El Triunfo, Baja California Sur
<<Back to Page 1
The rest of El Triunfo is a pleasant stroll though the crumbling brick works of the old smelter and warehouses of the silver days.
See, the silver started to run out during World War I and
the town started to dwindle. Francisca Mendoza continued to leave her
footprints in Baja history through her husband's family. She married
Carlos
Aramburo who came to El Triunfo from the mainland to open a mercantile. In
1918 they gave up on the declining town of El Triunfo and moved their market
to La Paz. The original location is on Madero near the Port Captains office.
It's known to newbies to La Paz as "The Cow Store" for the large Herford
Heffer that hangs over the entry. Aramburo Markets can be found an multiple
locations throughout La Paz and Cabo San Lucas.
The mines shut down in 1926 and things dried up pretty quickly for El Triunfo. The clay bricks were taken from the fire bins and built homes around southern Baja. The remains of the silver industry today are a few smoke stacks and the crumbling local soft brick walls.
The river channel behind the museum still has the bulk
works for the waterwheel and the channel itself is artistically made from
core samples, rock and cogs and wheels from the bygone industry. The smelter
pitsare
still coated with the creosote from 60 years of firing. The above picture
shows the original smelter stack right and the newer one built around 1900
to the left. Here is the connection to the Eiffel Tower, the newer of the
two stacks was designed by Gustave Eiffel!
Currently, the International Mining Registry lists 27
active mines in the El Triunfo region. But, they are mostly independent
prospectors looking to hobby or eek out a living. Mineral reports show they
are finding silver and a dozen other lesser marketable minerals along with
plenty of fool's gold.
El
Triunfo Mission is another worthwhile stop on your way north out of town.
Freshly painted in lively Baja color the mission is in excellent shape and a
great photo op. Inside the feel of frontier mission fills the air as surely
as the smell of oil on the wood beams. A few hewn pews are all that are left
to seat the remaining parishioners. The decor is frontier utilitarian and
probably a shadow of it's glory days.
El Triunfo
struck me as a town, struggling to become the Todos Santos of the East Cape
drive. The walk ways around the old mine are well kempt, and even the
crumbling buildings along the highway seem to do so in an artistic fashion.
There 
isn't much for recreation yet in town. I spent some time chatting with
the market owner and admiring his
fighting cocks under the shade of a large tree. There are still a number of
the old homes that used to ring with the gaiety of mine management and their
families on the news of another vein of silver. There are a few blanket tiendas further up the road and a restaurant or two. You won't find too much
English spoken
in El Triunfo although the people are friendly and your phrase
book will help the communications.
El Triunfo was still green as of late April and a trickle of water still flowed freely though the channel around the town. The altitude helps a bit, particularly with summer thunderstorms in the mountains. But unlike Todos Santos, no Pacific breeze cools the afternoons. In the summer months the heat from the desert is blown west and El Triunfo becomes very warm.
El Triunfo is located about 48 kilometers from La Paz.
Take Hwy 1 south from La Paz to Km28 and the intersection of Hwy 1 Sea and
Pacific legs. West takes you to Todos Santos while south, 20 Km further,
lies El Triunfo. From Cabo you proceed along East Cape about 1 hour north of
the San Jose del Cabo Airport. You can't miss it in either direction as the
road runs right through town.
So take a little jaunt along the Baja Sur Loop and enjoy the different aire of this diamond in the rough and imagine yourself back in a silver boom town of the late 19th century.
^Top of Article^
