David K
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The 1930 AUTO CLUB BAJA GUIDE and MAP
Now at vivabaja...
https://vivabaja.com/1930-automobile-club-guide-and-map/
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BajaTed
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DK
TJ to Ensenada: Halfway House mentioned
How long has the "Halfway House" been in existence?
First place I remember as a kid eating @ with my parents on our regular trips to Quintas Papagayo.
Es Todo Bueno
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Don Pisto
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Quote: Originally posted by BajaTed  | DK
TJ to Ensenada: Halfway House mentioned
How long has the "Halfway House" been in existence?
First place I remember as a kid eating @ with my parents on our regular trips to Quintas Papagayo.
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hey Ted first opened in 1922...
[Edited on 6-11-2022 by Don Pisto]
there's only two things in life but I forget what they are........
John Hiatt
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David K
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Thanks Don Pistol!
My folks talked about Halfway House and for me, we would stop for dinner often.
Quintas Papagayo was the place run by Walt Hussong and his son's.
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bajaric
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Cool map. Perhaps one of the earliest (accurate) road maps of Baja. Regarding El Arco, states "El Arco furnishes employment for 100 men engaged in
the mining of gold", a statement that has been repeated by travel writers ever since, when what they were actually mining at El Arco was probably a
gold-bearing copper ore.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by bajaric | | Cool map. Perhaps one of the earliest (accurate) road maps of Baja. Regarding El Arco, states "El Arco furnishes employment for 100 men engaged in
the mining of gold", a statement that has been repeated by travel writers ever since, when what they were actually mining at El Arco was probably a
gold-bearing copper ore. |
Early mining was gold placer, and gold-copper lode. The current exploration interest is porphyry copper.
Old maps are probably correct when labeling it gold, as gold was prob primary metal mined.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
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Somehow I knew there would be some feedback from the copper academy here!  
The Lower California Guidebook by Gerhard & Gulick first edition (1956):
"The gold mines of El Arco, which at one time employed over 1000 workers, began to be developed by an American company in the 1920s, but operations
ceased after a prolonged strike of the miners. A new company is endeavoring to reopen the mines."
[this was not copied from the auto club]
The first time I recall reading about copper being discovered there was in the 1972 edition of Airports of Baja California by Arnold Senterfitt. He
describes how copper ore ("so rich it looks like jade") was painted white to outline the new south runway, put in by Larco, the mining company.
Senterfitt goes on, saying, "I'm told that if they opened up everything available the open pit would be some 20-30 miles in diameter."
When the Baja highway was constructed, it bypassed El Arco in favor of going through Guerrero Negro, the growing salt mine center. However, the
importance of El Arco in those years was enough to build a 25-mile-long branch paved highway (Mexico #18) even though nothing new had yet happened
there.
In 2017, the town was all but abandoned with one cattle ranch established amongst the abandoned town. Some modular buildings were new to my eyes,
placed on the hill to the east. See the drone flyover by AirBaja Drone: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vivabaja/permalink/101992156...
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4x4abc
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the modular buildings have been there as long as I have been to El Arco
about 35 years or so
Harald Pietschmann
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David K
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The last time I was in El Arco, before my 2017 visit, was in 1983... so I think they arrived between those two years. My first time in El Arco was in
1966 when the main 'highway' to La Paz from Ensenada passed through.
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4x4abc
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sat images show them in 1985
Harald Pietschmann
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bajaric
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The road south from El Arco to San Ignacio that replaced that portion of El Camino Real was probably built by the El Boleo company to haul
gold-bearing copper ore from El Arco to Santa Rosalia.
[Edited on 6-13-2022 by bajaric]
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David K
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Thanks Ric... great follow-up post!
In this 1939 Rand McNally road map, we see that a well-graded or gravel road wend northbound from San Ignacio to around where El Arco is. A
'less-improved' road continued on to Ensenada where the pavement began.
The 1930 AAA mapping crew may have been the first to drive a newly bulldozed roadbed. A roadbed that after years of neglect became a primitive single
lane road, made famous in the early Baja 1000 races.
By the 1960s, it was returned to simple pair of deep ruts across the sandy desert...
Many of us witnessed how a well-graded road, passable by 2WD and motorhomes deteriorated between 1986 and 2006 (Puertecitos to Gonzaga Bay) to become
a very rough and rocky roadbed.
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bajaric
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Yes, the Pioneer Trail, from Molino Lacy to the pioneer mines is another example of how fast dirt roads in Baja deteriorate if they are not
maintained. The road was once shown as the main north south route in the 1950's. After it was abandoned in the 1960's flash floods soon destroyed it
and today it is the domain of "rock crawer" jeeps.
So, when are we going to go search for Leon Grande?
[Edited on 6-12-2022 by bajaric]
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David K
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I'm game... if we can find a sponsor!
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