Luis Huergo
Encyclopedia
Luis Augusto Huergo was an Argentine engineer
prominent in the development of his country's ports.
, in 1837, to a family of prosperous retailers. He was sent to the Jesuit
St. Mary's College of Maryland
, where he obtained his secondary education from 1852 to 1857. Returning to Argentina, he assisted urbanist Pedro Benoit
plan the first road to Ensenada
(a harbor town 56 km (35 mi) south of Buenos Aires) and earned a degree as a surveyor
from the Topography and Geodesics School of Buenos Aires, in 1862. Huergo was among the first class to enroll at the School of Engineering created by the President of the University of Buenos Aires
, Juan María Gutiérrez
, in 1866, and four years later, his thesis on the value of roads earned him the school's first engineering degree.
Huergo designed flood control
projects for the torrential Tercero River
and other Córdoba Province
waterways. He also designed 120 railroad bridges during his early career, as well as the harbor of the city of San Fernando
. Huergo co-founded the Argentine Scientific Society in 1872 and the Argentine Geographic Institute, in 1879. He taught at the newly created School of Mathematics of the University of Buenos Aires from 1874, and was designated its dean in 1881.
, the first modern port in Buenos Aires. The port's opening in 1880 coincided with a sudden economic boom in Argentina, and the Provincial Legislature awarded him a generous budget for improvements, including a breakwater
and the dredging of the silty Riachuelo mouth to 6.5 m (21 ft). His ambitious proposal for a massive, new port north of the one at La Boca
received initial support in the Argentine Congress, though the backing of Argentina's main financier (Barings Bank
) for a proposal put forth by local import-export mogul Eduardo Madero
helped sway congre ssional support away from Huergo's proposal. Madero's project was approved by Congress in 1882.
Huergo appealed the decision on the grounds that it would be uneconomical to build and difficult to modify, once new, larger freighters began to arrive. Madero's project was signed into law by President Julio Roca in 1884, however, and in 1886, Huergo resigned his post at the Riachuelo Bureau.
works in his capacity as Dean of the School of Exact Sciences at Buenos Aires, while also accepting new projects. Returning to Córdoba Province, he designed San Roque Reservoir
in 1888 as a means to prevent flooding along the Suquia and Cosquín River
s. He was appointed Minister of Public Works for the important Province of Buenos Aires and designed Puerto Belgrano
, the Argentine Navy
's first deep-water port. Huergo designed a canal from the city of Córdoba to the Paraná River
, over 320 km (200 mi) to the east, and the Port of Asunción
, Paraguay
.
The accomplished engineer was named director of the oil field
discovered at Comodoro Rivadavia
, in 1907. The nation's first such discovery, the office served as a precursor to YPF, the state oil concern established in 1922. Another reflection of the booming Argentine economy of the time, maritime shipping, had increased dramatically since Huergo's proposal for the Port of Buenos Aires had been passed over in 1882. The tonnage of vessels arriving at the port jumped from 4 million to 20 million by 1907, and in September of that year, Congress approved the construction of a new port. The facility would be built north of Madero's nearly-obsolete docks, and the design would be Huergo's. Work started in 1911 on the massive, new port, which included six open inner harbors, separated by cargo piers and protected by two breakwater
s.
Luis Huergo did not live to see the new port's completion, and he died in 1913, at age 76. His port design solved the very limitations he had anticipated for the former facility, and his many and early contributions to his country's infrastructure made him Argentina's "first engineer."
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
prominent in the development of his country's ports.
Early career
Luis Huergo was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in 1837, to a family of prosperous retailers. He was sent to the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland
St. Mary's College of Maryland, established in 1840, is a public, secular liberal arts college located in St. Mary's City, Maryland. It is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and designated as a Public Honors College . St. Mary's College is a small college, with about 2,000...
, where he obtained his secondary education from 1852 to 1857. Returning to Argentina, he assisted urbanist Pedro Benoit
Pedro Benoit
Pedro Benoit was an Argentine architect, engineer and urbanist best known for designing the layout of the city of La Plata.-Life and times:...
plan the first road to Ensenada
Ensenada, Buenos Aires
Ensenada is a city and port in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, located around the Ensenada de Barragán. It has 31,031 inhabitants as per the...
(a harbor town 56 km (35 mi) south of Buenos Aires) and earned a degree as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
from the Topography and Geodesics School of Buenos Aires, in 1862. Huergo was among the first class to enroll at the School of Engineering created by the President of the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
, Juan María Gutiérrez
Juan María Gutiérrez
Juan María Gutiérrez was an Argentine statesman, jurist, surveyor, historian, critic, and poet.He was a major figure in Argentine liberalism and one of the most prominent promoters of Argentine culture during the 19th century...
