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Water for Valparaíso: A Case of Entrepreneurial Frustration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jay Kinsbruner
Jay Kinsbruner*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Queens College of the City University of New York
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Extract

Valparaíso's first modern water-supply system was constructed by William Wheelwright in 1851. When he arrived at the port to settle in 1829, it was “entirely destitute of pure water, and this want seriously affected trade and industry not less than the health of the population.” Following a series of editorials on the poor system of water supply, the municipality passed a corrective law in July of 1829. Certain quebradas (ravines) in the hills overlooking the municipality were made fit to serve as reservoirs. People residing in the vicinity of the quebradas were enjoined against taking water out of the quebradas. Nor were they permitted to water horses or wash clothes. The law did not prove to be a panacea. Valparaíso continued to be without an adequte water supply.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1968 , pp. 653 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1968

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References

1 Juan B. Alberdi, The Life And Industrial Labors Of William Wheelwright in South America (tr., Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1877), p. 124.

2 El Mercurio, July 31, 1829. Charles Darwin noted the lack of precipitation in 1834:

During the long summer the wind blows steadily from the southward, and a little off shore, so that rain never falls; during the three winter months, however, it is sufficiently abundant. The vegetation in consequence is very scanty: except in some deep valleys, there are no trees, and only a little grass and a few low bushes are scattered over the less steep parts of the hills. When we reflect, that at the distance of 350 miles to the south, this side of the Andes is completely hidden by one impenetrable forest, the contrast is very remarkable.

(Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches into the Geology & Natural History of the Various Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World. No. 104 of Everyman's Library, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1930, p. 241.)

3 The Neighbor, May 27, 1847.

4 See for example El Mercurio, April 17,1848, and April 24,1848.

5 The Neighbor, April 27, 1848.

6 El Mercurio, March 6, 1849.

7 El Araucano, Aug. 29,1849.

8 El Mercurio, Sept. 1, 1849.

9 Ibid., Oct. 17,1849.

10 Ibid., Oct. 22,1849.

11 Ibid., Nov. 22, 1849. The petition is also listed in Municipalidad De Valparaíso, Indice jeneral del archivo (Valparaíso: Imprenta De “La Patria,” 1896), I, 10, hereinafter cited as Índice.

12 El Mercurio, Nov. 26, 1849.

13 índice, I, 10. The índice states that “Se discuten i aprueban las bases presentadas por don Guillermo Wheelwright para un establecimiento hidráulico a fin de dar agua potable a la ciudad.” The present writer has been unable to locate the contract. A provincial document, it was deposited at Valparaiso where surprisingly few documents remain extant.

14 Copy of MS in Oficios Del Ministerio del Interior Al Intendente de Valparaíso, No. 96, p. 189, Dec. 29, 1849, in Ministerio del Interior (hereinafter cited as MI), in Archivo Nacional de Chile (hereinafter cited as ANC).

15 El Mercurio, Jan. 7, 1850. The reader will recall that all provincial acts needed some sort of formal approval from the central government.

16 El Progreso, Jan. 24, 1850.

17 El Araucano, Feb. 23,1850.

18 Intendente Encalada, Valparaíso, March 13, 1850, to Ministerio del Interior, MS in Intendencia De Valparaíso, Vol. 4, No. 336, in MI, ANC.

19 El Araucano, March 21, 1850.

20 El Mercurio, March 30, 1850.

21 Ibid., Dec. 16, 1850.

22 The Neighbor, Dec. 24, 1850.

23 El Mercurio, April 2, 1851.

24 Ibid., Oct. 14, 1851. Wheelwright is generally credited with forming Valparaiso's first Fire Department in June, 1851. Actually, he had nothing to do with it. See ibid., June 7, 1851, and The Neighbor, June 7, 1851.

25 El Mercurio, Jan. 27, 1852.

26 William Wheelwright, Santiago, Feb. 1, 1852, to Antonio Varas, MS in Civiles, 1851-1859, in MI, ANC.

27 El Mercurio, Feb. 5, 1852.

28 Ibid., March 3,1852.

29 Ibid., April 30, 1852.

30 “Informe al Supremo Gobierno por la comisión encargada del reconocimiento de la obra de la cañería perteneciente á Don Guillermo Wheelwright,” MS in Civiles, 1851-1859, in MI, ANC.

31 William Wheelwright to El Mercurio, July 13, 1852.

32 Idem.

33 Actas, Vol. 7 (July 23, 1852). The Sesiones de la Municipalidad to 1872 are in manuscript form only and bound under the title Actas, and will be referred to nereinafter as “Actas.”

34 Boletín de las leyes, y de las órdenes y decretos del gobierno (Valparaíso: Imprenta del Mercurio, 1823-), 6 (1852), hereinafter cited as Boletín.

35 Recorded in índice, I,12.

36 El Mercurio, Feb. 21, 1855. See also Waddington water solicitation, MS in Intendencia De Valparaíso, 1855-1860, in MI, ANC.

37 Reprinted in El Mercurio, March 7,1855.

38 Carvallo had earlier been a charge d'affaires and then Minister Plenipotentiary in the United States and Europe, and a vigorous supporter of technological advancement in Chile. See Johnson, John J., Pioneer Telegraphy in Chile, 1852-1876 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1948), pp. 11–14 Google Scholar.

39 El Mercurio, March 17,1855.

40 Ibid., March 27, 1855.

41 Ibid., March 28, 1855.

42 Ibid., April 2, 1855.

43 El Copiapino, April 3, 1855.

44 “Actas,” 7 (May 21, 1855), pp. 987-88.

45 El Copiapino, June 20,1855.

46 See for example “Actas,” 8, pp. 307-08,613; 9, pp. 82,92; 10, p. 249.

47 Noted in Indice, 2, p. 6.