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Sewell, Chile: Proyecto Kaiser and Poblacion Americana

From Bonnie Hamre, About.com

Sewell 1967 Proyecto Kaiser y Poblacion Americana

Sewell 1967 Proyecto Kaiser y Poblacion Americana

Bill Glover
This view of Poblacion Americana, also called Campamento Americano, taken in 1967, gives no hint of the destruction that will follow in ensuing decades.

From right to left along the bottom, the long narrow building is the hospital, when built one of the most modern in Chile. Up the slope, the large squarish building was the social club, the El Teniente, and following the steps and path, the white two story building was the American school, and beyond that, a tall apartment building.

Above these buildings are the homes of those employees who were paid in dollars, not the Chilean peso. At the time I lived there as a child, I was not aware of the social and professional inequities between Chilean and non-Chilean employees and residents, but later events and hindsight brought them clearly to light.

Note the big, dark buildings at the top. These were the mine buildings, offices, operational buildings and entrances to the mine. Now, the mine has gone so deep into the mountain that employee entrance is by truck and bus near the bottom of the mountain near Rancagua.

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