The San Francisco Pass is in the Andes, it was populated by tribes who were hunters and collectors, the got the influence of the Incas.

The traffic in the pass was greater when Juan Perez Zurita organized a strategy to dominate and govern the region; he founded towns, one of them was the Londres and the closest at Copiapo.

From there, he consolidated the road to link Catamarca and Atacama. The pass was used as a way of trade exchanging, supplying the villages of both sides of the Andes. It became important when the copper and silver mines of the north of Chile were discovered.

The transport of merchandise for feeding the miners, the materials and minerals were carried on mules traveling a distance of 133 leagues from Tinogasta.

During that period the driving of horses and mules on foot was permanent., from Catamarca to the markets of Huasco and Copiapo.

As the trade became so important, it was necessary to build the road of the San Francisco pass.