The tannery ‘ Suela Viosca, S.A.’ a society formed by Santiago Viosca Navarro,(1) Antonio Ruffo (2) and William H. Rocholl, (3) was founded in the year 1903 in the city of La Paz, Baja California Sur and became one of the most important manufacturer of shoe soles in the country. This in part was due to the local plant known as ‘Palo Blanco’ which had natural curing properties. Santiago Viosca asked permission to build a tannery in La Paz on the 29th of June, 1903. In order to achieve this project the partners acquired several lots of land which covered 4 blocks, situated between 11th street and California Street. Here they built a courtyard, several wells and tanks, a draining system and a brick building where a steel chimney was installed; furthermore, from the Progress Mining Company they bought a steam engine of 50 horse power and a cylindric motor of 30 horse power. These works brought prosperous results and by 1906 the tannery reported a production of 14 thousand leathers, with a value of 145 thousand pesos. In 1908, according to a study done by the government, there were 51 tanneries in Baja California, of which only one was producing at a grand scale, that of Viosca and Company. In that year for example, it employed 25 workers and the volume of its work was 21 900 leathers. It was also the only tannery to send its produce to the interior of the Republic: Guadalajara, León and México. In 1909 Rocholl brought his cousin, Max Hach (4), to work for them at the tannery. Hach describes in his own words: “…Arriving at La Paz Willy Rocholl gave me work in the Viosca Tannery. I was 24 years old. In 1911 the founder of the Tannery, Santiago Viosca died and in 1912 his widow, Isabel Hidalgo Navarro, daughter of Dr. Manuel M. Navarro, sold her part of the business, and the company was renamed; Rocholl, Ruffo & Co., it’s owners were William H. Rocholl, Antonio Ruffo, Mr. Arthur C. Nahl and Max Hach. (the latter was lent the money to enter the business by W. H. Rocholl’s brother, Paul) In 1929 four companies were dedicated to the curing of skins; one in San José del Cabo and three others in La Paz. For the amount invested and its production capacity the Tannery Viosca & Co, was the only company to exploit the industry at a large scale; its production in this year was one million skins, sending skins to the local market as well as to agencies in Mexico, Guadalajara, Monterrey and León and also abroad. In 1945 the Viosca tannery produced more than 1000 tons of shoe soles, valued at over 5 million pesos. According to the head of the federal office of Hacienda, the Viosca Tannery cured about 300 skins a day and gave direct work to 150 workers, without counting another 1500 job contracts to jobs outside the factory. However in 1947 the factory was obliged to close its doors. The local press connected the closure to the apparition of foot and mouth disease, an illness which in those years attacked primarily the cattle in the country, causing a shortage in the prime material necessary for the manufacture of shoe soles.
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