(Translated extract from Guía de Huelva y Su Provincia para el Año 1892 – Don José Merelo y Casademunt)

Río Tinto

Population: 10,691

Judicial District: Valverde

A township whose administrative centre comprises 1,209 buildings. Its commerce is generally of great importance, and within its municipal boundaries lie the rich mines that bear its name.

Parallel to the Seville railway, another narrow-gauge line departs from Huelva, following the same path up to Niebla, where it then veers left and begins to penetrate the mountains, tracing the winding course of the Río Tinto and reaching the famous mines after a journey of 83 kilometres.

The first thing that strikes the traveller upon arrival at this magnificent mining establishment is the sight of thirty locomotives followed by hundreds of wagons in constant motion. One train advances over a high viaduct; another vanishes into the mouth of a tunnel only to reappear moments later further on a bridge, or disappears into the depth of a trench; two trains, moving in opposite directions on the same track, seem on the verge of a disastrous collision, only to be saved by a quick and timely track switch.

This constant movement; the sharp whistles of the locomotives; the thunderous noise from the workshops; the uninterrupted singing of the miners; the explosions of the blasting charges, which echo from the quarry to the nearby valley, and from there to the mountains, gradually fading through the twists and turns of the terrain—all of these make up the grand spectacle offered to the traveller visiting the Río Tinto mines.

At the head of the operations are the active and well-informed managers Mr Guillermo Rich and Mr Juan J. Stanley. Around 10,000 workers are employed daily in the workshops and other departments.

Located 66.864 kilometres from Huelva.

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