Friday, February 13, 2015

News, Mines and Industry.

Of course there have been lots of different newspapers produced in Almería in the last hundred and fifty years - here's one from Bédar from 1896 which 'defends those who represent the Spanish mining industry'. Bédar was an important mining town a hundred years ago, and I remember traces of the rusting funicular which once brought ore down to Garrucha when I first arrived here in 1966 (apparently built from Serrena to Garrucha in 1888). Back at the turn of the century, Bédar had a railway (the tunnels still exist) built thanks to the efforts of the British Vice-Consul in Garrucha (those were the days, hey?) called George Pecket (or George Clifton Pecket, as local historian prefer). The rail-line was taken out in 1942.
Pecket was around as far back as 1890, and he apparently died in Algeria in 1904. Garrucha itself was an important port, since there were barely roads into this area, and was a major exporter of ore from as far back as 1838 when silver was discovered in Cuevas del Almanzora. Iron from Bédar and lead followed in the 1850s. The first British Vice-Consul - in 1850 - was Mr Kirkpatrick, and a French Vice-consul opened shop a few years later and the port eventually had representation from Germany, Austria, Greece, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Italy and Uru­guay. Garrucha had its share of wealthy establishments and became in time (I read here) a sort of mini San Sebastian.
The Bédar mines, run by a partnership of Pecket and a Viscayan businessman called Victor Chaverrí was the 'Sociedad Vizcaína de Bédar', and Chavarrí made enough money to later build the ornate twin-towered palace in what is now the Pueblo Marina in the Mojácar coast (the palace cruelly turned into a never-opened hotel a few years ago).
So, what was the weekly 'El Minero de Bédar' concerned with (and did it take adverts)? 


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, very interesting about George Clifton Pecket. He became Vice Consul in Garrucha in 1868 and Consul the year after. He died 27 April 1904. We will release an indepth study about the mines, cables, railways, foundries and ship loading in Bedar, Los Gallardos, Garrucha, Mojacar and Turre from 1840 to 1970 later this year and in both Spanish and English editions. The work will be published in large format of 384 pages with almost 500 illustrations and over 150,000 words. Very limited for English edition so let me know if you want to reserve a copy. Price estimated to be about 30 Euros.
https://minasdebedar.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/port.jpg

Regards Andy Devey

malcolm. said...

Hi Definitely interested in an English language copy. Will there be a Kindle version available?

Unknown said...

Hi Malcolm,

There will not be any electronic copies just a limited edition print run. If you are still interested send me an email to andy-tank-1@hotmail.co.uk and I could add you to the list for an english copy. No deposit required. I will notify everyone when the inauguration events have been arranged. (all subject to Covid restrictions)