Asarco - Smeltertown - 1950
Asarco - Ciudad de fundición - 1950

Asarco - Smeltertown - 1950

Photograph: American Smelting and Refining Company - El Paso Smelting Works - Mechanical Department - November 16, 1950 ASARCO. ASARCO, originally known as the American Smelting and Refining Company, traces its origins to 1881, when Robert Safford Towne arrived in El Paso after touring the mines in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Two years later he organized the Mexican Ore Company, a small plant that sampled and graded ore from the Mexican mines. In 1887 the ambitious Towne went to Argentine, Kansas, where he secured the backing of the Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company for the construction of a major smelter in El Paso to process lead and copper ores from mines in Mexico and in the American Southwest. Towne bought 1,156 acres along the Rio Grande for $3,757, and within five months the El Paso Smelter, with a 100-foot high chimney and a workforce of 250, was ready to begin processing the high-grade Mexican ore. The community that grew up around the plant was called Smeltertown. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dka02

Area: Central / Smeltertown

Source: Ofelia Limon, Jose Limon, Elvira Limon, Carolina Limon, Nando Limon, and Beatriz Limon

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

American Dam 1937

Note: 5-15-37, Noon; El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from ...

Construction of American Dam, 1937

Note: American Dam; Contraction Joint in floor slab between ...

Construction of American Dam in 1937

Note: 5-22-37 Noon; El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-22-37, 12:15 pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note in image: 5-24-37, 9:30 am, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; ...

American Dam

May 1, 1937 1:15PM El Paso TX. American Dam, view from STA. 1450 ...

American Dam

May 1, 1937 2:20 PM El Paso TX. American Dam, blast at Sta. ...

American Dam

May 3, 1937 9:30 AM El Paso TX. American Dam, erecting steel ...

American Dam

May 3, 1937 9:30 AM El Paso TX. American Dam, pier No. 4&5 ...

American Dam

May 17, 1937 1:30 PM El Paso TX. American Dam, west face of ...

American Dam

March 20, 1937 4:45 PM El Paso TX American Dam, view from ...

Constuction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-24-37, 9:40am, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: American Dam, Blasting E.end of downstream dyke, below ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-24-37, 2:35pm, El Paso, Texas American Dam; View S.W. ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-24-37, 2:45pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; Erecting ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-29-37, 12:50pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 5-29-37, 1:00pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from ...

American Dam 1937

Note under image: 5-29-37, 1:30pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; ...

American Dam 1937

6-2-37, 2:50pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; Domestic ...

American Dam 1937

Note: 6-2-37, 3:00pm. El Paso, Texas American Dam; units 4&5; ...

American Dam 1937

Note: 6-5-37, 12:45 pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View ...

Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 6-5-37, 1:00pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from ...

American Canal 1937

Note: 6-5-37, 2:40pm, El Paso Texas; American Canal; Sta. 79+60; ...

home.search_collection