The Gaitanes' gorge

The human presence in the surrounding of the Gaitanejo and El Chorro natural sites was confirmed to date since prehistoric times due to the abundance of remains, mostly neolithic. ll this territory is said to be a strategic point that connects coastal areas with inland, where the rivers Turón, Guadalteba and Guadalhorce stand for the most attractive spots in the area. In these first human settlements in the area, rivers must have been the centre of communications, and the most important means of transport and connection between different villages.

In this prehistoric outlook of territorial control and communications, the Bronze Age was an important period in the development of Gaitanes gorge, as it built a control and connection point of inland valleys with the Lower Valley of Guadalhorce.

This wide and favourable natural territory was home to numerous nations from the end of the 9th to 3rd century BC, when the roman empire forcefully bursted into the Province of Málaga and Peninsula in general.

Location

This beautiful area, which hoards historical treasures and gorgeous scenery, lies in the middle of the Province of Málaga, and it is surrounded by the Serranía de Ronda and Antequera. plains Campillos, Teba and Antequera in the northern part of the province from the Valley of Guadalhorce and the fields of Cámara in the south.Different nations have prospered throughout history at this place, which became rich in hydraulic structures and electricity sources especially in the last century. All of them are connected by the humble path called "Caminito del Rey" that goes along this natural spot - Desfiladero de los Gaitanes -, in an unbelievable way.

As a matter of administration, this supreme natural beauty and geomorphologically and environmentally significant hilly terrain is located in the municipalities of Ardales, Álora and Antequera.

The Gaitanes gorge is part of a great nature spot that spans 2173. 34 ha in the western part of the Baetic Mountains. There is a mountain range which is separated from Torcal de Antequera by hollows with marl. The area includes mountains, such as Abdalajís, Huma, Llana, Tajo del Cuervo (Crow’s Cliff) and Salto de la Zorra (Fox’s Precipice), composed of limestone and Jurassic dolomite.

Natural beauty spot

This beauty spot in the village of El Chorro is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and appealing places in the Province of Málaga . Breathtaking gorges made by the Guadalhorce River of limestone and dolomite are three kilometres long, up to 300 metres high and less than 10 metres wide.

The magnificent beauty spot of Desfiladero de los Gaitanes and the surrounding villages have influenced the development of societies since ancient times. Its unquestionable natural and geostrategic importance, gorgeous landscapes and other beauties of this area have attracted celebrities and entire nations for ages. They drew inspiration from these beauty spots and developed varied activities.

Múltiple use

Since the development of a flourishingtrade system due to its communication routes, reinforcement of its rainfed agriculture and later on for irrigated farming, and more recently, a national focus on generating energy through the hydroelectric jumps and the creation of recreational areas wherein water plays a fundamental part through explotation ofreservoirs, gorges and wooded terrains, which were mostly due to repopulations, the beauty of this zone inspired numerous artists, painters, writers, poets, romantic travellers, playwrights, filmmakers and directors, etc, who came from remote places and transmitted a small piece of this land through their works.

A practical way

In this union of villages and natural spots, the risky, curvy and short path El Caminito del Rey has always been an essential linking element. Made of concrete boardwalks that hang abve the cliffs of the Guadalhorce river in the spectacular Gaitanes gorge, it was built merely for practical reasons, to connect both parts of the novel hydroelectric jump at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, this trail, which was used to connect people from the area and make their daily life easier, is in danger of disappearing. This short but impressive communication route was derelict and destroyed by natural and human actions, and therefore an important part of history of those people and nations that have grown and developed around was lost.

The Málaga - Córdoba connection

The first steps in the building of a railwayl that connected Córdoba with Málaga were taken in the 1840s by a committee for the works around1851, in which Jorge Loring, Martín Larios, Joaquín Ferrer, José Hernández Varela and Enrique de Sandoval, all of them well-known men in Malaga`s society, participated.After the 1855 Railway Act and having granted the works concession to Jorge Loring in 1859 and created the investment company by some members of Malaga’s upper middle class, town councils and French, Catalan and English funds, the works on the railway Málaga-Córdoba were started in March1860. In 1866 the railway was finished, and this way fertile countryside from the inland and coal stocks in the mines of Belmez and Espiel were connected with the Mediterranean city and the factories ‘La Constancia’ that belonged to the Loring family.This railway line extends to 192 kilometres, along fertile olive terrain, farming land and meadows. The line spans 17 tunnels, 8 viaducts and 18 bridges, which go through important towns, such as Fernán Núñez, Montilla, Aguilar de la Frontera, Puente Genil, and villages in the Province of Málaga , like Bobadilla, Gobantes, El Chorro, las Mellizas, Álora, Pizarra, Cártama, Los Remedios and Campanillas. An important part of tunnels, bridges and viaducts join exactly at Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, where the works were especially hard due to a craggy terrain, which was even difficult to go across on a horse. In this zone, trains move on the left side of the Guadalhorce, crossing the gorge almost at El Caminito del Rey`s altitude.

