Qualla: Minas de Corrales https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:58 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Minas de Corrales https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales Minas de Corrales: Introduction https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales/ Photo credit Geoz, CC BY-SA 3.0. Gold built Minas de Corrales out of nothing. In 1878 a French firm with a grand name - the Compañía Francesa de Minas de Oro del Uruguay - arrived on the banks of the Arroyo Corrales to dig the metal out of the hills, and a town grew up around the search. But the most remarkable thing the gold rush left behind was not a fortune. It was electricity. To power the mills that crushed the ore, the company dammed the nearby Cuñapirú stream between 1878 and 1882 and built what is remembered as the first hydroelectric dam in South America, decades before most of the continent's cities saw an electric light.

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Image: Geoz | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/6f2s-minas-de-corrales-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Minas de Corrales: The French Company and the Skeptic https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales/ Photo credit AnselmiJuan, CC BY-SA 3.0. The promise of Uruguayan gold drew careful eyes. From late December 1879 into March 1880, the French mining engineer Henry Küss traveled to evaluate the concession on the Arroyo Corrales, surveying the mineralogy with the rigor of a man who had seen mining ventures fail before. T...

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Image: AnselmiJuan | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/6f2s-minas-de-corrales-the-french-company-and-the-skeptic.mp3 0:06 2 full Minas de Corrales: The Dam That Lit the Frontier https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales/ Photo credit Geoz, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Represa de Cuñapirú is the town's true monument. Built to generate power for the gold operation, it is remembered as South America's first hydroelectric dam, sending current to the localities of San Gregorio and Corrales and driving the aerial cableways that hauled ore and st...

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Image: Geoz | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/6f2s-minas-de-corrales-the-dam-that-lit-the-frontier.mp3 0:06 3 full Minas de Corrales: Boom, Bust, and a Long Quiet https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales/ Photo credit Melodygar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Mining towns live and die by the price of metal, and Minas de Corrales has done both. A railway line opened in 1902 to serve the workings and ran until 1916, when the French company's era drew to a close. On 9 November 1920 the settlement was formally recognized as a pueblo by la...

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Image: Melodygar | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/6f2s-minas-de-corrales-boom-bust-and-a-long-quiet.mp3 0:06 4 full Minas de Corrales: Three Hills and a River View https://qualla.com/minas-de-corrales/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Jordevi assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. Step away from the mine workings and the country opens into something serene. About fifteen kilometers west of town lies the scenic area known as Rincón de Tres Cerros - the corner of three hills - best seen from along the banks of the Tacuarembó River, where the land rises in di...

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Image: No machine-readable author provided. Jordevi assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

]]> Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/f/2/s/minas-de-corrales-wp/6f2s-minas-de-corrales-three-hills-and-a-river-view.mp3 0:06 5 full