Fontibre

Fontibre is a town in the municipality of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, just over three kilometers from the municipal capital, Espinilla, in Cantabria (Spain). In 2012 the town had 68 inhabitants (INE). Regarding the economy, agricultural activity predominates. Its most important festival is San Fernando, which is celebrated on May 30.

The town is known for hosting the upwelling of the Ebro river after its underground journey through the limestone of Mount Guariza, a place that has traditionally been considered the source of the Ebro river.

Place name

Paraje traditionally known as the birth of the river Ebro, in Fontibre.

The place name refers to the source of the Ebro, as it derives from the Latin Fontes Iberi ("sources of the Ebro") and was already mentioned by Pliny the Elder when he placed it near the Roman city of Juliobriga.

Landscape and nature

It is located in the central area of the Campoo valley, at an altitude of 930 meters between the mountains of La Guariza, to the south, and the rocks of Arbejón and Campana, to the north, with slopes where there are abundant beech and whiners The limestone materials have shaped the relief of this central part of the Campoo valley and explain the formation of the hole or spring, which is nothing more than the point at which part of the flow of the Híjar river, previously filtered between the Espinilla and Espinilla plains, reappears. Villaquantity. The area around the source was repopulated decades ago with autochthonous tree species, above all ash and poplar trees that are intermingled with occasional oaks and riverside willows that together with the first waters of the Ebro make up a pleasant spot.

Historical heritage

Location of Fontibre (Fontible) on the map of Tomás López Vargas (1777). In the same is indicated a double origin of the Ebro, above Fontibre, which would probably correspond with the streams of Pidruecos and the Guares, united in Riaño.

In 1997 works were carried out to improve and expand the surface of the park, marking new itineraries that have incorporated the alleys of the town and, especially, the square where a three-dimensional map has been placed which represents the entire Ebro river basin. The charm and beauty of this place are, without a doubt, a must-see for anyone who wants to discover the Campurriana region. The village church is dedicated to San Félix, and preserves a Romanesque apse and presbytery with sculptural decoration on the columns that support the main arch and on some corbels. The rest of the building is the product of baroque reforms and additions.

The town is famous for having traditionally been the source of the Ebro River, although, in scientific terms, this is not exact. Although it is now known that the main source of the waters of the Ebro River is the Híjar River, secular tradition has baptized La Fuentona de Fontibre as the “source of the Ebro”. Investigations carried out in 1987 by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain were able to determine with certainty that the Fontibre outcrop has its origin in the Híjar river, which rises in the circus of Pico Tres Mares () at an altitude of 1,880 m. A large part of the flow of this river seeps into the subsoil downstream of Paracuelles (dry season does not dry the river, contrary to what has been once thought) a little more than 800 m from the Fontibre spring, to reappear further downstream, in the Pilar de Fontibre:

The realization of the colouring test was carried out by technicians of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain at the time of stiaje (September 1987), with a flow in the River Híjar close to the 200 L/s that disappeared in its entirety. As a coloring the sodium fluorescein was used, which is presented in the form of reddish powder, dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ammonia and then poured into the water of the river.

The underground route of the river inverted 32 hours, after which it rose in the spring of Fontibre, which presented an estimated flow of the same order with intensely coloured water.

As a complement to this trial, the analysis of water samples taken in the Híjar river and in the Fontibre spring showed concentrations of sulphates, bicarbonates, calcium and dry residue slightly higher in the spring than in the river, which is explained by the underground circulation of the Híjar waters through the limes, dolomites and triassial carnioles.

Miguel del Pozo Gómez. Groundwater, landscape and life: Spanish aquifers.

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This study also provides graphic material that demonstrates the resurgence of dyed water in Fontibre. Other popular theories or beliefs have so far not had any kind of scientific support.

At the traditional source of the Ebro there is a sculpture representing the Virgen del Pilar with the carved shields of the provinces that the river crosses, and on the shore you can see a group of sculptures by Jesús Otero with an allegorical text by Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo:

“[...] the rough mountain range that keeps in its humble peñascales the cradle of the historic river that gives its name to the entire peninsula and that after greeting the fierce lindes of the Vasconia and kissing the triumphal and sacred wall of Zaragoza comes to pay tribute to your sea on the tortosine shore, symbolizing in its majestic course the supreme unity and the fruitful diversity of the country’s history. »

In the late 19th century and early xx, the area where the source began to be frequented by hikers and vacationers attracted by the natural beauty of the place and by the historical and geographical connotations of the river. One of the most famous paintings of the Campurrian painter Casimiro Sainz about the place comes from that time. In the 1950s, the environment for tourist use was cleaned up with the creation of a large parking area and services, the improvement of access to the spring and the beautification of the park with works by the sculptor Jesús Otero that symbolically emphasized the patriotic values of those years.

Mineromedicinal waters

Between 1908 and 1917, the businessman from Santander, Dionisio Gurtubay Mendiolea, acquired a farm from a neighbor of Fontibre in which there is a salty water spring, declared of Public Utility in 1912. In the published memory, it is stated that «the Water emerges in sufficient quantity to attend to all the spa-therapeutic services, at 10.8º C, characterized by being "chlorided-sodium, sulphated, calcium, cold magnesian"". The Fontibre waters began to be marketed and bottled in 1913, when they were presented at the International Hydrology Congress in Madrid, winning a gold medal. In London they get a diploma and a medal of honour, and advertisements are published detailing the excellence of the water, “most effective in stomach ailments; also liver; arthritism, and. ">XX. Since then, various projects have been undertaken to revitalize the spa (although it never functioned as such, but as a mere bottling plant), all of which have been unsuccessful (the most recent failed in 2008).

Miscellaneous

Fontibre is part of the Fontibre trout reserve. In addition, all of Fontibre is a place of great scenic value with an area of seven hectares and is populated with poplars, oaks and beech trees. Highlights of the place, the parish church of San Félix from the XII century and its altarpiece is from the XVIII.

Around the outcrop there is a popular recreational area.