Boosting small towns

Towns and villages close to the gorge became liver after the building of the new railway line between Córdoba y Málaga. Above all, the village of El Chorro came out well due to the opening of one of the train stops.

Therefore, we can say that the railway promoted this area’s development in the mid 19th century, considering it was an inactive zone, excluded from economic growth. This was because of its complex orography among other reasons. The area had almost exclusively been dedicated to subsistence agriculture and livestock farming, when other perspectives were opened in front of it thanks to this iron construction which connected it to other regions.

The revolution of electric power

The second half of the 19th century meant a radical change in Spanish society the same way it had been happening to the rest of Europe and America. The introduction of the industry-based electricity, that was used for the first time in Barcelona in 1873, was for Spain, a more backward country than the rest of Europe a real industrial, transport and everyday life revolution.

Previously, some scientific tests had been done in 1860 like the one in Seville, where a new electrical lighting with voltaic arc lamps was tested, and later on the experiment was repeated during the April fair. Similar tests, but not so important, were done in 1875 at the fair in Almería. The greatest success in electric power development was produced thanks to hydroelectric jumps and the improvement of water turbines. The hydroelectric energy would slowly replacecoal or gas, although these would never disappear completely because they were used in thermal power stations as a valuable additional source of energy. Hydroelectric resources depended on rain. As there are many droughts in Spain, thermal power stations continued to be built for many years to come.

The creation of electric power companies

Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, many companies dedicated to producing and distributing electric power were opened. Some of the most important ones were the Ibérica Hydroelectric power station, headquartered in Bilbao and created by Basque funds in 1901; the El Chorro Hydroelectric Society, in Málaga, funded in 1903; the Spanish Hydroelectric in 1911, etc. The most important companies in the 1920s in Andalusia were Sevillana, Mengemor, Chorro and Fuerzas Motrices in the Lecrín Valley.
Specifically in Málaga, the Alumbrado (Lighting) Company and y Calefacción por Gas (Gas Heating) had exclusive rights to lighting supply with the City Council, starting from 1852. The use of gas began during the best financial situation of the city.
Nevertheless, the electricity appliance was only established in Málaga at the end of the 19th century thanks to the coming and expansion of a German company and the appearance of a new English company. These two companies were producing power until the 1920s at the same time.

None of these happenings meant the disappearance of gas as lighting or heating systems supply, considering that gas and electricity were used at the same time for ages. From the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, electric light was considered to be a luxury.

Despite all that, Málaga was the first on the list of Andalusian cities that used electric power. In 1893, it had six thermal power stations with generating potential of 90 CV, while Córdoba, Cádiz and Jaen had two power stations; Almería, Seville and Granada one, and there was none of them in Huelva.

This electric power generating system that used thermal and steam power stations existed in Málaga until the 1920s.

The emergence in 1903 of the hydroelectric energy at full scale, brought greater growth because electricity became more affordable and common.

Specifically in Málaga, an essential figure for its history and Spanish politics along the 20th century, Rafael Benjumea Burín, supported this new political and social strategy, claiming that new industrial development of the city and the improvement of existing services could be achieved by means of energy supply, upgraded by novel hydroelectric systems, as it was done in the north of Spain thanks to Juan Urrutia. The Province of Málaga was perfect for this kind of industrial progress due to its terrain and farming, which was constantly threatened by unstable rainfall patterns and long droughts.

Benjumea was sure that development funded, above on, on electrical power would triumph over colonial expansion based on static survival on rents that had maintained Spain for ages. His main interest was the possibility of building a bighydroelectric power station counting exclusively on national funds.

Hydroelectric power stations

The appearance of hydroelectric power stations on the Spanish social stage at the beginning of the 20th century was a greattechnological progress in the field of electric power supply without the use of hot and noisy steam machines. New businessmen from the companies that implemented hydraulic machines were worried about science progress. The building of dams and precipices for hydraulic energy generation was supposed to satisfy the necessity of cities and villages for new services and to supply industries with energy, or please increasing transport demand, firstly, for trams, and then railways too. This is why hydraulic energy supply companies were regarded by all social classes from the beginning.

