Cajón del Maipo is 1 hour away from Santiago, located southeast of the metropolitan region, Chile.
The main city is San Jose del Maipo, which has around 20,000 inhabitants and has all the services (police, fire, hospital, pharmacy, etc.)
Over the years, El Cajón del Maipo has changed its priorities or its interests, which we will try to detail below:
At the end of 1700, the village of San Jose del Maipo was founded, with the purpose of giving support to the mining works, in the copper and gypsum extraction.
During the 19th century, it was used as a passage for Argentina both for Chilean and Argentine troops, all during the period of independence
At the beginning of the 20th century, a narrow gauge railroad was built to carry passengers and cargo.
In this same time a hospital is installed in San Jose del Maipo specialized in tuberculosis, since the climate is very dry and the air cleaner than in the city, the patients felt that they were improving, however at that time Tuberculosis it was an incurable and deadly disease.
During the twentieth century, the Cajon del Maipo takes national priority, installing and building the first hydroelectric power station in the country, in the area of ​​the maitenes.
In the decade of the 50, the construction of the Yeso Reservoir begins, to supply drinking water to Santiago
In the 50s and 60s, Baños Morales takes great importance for its hot springs. People traveled by Train and Horses to bathe in these hot springs.
In the 80s, the Cajón del Maipo began to stand out in tourism, for rafting, an activity that became fashionable at that time.
In the 90s, the Cajón del Maipo is once again on everyone's lips, when a gas pipeline was created by almost all sectors of the Cajón del Maipo, this was a very controversial and large magnitur project
In 2015, the Cajón del Maipo is back in the limelight, as the Alto Maipo project, which is a bypass hydroelectric power station, is announced.
In the present, the Cajon del Maipo has taken important tourist relevance, since the Yeso Reservoir is a fashionable destination and on the rise.
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