La industria de Béjar y su entorno hacia 1868

Resum

At the time of the Revolution of 1868, Béjar and its surroundings had a thriving in- dustrial sector. The textile industry was by far the most important, but there were others that had some relevance, such as tannery and cooperage in Béjar and Puerto de Béjar, paper in Candelario and La Calzada, and meat in Candelario. In addition to flour mills, chocolate factories, etc. Nevertheless, the years of prosperity would end abruptly in 1876, year in which the third Carlist War ended. The sudden end of the war was the cause of a great paralysis of the industry of Béjar, which led to the ruin of many textile manufacturers. Only those who had capital reserves resisted the crisis, as well as the few who had continued to produce cloth for civil trade. Indeed, there were many impediments for Béjar and its textile industry at the end of the 19th century such as the technical backwardness in relation to its competitors by not having incorporated the worsted yarns to its manufacture (until 1937 it would not be done), the too late arrival of the mechanical loom (from 1893) together with the geo- graphical isolation and the delay in the arrival of the train (1894-1896), the lack of credit institutions, the energy problem, to continue using hydraulic power when competitors used more regular energies (mainly steam), and the loss of human capital by emigration. However, with patience and tenacity, Béjar was able to overcome many of these problems and, with many ups and downs and very limited, has been able to maintain itself to this day. But that story is different and it leaves quite the nineteenth century.