“Ripoll, the future Pittsburg of Spain”

“Coal and iron in Spain”, 16/11/1877: “From Vich, the present terminal point, to the coal mines of San Juan de Abadesas of the railroad which some day in the future will be the grand trunk line to Paris, the Government has built a good substantial stage-road to Ripoll.” The railway arrived in Sant Joan de les Abadesses in 1880. That it never reached in Paris (and is now a bike track) has less to do with Madrilenian bureaucracy than with some rather large mountains and the concessionary’s over-statement of the mineral resources and their worth, swallowed enthusiastically by the NY Times’ man-on-a-mule. The only event of interest of which I am aware on the rather underused Ripoll-San Juan stretch was the suicide in 1910 of Raimon Casellas. I kind of wonder how long he had to wait. (Pittsburg/Pittsburgh/Pittsbourgh)

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