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Since the foundation of the Port of Tampico, the maritime trade has been of great importance for the city, despite the obstructions at the river mouth that did not allow for large ships to access the port facilities and thus slowing its development. When the river currents lose speed when they reach its mouth, it widens its width allowing for the sand, sunken ships and other elements to obstruct its path which was not removed by the fury of the waves.
With the objective of improving its navigation at its mouth, planning for the construction of two parallel breakwaters was conceived, starting from the coastline and with a length of two kilometers towards the sea at an east-northeast with a distance between them of almost 305 meters. To carry on this project as fast as possible, on August 30th of 1888, the Mexican Government entered into an agreement with the Compañía del Ferrocarril Central Mexicano, a railroad company to be in charge of this task for the sum of three million pesos. On June of 1889, research papers related to the conditions at the river mouth and the final project started on March 18th, 1890. To ease the transportation of the materials required for the construction, a railroad track was built from Tampico to the river mouth. Thus, the breakwaters’ construction initiated with tree leaves and irregular form rocks brought in its majority from El Abra, San Luis Potosí.
The subcontracting company set priority to the works to increase the depth to the channel reaching 15 feet by March of 1893. However, during these works they found the wrecks of several ships blocking the channel at a depth of 5.15 meters. After unsuccessful attempts to dynamite these, during the month of July a river crescent solved the problem and the depth was increased to 6.55 meters. By March of 1895, the channel had 200 meters width and 7.30 meters depth around the breakwaters and 8.84 meters away from them. Works to maintain the depth continued in order to keep the navigation in the channel. Five years after the completion of the main works, in September of 1933, two hurricanes struck the region bringing along floods that increased the Pánuco and Tamesí rivers flows. Due to the works described before, the city suffered a great destruction including some damage to the breakwaters. During the following months, while the city was being rebuilt, several ships suffered damages trying to enter port due to the sediments at the entrance of the river mouth that decreased its depth. For this reason, a request for help was sent to the President of Mexico, Abelardo L. Rodríguez, who in 1934 approved the initiation of the necessary works to correct these problems affecting the commerce operations of the port. The works started on May of 1934 under the supervision of the engineer Leopoldo Villarreal Garza and were completed in 1938. As part of these works, the caudal of the Tuxpam River to the Pánuco River was studied and the low lands between both riverbanks were filled in the municipality of Tampico. The Tamiahua Lagoon was connected to the Gulf of Mexico benefiting from the richness of the later. Today, there is a project to rebuild the Malecón, which besides fulfilling its purpose, it also represents an important landmark for tourism attraction.
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The House of Castilla
The Breakwaters and the Channel for Navigation
History of the
Indpendence Movement in Nuevo Santander
Tampico, victim of Pirates, Bucaneers, and Privateers
León Trotsky in Tampico
New Street Names
Tampico Wakeboard City
Tajín Summit León Trotsky in Tampico
New Street Names
Tampico Wakeboard City
Tajín Summit
Convention Center
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