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Start Over Subject(s) galapagos island Genre photographic print Genre digital image
View of the Worker's Houses, Hacienda El Progreso in 1888
Manuel A. Cobos welcomes the Albemarle expedition to Galápagos. He strongly urges them to make San Cristóbal their terminal station.
Coral Sand Flat Back of Landing Beach, Wreck Bay Chatham Island
El Progreso Plantation of Rogerio Alvarado, San Cristóbal, Galápagos
Monetary Note and Coins Issued by Hacienda El Progreso in 1905
When Albemarle sailed back to Panamá, Harry Randall moved in with Manuel A. Cobos. Nearly every day he went riding with his host.
The Wreck Bay pier in 1938
Chatham Island c. 1930s
Interior Plan of the Hacienda House in 1904
Rogerio Alvarado was married to Josefina, Manuel A. Cobos' older sister. He lived most of the time in Guayaquil.
View of Worker's House, Hacienda El Progreso in 1888
El Progreso in 1947
Paul Bruun was captain of the Manuel J. Cobos for about 18 months before he started trading with the Norge. The island community was dependent on the old schooner to obtain provisions from the continent. Delays and fuel shortages proved fatal for Bruun, her former skipper. When this photo was taken in 1934, the schooner had been re-named San Cristóbal.
Manuel J. Cobos poses with Workers, Hacienda El Progreso in 1888
When Jens Aschehoug and Per Bang visited Galápagos in 1922, the steam-powered sugar factory was in full operation, but decay had set in.
Galapagos. Plantation. Ethnology, 1888. Chatham Isd.
Manuel A. Cobos (4th from left) invites the Floreana party for sight-seeing at the sugar factory. Cobos wears a broad-rimmed hat, riding breeches and a revolver holster across his chest.
Manuel J. Cobos poses with Workers, Hacienda El Progreso in 1888
Hacienda El Progreso's Bodega at Puerto Chico in 1905
The local matazarno tree was excellent for house construction, but trunks of this size are not to be found in Galápagos. Photo is probably of a mainland tree.
Chatham Island c. 1930s
The Handling of the Hacienda Prisoners in 1905
The view looking towards Wreck Bay shows the rails leading to the pier, and what was for a long time the archipelago's only lighthouse. “Johnson from London” lived in the shack next to the light.
Left: Manuel A. Cobos and Dagfinn on horseback, Progresso. Right: Karin, Tony, Dagfinn and Manuel Cobos. The photograph was taken in 1933 and was sent to friends Ruth and Alf Ødegård who, at that time, were back in Norway. The picture does not reveal anything about the great finanical crash which had already ruined both Manuel and his brother-in-law, Rogerio Alvarado.
Hacienda El Progreso, Main Street in 1905
Accounting Office and Armchair inside the Hacienda House
Bacalao, coffee, sugar, yucca flour, corn and cattle were the most important export products on San Cristóbal. Here, the Manuel J. Cobos is loaded with sacks from the trolleys on the long pier at Wreck Bay.
The Government House on Hacienda El Progreso in 1905
Locally Harvested Invasive Cedar at the El Progreso Carpentry, 2016
Great class distinction, racial prejudice, language problems and religious barriers made communication between Norwegians and local residents difficult in San Cristóbal. Upon their arrival in Galápagos, the Norwegian colonists were quite unprepared for these problems.
The Cemetery at Puerto Chico in 1905
Karin and Manuel Cobos with two-year old Dagfinn, Wreck Bay, 1932.
The romantic Karin revealed herself also as a woman with great willpower. In 1945 she was overwhelmed with marital problems, obligations as a mother of six, and financial difficulties. She and Manuel separated. With the help of the children and their father, she established her own cattle ranch. In 1952 she moved into the first “Pampa Mia” near Progreso.
The Hacienda Sugar Mill in 1905
1983 was an extremely wet El Niño year, and two years later Galápagos experienced one of the worst droughts in memory. But Snefrid (82) and Karin (77) on “Pampa Mia” hold their own for they know that the pendulum will soon swing back to normal.
Feral Goats above Hacienda La Tranquila, La Soledad, San Cristóbal, in 2014