Outcroppings of coal were discovered in Talcahuano, Coronel and
Lota, all of which are situated upon the Gulf of Arauco, Province of
Concepcion, department of Lautaro, as nearly as 1840. The first attempt
to work the mines was made by Don Antonio Memparte, in the vicinity of
Lota, in 1850. Two years later the property passed into the possession
of Don Matais Cousino, who finally succeeded in establishing the
reputation of the Lota coal for smelting, steam and domestic purposes.
Later other mines were opened, and the district known as the Lota
and Coronel country now produces coal in large quantities, supplying
nearly all the steamships passing that way, as well as the government
and corporation railways of the country. The development of the coal
industry at Lota encouraged the establishment of various manufacturing
industries in that locality. Among the more important industrial
concerns are brick and pottery works, which were established in 1855,
and a large copper smelting plant that has been in operation since
1860. Later a glass factory, the only works of the kind in Chile, was
added to the industries of the place. These concerns are all operated
by the Lota Company in connection with the coal mines.
The first practical teachers and pioneer miners at Lota were Scotchmen,
very few of whom now survive. They were about thirty in number. Their
original destination was the island of Vancouver, but owing to some
difficulties that occurred on the voyage, the ship on which they were
traveling put into Valparaiso, where they remained for some time,
and from where they were later engaged for the mines at Lota. There
they founded what is still designated the British colony. It is now,
however, British in name only, there being but few of the original
colonists or their families left. The remaining few abandoned their
national customs and language for the customs of the country in which
they lived. To such an extent have they adapted themselves to local
conditions and influences that very few of the residents at Lota
bearing English names can speak the English language.
The coal from the Lota district is of a low grade, producing an unusual
amount of cinders and refuse. The Arauco Company which operates mines
in the same district, and which has a railroad running from Coronel
to Colico, a distance of some twenty miles, is also producing coal in
large quantities.