El Lanchon: Oil, environmental tourism and an industrial legacy… failed
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many prospectors and transnational companies came to find gold, oil and timber along the Caribbean coast. In 1921 Sinclair oil company set up camps between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo along the black (volcanic sand) beaches called Playa Negra. They built the first wooden pier, installed a tram line, and workers camp. In 1953 the Loffland oil company replaced the wooden pier with an [iron] pier to accommodate larger ships. The remains are known locally as El Lanchon and it was towed from the Panama Canal. These piers consisting of two parts (one is submerged) to allow landing boats of a certain size. The two piers, in fact, served the company for transporting the heavy machinery required for excavation through the two large boats that were called Ardilla and Triton. The same company built the first road car from Puerto Viejo to Bri Bri to facilitate oil excavations in high Talamanca. In 1963, ten years later, Loffland Oil Company had to terminate their projects because the poor quality of the extracted oil did not make the investment cost. (It seems from websites and talking to locals that it is a monument to efforts in the oil prospecting, which fortunately failed, and have instead contributed to the development of sustainable environmental tourism). Loffland was bought out by Nabors and there are some interesting consumer protection and deception legal action against this company.