omartuś: The polish priest and the birth of a city

The area of Patagonia has a size of half Europe. In the middle of it, by the Atlantic, we have its biggest city: Comodoro Rivadavia. It was founded in 1901, to have a port in the area, but soon they realized they couldn’t get water from anywhere. They were in the middle of the desert.

In 1906, they sent from Buenos Aires a drilling machine with a group of engineers with the goal of finding water. So they started to work at once.

They tried in a first place, finding almost the limits of the recommended depth. One of the drilling parts was broken, so it was replaced. After some months, it was clear that it was necessary to find another place for drilling. They moved the machine to the other side of the big hill. The result was the same: nothing happen.

In the edge of hopes, the workers were organizing a meal when a priest arrived to the settlement. It was the father Dawbroski, a salesian spreading the word of God in Patagonia. He was invited to have the dinner and spent the night there. The morning after, after listening the whole story of this new town, he wanted to offer something: his bless to the machines. Workers felt better after this, we must realized that, by then, it was a lone place, in the middle of desert and ocean. The capital it’s 2000 kms north, in those times without good roads, it took more than a week to reach it. So, this visit of a priest it was seen a sign.

Father Dawbrowski continued his way north (he would come back some years later to a very different place) and people continue with the sissify work of the drilling that dead ground.

Then, in December of 1907, engineers pulled the machine over the limits, their hopes and patient were over. Suddenly, the machine made a terrible sound. They started to smell something strange and they saw a thick jet of kerosene. People gathered by the machine, without understanding. Right then, came up from the hole the black liquid; they found petrol.

Quickly everything changed. The Nation of Argentina started to make the new laws to rule the use of this strategic fluid. Many people from all country and Europe moved to this city to find a place in the oil industry. Soon, this place with 50 people, multiplied to hundreds, then thousands. Today it has something like 200 000 h. All of them, sons of these events. All kids of south of country learn about this history and the polish priest who gave the blessing, and nobody think it was coincidence.

With the wars in Europe, many people went to America to find a better place to start a life, and the three main countries were USA, Brazil and Argentina. So, for some decades, population of area was grown by many people from there, including polish. And polish citizens were some of the more active. One of the biggest avenues is the Avenida Polonia, which crosses the entire city. This and many others, are the print of polish culture in the city of Comodoro and makes this country in a constant and welcome presence.

And… what about father Dawbrowski? Well, he came back to city some years later, in the middle of the Petrol Boom. It was then when he made another adding and created the Saavedra Neighborhood, certainly my favorite one; full of green areas and sport places.