to turn the drums is amazing.



These buckets would be full of copper and sent by crane to be poured into ingots.



The open rail cars and tracks for moving material is amazing and I could climb in and around whatever interests me.



This dock looks like it will fall over tomorrow. There is a new machine being put on the dock for the fishing fleet. I would not walk on the dock yet someone is building a business on it now. Do the workers get hazard pay?

Denny

A Little History:

The first European to explore the entire Gulf of California and its coastline was the navigator Francisco de Ulloa , who explored the coasts of the Gulf in 1539.

In 1701 the Jesuit father Juan María de Salvatierra explored the region. In 1705 the Jesuit priest Juan de Basaldúa founded the Mission Santa Rosalia de Mulege in Mulege , a town near the present Santa Rosalia (60 km).
In 1868 he discovered in the Santa Rosalía copper, in the year 1872 he settled in Santa Rosalia and Valle Eiseman company intended to exploit the deposits.

In 1885 the French company installed Boleo SA covered in a concession that gave President Porfirio Diaz for 50 years to exploit copper deposits. With the establishment of the French mining company itself was born Santa Rosalia.

In 1954 the French company El Boleo, SA, closed operations in the town to consider depleted reservoirs, causing an exodus of residents. In 1957 the Mexican government restarted mining in 1972 ending the exhaustion of copper deposits.