This was the case of the El Chorro Hydroelectric Jump, built in 1903 by Rafael Benjumea to supply Málaga City with electric power, but as well to provide potential farming industry of the area with cheap energy of good quality that would make its existence and development possible. Until then, the City of Málaga had obtained power by two foreign companies (one was German and the other English), which had steam machines and, shortly after the hydroelectric company had been opened, were substituted by this national company.

The importance of this project was huge for that time. On one side, high quality electric power supply was achieved at the best prices. Moreover, the company profit could be used to buy Málaga’s tram company from Belgian owners and to finance the building of the Guadalhorce dam that was made to water wide territory and because of which Alfonso XIII appointed Rafael Benjumea Count of Guadalhorce.

Today, the beauty spot Gaitanes Gorge is the place where hydroelectric precipice stands, surrounded by dazzling scenery.

The Loring Family

The Loring family had observed during the construction of the Córdoba-Málaga railway, in 1866, the use of hydroelectric power from the Guadalhorce river through the Gaitanes gorge could be used. When it was possible to perform works, Jorge Loring Heredia asked to be awarded the project which was prepared by the civil engineer Leopoldo Werner.

The project was based on 100 metres elevation at the altitude of the river Guadalhorce, between the area of Gaitanejo and the gorge – Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, in order to produce a hydraulic precipice and generate electric power. Jorge Loring Heredia was awarded the license for this project through the 24th November 1902 Royal Act, although the works were never carried out, among other reasons, because they could disturb already existing railway lines.

Benjumea, Silvela and Loring: the works

Rafael Benjumea overtook the project, and in order to achieve financial support, he funded the Hydroelectric Power station fo El Chorro on July 26th 1903, with Francisco Silvela from Le Vielleuze and José Loring Heredia. It was a family company, considering that Rafael Benjumea’s mother-in-law and Francisco Silvela’s wife were sisters and members of a prestigious family Heredia Loring. Their funds used for the project were two million twenty-five thousand pesetas, and the company was headquartered in Madrid.

The same year, they started to build. Civil engineer Rafael Benjumea personally supervised the works, and was the core of the project. He combined his office job in Málaga with technical assistance at the building site. This meant long journeys from the city to El Chorro, considering how undeveloped the means of transport were at the time.

All the facilities part of the Hydroelectric Power Station of EL Chorro were finished in 1905, and started to work from 1906.The service was satisfying from the beginning. Firstly, El Chorro Company made contracts with big clients and power companies. Some of their first clients were Siemens Electricische Betribe, known as ‘The German One’, English Electric Power Company, known as ‘The English One’, Building Railway Company Málaga-Torre del Mar, and Belgian Tram Company. Company’s investment was recouped very fast, considering that demand overcame production almost immediately.

Two incidents with personal consequences

Nevertheless, after a short period of time there weretwo accidentsat the power station. On September 24th 1907, a torrential rain flooded the station after a pipe exploded,causing serious damage. On October 13th 1908 when the service was about to be reestablished, there was a fire which happened when the oil on one of the transformers was being dried. Damage was even bigger than in the previous accident, and the station could not provide their clients with the power they had contracted. Electricity supply to English Electric Power Company was cancelled, and it was limited in the case of the rest of clients. Although another power station hired from Mather and Platt was kept in reserve, it could not be used at the time, and Málaga Electricity was asked to make an offer for the Hydroelectric Company El Chorro.

The repairs of El Chorro cost too much. In order to be able to confront the expensesexpenses caused by the accidents,Rafael Benjumea, was not only obliged to progressively transfer ownership of all the rustic properties he had inherited from his father but he had to accept financial support of his family-in-law. Particularly theLoring family was forced to mortgage the most cherished of his belongings, the splendidCountry House La Concepción here the Benjumea Heredia’s used to spend part of the year, so they could buy new machinery and repair the damage caused by the accidents that happened in 1907 and 1908.

The Hydroelectric Power Station El Chorro starts working again

Finally, the above-mentioned property was sold, and thanks to the help of shareholders and family members, and after all the economical difficulties had been overcome the power station started working again.Its production was good enough to plan a construction of a new adjustable dam, known as El Chorro Dam, which was meant to solve severe problems of power instability.

As the hydroelectric power station’s productivity was increasing, high voltage production for industrial facilities and other wholesalerswere progressively being prevailed over by the production for other services.Finally, they added services that had been covered by two foreign companies which generated electricity for Málaga City by steam machines. Thanks to this, they were able to acquire Malaga’s Tram Company, which had previously been awarded to a Belgium company. This way, electricity supply in this Andalusian city was finally nationalized, and this political aim was fulfilled thanks to Benjumea’s success.

