Saltworks of El Confital

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1867

In 1867 the Saltworks of El Confital were built, located at the foot of the Las Coloradas mountain, in the western area of the La Isleta peninsula.

This industrial facility was established taking advantage of a small elevation of the rugged coast. There, sea water was extracted from an open well about three metres deep, which favoured the obtaining of clean water. The elevation was carried out by means of a large wooden windmill. The water was transferred to some boiling pans through an aqueduct about three metres high and eighty metres long. From the boiling pans to the salt flats the liquid element circulated through an irrigation system with channels, pipes with carved stone edges and a clay bottom, a very uncommon material for this type of factory. The seawater, once stagnant, evaporated progressively by solar action, leaving the salt crystallised in the container for collection by means of shovels.

Salt production in this complex was for years a good business, reaching more than 120 tonnes per year marketed for the local market.

The Saltworks of El Confital remained active until 1956; today part of the boiling pans with their walls, the aqueduct wall and various irrigation conduits remain.

28.1683, -15.43745