REVISTA DAP AVENTURA 2014-2015

Aventura al fin del mundo 2014 - 2015
Just before arriving at Punta Arenas:
THE RICH HISTORICAL PAST OF RÍO SECO
Its old industrial
refrigerator and
the remains of its
dock are signs of
a prosperous past
of massive meat
exports.
When nearing Punta Arenas by route 9
Norte, and before km 14 a little town called
Río Seco stands out. More than one visitor
has wrongly heard that this is Punta Arenas.
However this small town that stands out for
its diversity country houses holds a historical
past that was forged in the beginnings of
the 20 th century.
In the past, Río Seco was a place to rest,
for those traveling from Punta Arenas to the
Argentinean Patagonia, or those heading to
Puerto Natales.
Ernestina Velásquez Berríos, widower since
1968, mother of eight and grandmother
of over thirty children is one of the most
senior residents of Río Seco. She vividly
remembers the refrigerator’s apogee because
her husband, Remigio Levinieri used to
work there.
Famous cutter Yelcho stopped at this very
dock when it was returning from Antarctica led
by Luis Pardo. This took place on September
3 rd of 1916 and the goal was to let Punta
Arenas know that the expedition to rescue
the 22 survivors of Ernest Shackleton’s
“Endurance” shipwreck was a success.
An area that holds a great part of such
historical past is that located in what is
called “the old road”, which for many years
was made of gravel and was recently paved.
There one may see the old building where
the first industrial refrigerator of Magallanes
was in use, today converted into a half-used
warehouse, and crossing the street from
here, the old dock of Río Seco.
The refrigerator, which operated from 1905
to 1964 was built and used by the South
American Export Syndicate Ltda. The
equipment was imported from England, the
same origin of the refrigerator’s first workers.
More than 300 people were employed here,
making it the most important in Patagonia,
with a yearly average of more than 230.000
slaughtered animals.
Up to the old dock arrived the ships, then
referred to as “caponeros”, which took the
meat for export, as well as grease and
leathers to the European market, specially
England.
“The caponero ships dropped anchors and
the meat was taken on boats that waited at
the dock, and these sailed to the ship, which
waited near the dock to load the meat. The
slaughtered lamb was frozen and wrapped”,
she remembers.
“Those were good times, because twice a
week the refrigerator used to sell meat to the
locals and the prices were very beneficial.
Río Seco’s biggest peak was linked to the
work of the refrigerator. After its closure,
things have gone down”, Ernestina admits.
THE DOCK THAT
RECEIVED YELCHO
But also, Río Seco’s dock was strategic at
the time. It’s hard to believe today that those
pieces wood and pilings hold the secret to
a past of intense ship activity, where many
of them stopped to load products or gather
supplies before continuing their journey to
Punta Arenas.
Mrs. Ernestina remembers she came to
live in Río Seco just married on the 2 nd of
August of 1944, when the town was just a
small gathering near the shore. The same
path vehicles that take the “old road” travel
these days.
“There were many milk producers and farms
here. Many drove carriages to sell milk in
Punta Arenas. Just a few houses stood here,
not like today. Every fifteen days, everyone
attended the social dance held at the local
house”, she adds.
However, she feels Río Seco deserves a
better future and should count with more
support. For many years they have fought to
have a local firemen company so they don’t
have to wait for help from Punta Arenas in
case of an emergency. In spite of all that, she
is happy to live in Río Seco, and remember
the “golden years” of this small town, 14
kilometers from downtown Punta Arenas.
Adventure at the End of the World
49