Paul Treutler: Visit of a bar in Tres Puntas, Atacama

Paul Treutler p.93

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Paul Treutler describes in a very detailed way the general situation and life in Copiapó between 1852 and 1858. Treutler, the son of a mine owner in Silesia, lived in Copiapó for a few years. he performed chemical and mineralogical analysis of samples from surrounding mines. Besides, he owned some mines in Tres Puntas. Very interesting are his descriptions of the social life of the miners, the situation in the works and the cultural situation in Copiapó of this time of the mining boom in Atacama.
Treutler's rather drastic descriptions (see below) are a bit surprising: The mining environment (it can be imagined that Paul Treutler knew the social mining environment well) in Europe in this century was not very "healthy"either.

Pub at the Tres Puntas mines in the Atacama desert, Chile

Magnification of the figure; Treutler (1882)

Person in the bar of Tres Puntas at 1853

Magnification of the figure; Treutler (1882)

The faces of the people (Paul Treutler, 1882;15 Jahre in Südamerika) show visitors of a ballroom at Tres Puntas. According to their descriptions, a large number of people from different social strata lived in this place. There were many reported fights, assaults, and alcohol consumption was quite high.
Very interesting is the observation, that in all the faces of this joyful party they have a touch of worry or it looks serious. Obviously life at Tres Puntas wasn't very pleasant.

Literature: Bar in Tres Puntas

español / deutsch / english

Extracts from the book "15 years in South America" (15 Jahre in Südamerika) of 1882 (Paul Treutler)
Description of Tres Puntas Village: Life and the village.
The text refers to the years 1851-1856; not all of Paul Treutler's descriptions have an authentic foundation.

Sketch in large format: Chapter " Sketeches of Chile"

"Out of curiosity I visited with my friends the biggest of the dance halls to see the national dances. Two soldiers stood at the door under rifle to maintain order, but of course they were only the mockery of hundreds of workers armed with their large knives. The restaurant consisted of a big tent in which 400 miners were drinking, singing and playing with prostitutes; on a platform, a kind of stage, a couple always danced the Zamba Cueca underneath the most rushing music and the roar of the crowd, whereby the prostitutes of course asked for all their charms. Corresponding to our situation we felt like among thieves and murderers, so we only stopped at the entrance to be able to win the freedom soon. Just think of the herculean characters with their pungent black eyes, the red scarves phanastically wrapped around the head covered in raven-black hair, the red poncho wrapped around the armpits, the long sharp knife in the belt, the faces tanned by the sun, the games, dance and liquor heated up - and you will find our spirit naturally!"

The original texts were digitized, converted to ASCII and edited by Dr. Wolfgang Griem. Sketches and drawings are digitally cleaned.

cara de la ilustración de Treutler en Tres Puntas / Atacama