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| A Mexican Wave from Cornwall |
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Page 1 of 5 Notes from the Cornish Mexican Society visit to Mexico by Richard Williams For the second time in 300 years Real del Monte, one of the highest settlements in Mexico, witnessed a wave of Cornish visitors. However, the second wave this summer of 30 members from the Cornish Mexican Society was far fewer than the 350 Cornish miners who made the trek to the mineral rich area in the 1820s. The catalyst for this recent visit was the twinning of Redruth with Real del Monte and to commemorate and retrace the route of the Great Trek of 1825-26 when a group of Cornish miners transported 1,500 tons of machinery from the open beaches of Mocambo, Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico to mines of Real del Monte heralding the arrival of the industrial revolution in Mexico.  A tribute to Cornish mining, the Real del Monte Miners Statue. Pictures by Ainsley Cocks. Real del Monte is 90 miles north east of Mexico City. The miners, many of them from the Camborne, Redruth, Gwennap and Lanner areas, set sail from Falmouth and arrived at the port of Veracruz, which, when they arrived, was still under the control of the Spanish. So they had to unload all the 1,500 tons of heavy machinery onto open beaches close to the port; no mean feat. With the help of Mexican porters and mules they then set out to climb first over the Sierra Madre through a pass at 7,500 feet then across the plateau and up to Real del Monte at 9,500 feet, a distance of over 200 miles making their own road as they went. Along the way the party was struck by yellow fever and accidents that cost the lives of almost half the group. They arrived at Real del Monte on May 1, 1826. |
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