Canton El Tablon

Canton El Tablón belonged to the Municipality of Suchitoto, Cuscatlan, El Salvador. El Tablón was one of many cantons in the surrounding area that was flooded as a result of the Cerron Grande Hydroelectric Dam built in El Salvador between 1972-1976 that created the artificial Lago Suchitlan. According to former residents of El Tablon, the area was divided up into four main or hamlets, Caserio La Hacienda Vieja, Caserio Los Figueroas, Caserio Valle El Tablón, and Caserio Los Palitos. It is unclear where the name El Tablon originated from, but according to local historians, an or village/hamlet of El Tablón existed prior to 1860 that was formed through a municipal ejido. An ejido was commonly-owned municipal land granted by the Spanish Crown to governing bodies in the Spanish Empire. These lands were considered vacant or unused land in some cases belonging to existing indigenous communities.

According to various first-hand accounts, the Barca del Rio Lempa was a boating transportation system that would transport people and goods across the Rio Lempa between the Departments of Cuscatlan and Chalatenango. In previous decades, the shortest way to go from Chalatenango to the capital city of San Salvador, residents would use the San Francisco Lempa road that would take them to the Rio Lempa where they would cross from Canton Los Zepedas, in the municipality of San Francisco Lempa, Chalatenango to Canton El Tablon, in the municipality of Suchitoto, Cuscatlan. The location of the boat crossing was about 13 kilometres from the city of Chalatenango, in the Department with the same name, and about 10 kilometres northeast of the city of Suchitoto, Cuscatlan.

In the early 20th century, a large number of people were transported across the Rio Lempa on a daily basis. It became an essential part of the local economy and the tourism industry of both departments. As a result of this high usage, the departmental governments of Chalatenango and Cuscatlan agreed to build a suspension bridge named Cayetano Bosque that was destroyed by a severe storm in 1934. That same year, the municipality of San Francisco Lempa decided to build a boat that would be able to transport people and good across the Rio Lempa as the demand was still very high. That first boat was named Tablon Cayetano Bosque. It was used to not only transport people and goods but also vehicles such as local buses that traveled between the city of Chalatenango and the city of San Salvador. The initiative to build and use these boats as transportation was headed by Don Teodulo Zepeda, son of General Juan Orlando Zepeda. Don Teodulo Zepeda became the administrator of the first boat. These boats were built of wood with a lifespan of at least five years. According to some former users of the transportation system, the boat was susceptible to sinking when there was too much weight on top and would occur most often when transporting buses. To address this issue, the boat was attached to a cable above the boat that crossed the river and was attached to the shorelines. At some point after the construction of the Tablon Cayetano Bosque bridge, another bridge was built across the Rio Lempa known by locals as Puente Remolino that was also destroyed not long after its construction by another severe storm. These bridges were never rebuilt and so the Barca del Rio Lempa continued to be of great use for local residents of the area until 1976 when the Cerron Grande Hydroelectric Dam was fully built and the lands surround the river in the Paraiso Basin were flooded.

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