Beginning of the Project and the First Royal Visit

A sad event such as a big flood in Málaga in 1907was the opportunity for making areservoirwhich had been wished for since the Hydroelectric Company El Chorro was created. It was meant to control the river flow of the Guadalhorce. This was the reason forKing Alfonso 13th first visiting the city accompanied by Prime MinisterMaura and the Minister of Public Works, Gasset. The result of the visit was creation of theDivision of Hydraulic Company in Southern Spainwhose main purpose was to perform works that were needed to protect inhabitants, create irrigation channels and control water flow in the area. One of the engineers that were hired for this job was Giménez Lombardo, who, among other projects, carried out the first dam on the River Turón.

To this positive state of affairs we could add the fact that the Hydroelectric Power Company was working well. Later on, this made it possible for its Sevillian engineer Rafael Benjumea (1876-1952) , the driving force behind the project, to build a great dam for watering Hoya de Málaga, a big and fertile plain in the Guadalhorce (wheat in Arabic) River Valley. This building project had an additional aim; this was to control the amount of river flow that was coming to the Hydroelectric Power Station El Chorro, which used to depend on seasonal rainfall.

After the project was finished by Giménez Lombardo around 1913, a geological survey done by a civil engineer, Mr Gutiérrez de Gándara, motivated the relocation of the dam to a lower place. A year later, in August 1914, ‘La Gaceta de Madrid’, a public newspaper, officially approved works on El Chorro Reservoir. The original project forecast the building of a dam at an altitude of 35 metres and a reservoir of 27 cubic hectometres water collection following the 1911 Gasset Act.

From a financial point of view, the project was funded by the State (that covered half of the costs, and invested 40% more before the works started) and the Hydroelectric Company El Chorro, which was only supposed to pay 10% of the price.

The works were developing at a fast pace, and were watchfully supervised by Benjumea, who acted as an extraordinary constructor and planner. Some five kilometres away from the dam, he built the cement factory Portland in order to assure material supply that was in danger of being cut off due to World War I.

The Role of the Railway and Electric Machines

As there were no roads, all the material for works was moved by railway to the building site. For this purpose, ahalt, named ‘El Coscojal between the stops of Gobantes and El Chorro. From that point to the quarry, a small train that was meant to transfer material to the dam was going along the branch made for this purpose. At first, a single file of donkeys was used for stocking sand, but, as soon as parts of reservoirs were filled with water, they started to use motor barges to bring sand from some of the close dry river beds. A small settlement for six hundred workers on the dam was built. There was also a company shop that sold cheap essential products.

Nevertheless, maybe the most innovative thing was the modern electric machinery that was used. It consisted ofof water extraction pumps, concrete mixers, cranes, capstans, pneumatic drills, which would get electricity through a particular grid that was extended from the Hydroelectric Power Station El Chorro to the precipices where the dam was being built. As we have already said, there was a cementat the time due to World War I, so it was necessary to control its use. Therefore, after 20 metres of foundations below the river bed were laid, huge dry-stone pillars were built with cranes on them all around the building site in order to move and position big stone blocks more easily. These stones used to be placed on the fresh concrete so they would stick well.

The works on the upstream part of the dam and the slopes were faster so that the dam would be used for dumping waste material. The parameter of the dam which was downstream was made of reddish stone that formed aesthetically pleasing dry-stone walls covered by concrete.

The new dam

Little while after works on the project began, a new project was rewritten.The height of the dam was increased to 50 metres and the reservoir’s capacity was 80 cubic hectometres.. Having the new project been approved, the works continued at a fast pace in a rugged but beautiful scenery and without foreign interfering in spite of all the difficulties they had to get machines and spare parts from the more developed countries in Europe during the First World War.

Finally, the works were finished, and King Alfonso XIIIcame to placethe last stoneof this enormous dam during torrential rain on21st May 1921.This event was made public in the newspaper ‘Blanco y Negro’ (Black and White). Interestingly, he used an ashlar similar to those used by Romans’ engineers in their works of architecture and engineering. Elegant stone chairs and tables were used to give splendour to a solemn royal opening ceremony.

El Chorro Station was supposed to be just the beginning of a long and successful existence of the Hydroelectric Company El Chorro. All along the 20th century, the company’s policies were expansion and consolidation of activities related to electric power production and supply. Just before theCivil War the company focused on improving its production facilities, transport, energy supply and fraud detection. They also made contracts with other important electricity production companies, such as Sevillana de Electricidad or Mengemor.

