The arrival of the rail in Elisabethville

The station of Elisabethville in 1910

The beginnings of Elisabethville: the Glasstone store (present site of the Bertoldi building).

The factory of the Lubumbashi in construction

The trains coming from the south brought the hundreds of immigrants. these were not anymore isolated adventurers rifle in sling, gun on the hip, stove to fry to the belt and hat cowboy, but of the whole families. These were not only British, of the South-African, of the Australians, but of the Greeks, of the Italian, the Portuguese, the Asians, the half-caste of various origins,. All this world got settled along the avenues of Élisabethville, constructed some huts, of the slums made of adobe, of the shacks made of wood and corrugated iron, opened some boutiques, of the hotels and especially of the bars. Since the open pub all night long and vowed to the crashing brawls until the famous Bodega Select where, in 1911, meets for the first time the association of the Colonists of the Katanga and finally the luxurious hotel of King Albert, where the pension paid itself three hundred fifty francs per month, and that made the object of a flashy advertising in the newspaper local L ‘Star of the Congo : Hotel of King Albert - one of the lustful (sic) hotels in city - magnificent restaurant - the place for the comfort and the civility!

The strangers were, evidently, from afar more numerous than the Belges s: in 1911, on the thousand of declared inhabitants officially in Elisabethville, there were about three hundred fifty Belgians, of which a lot of civil servants of the Government and the C.S.K. and of officers of the public Strength.
It is in this same year 1911 that some personalities residing in Élisabethville founded the Circle Albert-Elisabeth, who constitutes one of the poles of the local social life again currently.

In Belgium, of people probably well-intentioned, but that had cleared Ecuador never, threw a vibrant propaganda the Katanga was a misunderstood Eldorado and the Belgians had to hurl down themselves of it in mass. The Government of the Colony, harassed by influential metropolitan personalities, promised his/her/its aide to all those that declared to want to settle in the Katanga. In the first three months of 1911, more than two thousand candidates-emigrant presented themselves to the Committee of immigration in the Katanga.
On the other hand, the C.S.K. had allowed the prospecting in the non conceded until then territories. A ten of mining societies constituted themselves to this time. Three only subsist again nowadays...

The situation didn't linger to turn around. The cost of life went up rising, while the amount of the wages lowered. Every day, one announced new bankruptcies. A lot of hopes collapsed. It was a real crisis.

A witness of these events wrote, in the month of November 1911 : "On the faith of flashy advertisings and untrue information, one sent quantities of Belgian working poor wretches here that, for a big part, are now on the path of the return and no without having let their feathers to the brambles of the path thirty colonists left this week and about thirty others leave next week (...).  

"I made the journey of the Cape to Élisabethville with forty emigrants; one had embarked these poor wretches without giving them a preview of that that was here the conditions of existence only, without putting them in guard against the dangers of the climate (...). had the whole families, with women and children, there; I inquired of their professions, they were all, or nearly all, carpenters or masons. Confide in the fantastic promises that one had made them before their departure, all were full of confidence and said that they would return at home, at the end of a couples of years, after made fortune! »

The question of the indigenous manpower was agonizing. In 1909, one had created the Stock market of the Work of the Katanga, in which the MINING union had taken an interest of 150.000 francs. The natives called the new Kowè organism, of the name of his/her/its first director, René Grauwet, this former officer of the Body of Police of the C.S.K. that had expelled of the territory the last Batetelas rebels. The B.T.K. had for mission to recruit some workers in the north of the Katanga and to distribute them between the employers, while requiring them the respect of the wages and the conditions of work whose parts were agreed. But this organism could not have given all his/her/its output again; the strangers non affiliated members practiced - it is the case to say it - a real black market of the indigenous manpower, and the shortage of workers paralyzed all business. To such point that retaking an idea a long time dear from king Léopold Him some recommended the massive introduction in the Chinese worker Katanga... of five thousand Chinese coolies for commencer !

To complete this dark picture of the years 1911-1912, it is necessary to say again that a real famine hugged the entire Katanga then. The tests of European agriculture, the attempts of livestock raising, had, for most, lamentably aborted. The indigenous villages, depopulated, didn't provide anymore nor corn, nor cassava. All supplies for indigenous workers had to be imported from Rhodesia. The kilogram of cassava flour, that cost twenty-five cents in 1909, had reached the astronomical price of two francs fifty the kilogram!

Only some optimists by temperament and some men with the lucid brain kept courage to persevere and the front of the proclamer :
Is it necessary to throw the handle after the felling ax, did write A. - J. Wauters, in The Geographical Movement, to discredit the enterprise, to sow suspicion, to speak of dreams and bluff, to shake the confidence, the impetus and the indispensable enthusiasm to lead to a lot of such enterprises,? Because, does the Katanga finally, say him, yes or no, a mining region to moderate and unusually rich climate? Is this a country of futures? Who would dare the niers? The whole question is there! »

Since the rail, after having reached Elisabethville and advanced a branching until the star, continued his/her/its progression toward the Lualaba, one worried to put back in state of exploitation the mines of the Center and the west, notably Kambove and Busanga.
But the most urgent problem, it was to pass to the stage of the industrial production. For it, it was necessary to pursue the setting in exploitation and the equipment of the mine of the star; it was necessary to finish the construction of the foundry of the Lubumbashi and his/her/its indispensable complements thermal power station, shop of repairs, channel of brought of waters, offices and dwellings for the whites, camp of the workers, hospital, etc... it was necessary to finalize the metallurgic processes finally.

In the month of April 1911, Robert Williams announced that he/it would arrive to the Katanga thin June and that he/it wanted to attend the first flowed of copper. To the factory of the Lubumbashi, engineers, setters, electricians, mechanics, carpenters, masons, smelters, foremen and workers - about eighty whites to the total - sped up febrilely with their director, P.K. Horner, an American of about thirty years, original of Missouri.
Among the technical staff, there was a young Belgian engineer of 27 years, named Jules Cousin, then. He/it had to have defeated a lot of obstacles to arrive there. Before even to have conquered his/her/its diploma of civil engineer of the mines in the university of Louvain, he/it had applied for a place to the MINING union. He/it had gotten the complementary diplomas that one had advised him to take, maybe to discourage it. He/it had besides learned English. He/it had accepted pays very lower to those of a worker five thousand francs the year, forfeit absolute, no indemnity nor tip. And he/it left like simple engineer-training.

He/it disembarks to Élisabethville, in the month of February 1911. By a muddy and difficult trail, he/it wins the Lubumbashi, under a rain diluvienne. The leading Horner receives it coldly:

"I don't have a lodging for you. Install yourselves under the tent."

The first time was hard for the young engineer arrived full of enthusiasm and illusions; one confides him of vulgar tasks: to measure trees cut down in forest, to count the bricks, to supervise the teams transporting some materials, etc. After about ten days, the young Cousin asks to be received by E. Halewijck, general manager of the Mining union:

There is not mistake? Do you estimate that work who I am confided corresponds to an engineer's use, same training?."
"My young friend, I don't take care of the technical business. Go say it to your dire&eur, Mr. Horner..."
The interview was brief:

"I would prefer to work like worker. At least, I would learn something in technique."

"But you don't know any profession! Finally, I am going to make a test! »

And Jules Cousin was attached to a setter liégeois working to the assembly of the metallic frameworks. Few engineers probably knew a training as hard as that one. Because, after the sudden departure of the chief-setter, the young engineer must replace it right away.

"It was my first promotion, he/it says, but I confess that she/it made me more pleasure than the one of assistant director-general that I got three years later. »