, in 1866, and four years later, his thesis on the value of roads earned him the school's first engineering degree.
Huergo designed flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
projects for the torrential Tercero River
Tercero River
The Tercero River , also known as Ctalamochita, is the river of the Córdoba Province with the most important water flow...
and other Córdoba Province
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
waterways. He also designed 120 railroad bridges during his early career, as well as the harbor of the city of San Fernando
San Fernando, Buenos Aires
San Fernando de la Buena Vista is a city in the Gran Buenos Aires, in Argentina, and capital of the San Fernando Partido, north of the city of Buenos Aires.- Geographic Data:...
. Huergo co-founded the Argentine Scientific Society in 1872 and the Argentine Geographic Institute, in 1879. He taught at the newly created School of Mathematics of the University of Buenos Aires from 1874, and was designated its dean in 1881.
The port
Huergo's plans to build a port at the mouth of the Riachuelo River flowing along Buenos Aires' industrial southside earned him the appointment of Director of the Riachuelo Works Bureau in 1876. This powerful post enabled him to develop the Port of La BocaLa Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse , and some people believe that...
, the first modern port in Buenos Aires. The port's opening in 1880 coincided with a sudden economic boom in Argentina, and the Provincial Legislature awarded him a generous budget for improvements, including a breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
and the dredging of the silty Riachuelo mouth to 6.5 m (21 ft). His ambitious proposal for a massive, new port north of the one at La Boca
La Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse , and some people believe that...
received initial support in the Argentine Congress, though the backing of Argentina's main financier (Barings Bank
Barings Bank
Barings Bank was the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million due to speculative investing, primarily in futures contracts, at the bank's Singapore office.-History:-1762–1890:Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the...
) for a proposal put forth by local import-export mogul Eduardo Madero
Eduardo Madero
Eduardo Madero was an Argentine merchant, banker and developer.-Life and times:Eduardo Madero was born in Buenos Aires, in 1823, to a family of farmers. A nephew of publisher Florencio Varela, his uncle's enmity with the Governor of Buenos Aires Province, Juan Manuel de Rosas, led Madero to...
helped sway congre ssional support away from Huergo's proposal. Madero's project was approved by Congress in 1882.
Huergo appealed the decision on the grounds that it would be uneconomical to build and difficult to modify, once new, larger freighters began to arrive. Madero's project was signed into law by President Julio Roca in 1884, however, and in 1886, Huergo resigned his post at the Riachuelo Bureau.
New projects and a new port
Huergo continued to campaign against the costly Puerto MaderoPuerto Madero
Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...
works in his capacity as Dean of the School of Exact Sciences at Buenos Aires, while also accepting new projects. Returning to Córdoba Province, he designed San Roque Reservoir
San Roque Lake
The San Roque Lake is a reservoir in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. It was created by the damming of several rivers, especially the Suquía and the Cosquín. It is located next to the city of Villa Carlos Paz, about 600 m above mean sea level...
in 1888 as a means to prevent flooding along the Suquia and Cosquín River
Cosquín River
The Cosquín River is a small river in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. It is located in the area of the Punilla Valley and is part of the upper drainage basin of the Suquía River....
s. He was appointed Minister of Public Works for the important Province of Buenos Aires and designed Puerto Belgrano
Puerto Belgrano
Base Naval Puerto Belgrano is the largest naval base of the Argentine Navy, situated next to Punta Alta, near Bahía Blanca, about south of Buenos Aires...
, the Argentine Navy
Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
's first deep-water port. Huergo designed a canal from the city of Córdoba to the Paraná River
Paraná River
The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...
, over 320 km (200 mi) to the east, and the Port of Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
.
The accomplished engineer was named director of the oil field
Oil field
An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...
discovered at Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia is a city in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Chenque Hill. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most important city of the San Jorge Basin....
, in 1907. The nation's first such discovery, the office served as a precursor to YPF, the state oil concern established in 1922. Another reflection of the booming Argentine economy of the time, maritime shipping, had increased dramatically since Huergo's proposal for the Port of Buenos Aires had been passed over in 1882. The tonnage of vessels arriving at the port jumped from 4 million to 20 million by 1907, and in September of that year, Congress approved the construction of a new port. The facility would be built north of Madero's nearly-obsolete docks, and the design would be Huergo's. Work started in 1911 on the massive, new port, which included six open inner harbors, separated by cargo piers and protected by two breakwater
Breakwater (structure)
Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
s.
Luis Huergo did not live to see the new port's completion, and he died in 1913, at age 76. His port design solved the very limitations he had anticipated for the former facility, and his many and early contributions to his country's infrastructure made him Argentina's "first engineer."