Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1737

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.3 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Chile Exploration Company, Construction Department progress pictures photograph album, 1917-1919, Ms. Coll. 1737, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1917-1919 (inclusive)

Creator:

Chile exploration company

Form:

Photograph albums and Photographs

Abstract:

This annotated vernacular photograph album created by the Construction Department of the Chile Exploration Company, contains 236 mounted black and white photos documenting the progress of construction on various structures at the Chuquicamata copper mine, located in the Antofagasta region of Chile.

The Chile Exploration Company, also known as Chilex, was founded by M. Guggenheim and Sons in 1912, after Albert C. Burrage sold the mining rights to the Guggenheims for stock valued at $25 million in the Chile Exploration Co., the operating arm of the Chile Copper Co., to operate the Chuquicamata copper mine in the Antofagasta region of Chile. The open-pit copper mine was inaugurated in 1915 and plans for a company town were executed in 1916. The company built a significant industrial complex that included a power plant, smelters, rail lines, fresh water and sewage systems. The complex also included housing, recreational, medical, religious and educational facilities for its workers.

The Anaconda Copper Co. bought the mine in 1923, and operated Chuquicamata until Chilean copper assets were nationalized in 1971. Chilex's assets were transferred to Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), the Chilean state-owned mining company.

In 2006, CODELCO began relocating residents from Chuquicamata to Calama due to health and safety concerns resulting from mine pollution. This marked the end of what is believed to be the oldest mining company town in South America.

This annotated vernacular photograph album created by the Construction Department of the Chile Exploration Company, contains 236 mounted black and white photos documenting the progress of construction on various structures at the Chuquicamata copper mine, located in the Antofagasta region of Chile.

The same structures are pictured at various time periods over the course of the album, which is arranged in chronological order, showing the progress of construction. The title on the inside front cover of the album reads: "Chile Exploration Co. Construction Department. Progress Pictures Dec. 1, 1917 to ," with the final photographs dated, May 1, 1919. The first page of the album include four shots depicting "Leaching Vat Excavation," Sub-Station 'A' West," the "Dechloridizing Plant," and the "Tank House Extension" on December 1, 1917. Other notable structures among the remaining 236 images include a "Native School" (featured in several pictures), a "Native Pulperio," "House for School Teacher New Camp," "Band Stand Native Camp," the "American Club," "New Solution Sump," "Mastic Shop," "House for Women," "Bakery," "Toilet House [of] Native School," "Monastery," and more. The images also feature a church, market, staff quarters, a foundry, leaching vats, a tank house, a smelter, and numerous other structures. with a series of photographs picturing a "Concrete Test." A majority of the photographs are labeled and dated.