During the Civil WarEl Chorro expanded the area in which it sold electric power because other companies, affected by the war, produced less.After the warthe company continued with its expansion in and out of the province. This way, at the end of the 1940s, the power station produced and supplied the City and the province of MálagaandAlmeríaand some of the important villages in Granada, Córdoba and Sevillawith electric power. Ten years later, El Chorro acquired the Electric Power Company Segura, and managed to start supplying a lot of villages in Murcia.

Second half of the 20th century

Between the 50s and 60s There were two important happenings that caused the improvement of electricity power usage in Málaga. These are: urban developmen and a boost in tourismIn a short period of time, farming land around Málaga City was transformed into buildings that needed electric power. Moreover, the tourist boom on the Costa del Sol changed calmcoastal villages into places with plenty of activities for tourists, big hotels and buildings that needed quite a lot of electric power. All of this provided the Hydroelectric Station with an extraordinary amount of work, which was successfully carried out.

In 1965, negotiations between the electric power companies of Andalucía in order to join together started, them being Sevillana de Electricidad, Auxina and Hydroelectric Power Company El Chorro. This is when El Chorro Company was changed into Sevillana de Electricidad S.A.

Building of the precipice and the Hydroelectric Power Station El Chorro was, above all, important for the development of the village el Chorro and other surrounding villages.

The Benjumea family built other facilities next to the hydroelectric dam, which were meant to modernize the area that had formerly lived on farming, shepherding, or depended on the railway at the end of the 20th century.

El Chorro

Thanks to all the above mentioned facilities, which were successfully supplied thanks to the railway halt station in the village, el Chorro became a center of the area, and surrounding villages were aware of the improvement it brought to their daily lives, and how it provided them with basic services.

El Caminito del Rey as a service trail.

The trail known as ‘El Caminito del Rey’ had an important role in a unifying mission of the village El Chorro. This narrow path, which goes along the right side of the gorge – El Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (currently it only goes along the railway on the left bank of the Guadalhorce), was used for transport services between a small dam at the beginning of the water canal in Gaitanejo and the hydroelectric precipice El Chorro, placed past the Cliff of El Gran Gaitán.

This pathoriginally built with a mission clearly functional very soon started to be part of everyday life of local people from El Chorro and surrounding villages. Besides few houses, the village El Chorro had manycaves turned into houses with plenty of inhabitants, which were spread all over different mountains. For instance, in the area of Gaitanejo where the beginning of the water canal connected to the hydraulic dam was, lived many families. Some of them were directly involved in the canal and hydraulic precipice maintenance, while the others were shepherds or farmers. The creation of the path that was 100 metres above the bottom of the gorge entailed a fast and comfortable access to El Chorro village. The building of the path also advantaged other caves inside thegorgelike Toro (Bull) Cave, because they were directly connected with the railway and El Chorro.

Workers of El Chorro Dam

In the 1920s, after the El Chorro dam, later called The Count of Guadalhorce’s Dam, was built, some of the workers who participated in its construction stayed to live in that area. The trail – El Caminito del Rey was of great help to all of them. Children could go to school that was not far away, women could buy essential products, and it was possible for everybody to keep in touch with other villages behind the surrounding mountains.

Ever since, thesteady flow, both during the day and night, as the trail had electric lighting, and people of all ages used it to meet others. still today, they remember very fondly how they walked along the Gaitanes gorge along the El Caminito del Rey, sometimes on foot, by bicycle or on a horse. They remember how children used to go to school, women to grocery shops and men to the canteen. how sometimes they had to carry parcels and shopping bags across the path, and sometimes they would go over it for pleasure to meet their girlfriends that lived on the other side. This is how the path became a part of these people’s day-to-day pace and got attached to some of the most important moments of their lives.

Damage to the trail and need for its reconstruction

Little while ago, the trail was highly damaged. Natural circumstances and human actions brought it to a state of deplorable devastation.

Hence using El Caminito del Rey became impossible and the connection between different villages disappeared along with part of the history of the villages around the area.

Repairs on the path

Reconstruction of the trail is not only important because of tourist reasons or because it is an attraction for visitors who come to the area, but also because it is a part of history and memories that belong to the people from this zone.

Therefore, the Málaga City Council, in collaboration with the three City halls through which El Caminito it built (Álora, Antequera and Ardales), the Andalusian government and a few Ministry departments, decided to start reconstruction works on the path. The contract was accepted in February 2014 which means that the workswill take placeas of 2015.