 In the first decade of the twentieth century, an English company called The Ropeway Extension, obtained a concession from the Colombian government to build a ropeway (at the time, the longest one in the world), which cover a distance of approximately 72 kilometers between Mariquita, in Tolima and Manizales in Caldas.This would enable a link between the Colombian coffee growing axis and the ports on the Magdalena River.So far, the only roads that could have been used, were dirt roads.