the wartime crisis it produced some 110-122 thousand tons. In the 1920s, when the Biscay mining was undergoing transformation and family-held companies were being replaced with bank ownership, the Lezamas held firm. For decades engaged in lawsuits against municipal authorities and subject to legal investigation as far as in Britain, during the Primo dictatorship they enjoyed favorable treatment. Lezama engaged in numerous other initiatives, mostly related to his mining business. In the 1890s he was among stakeholders of La Robla, a new railway line which linked Bilbao with León and Palencia; both regions provided coal, needed for the Biscay iron industry. In the 1910s he was involved in engineering projects related to regulation of the Nervion, vital for iron ore transportation and exploitation. In the early 20th century the Lezamas engaged financially in Banco de Bilbao; for decades Luis held a seat in its executive and in the late 1920s he was its rotating president; he stepped down from Consejo de Administración in the early 1930s. The Lezamas invested also in construction works in Canada, film-making industry in America and in photo business in Catalonia. The Lezama Leguizamóns are not counted among the very top elite of Biscay industrial tycoons, formed by the Ybarra, Martínez Rivas, Chávarri, Sota and Echevarrieta families; however, they are listed as members of the emergent Basque oligarchy; their name repeatedly comes up in history of Biscay industrialization and their companies are listed among the most important ones in Bilbao in the first decades of the 20th century. Their wealth and position was demonstrated by two buildings: Casa Lezama-Leguizamón in the downtown Bilbao, home to numerous corporate and other institutions, and Palacio Lezama-Leguizamón, the family residential estate in Getxo. Both are considered iconic examples of Biscay architecture, made possible by fortunes of the new industrial and financial oligarchy. Vascologist Lezama cherished his ethnic heritage and strove to promote the Basque culture. As a wealthy businessman he was best positioned to contribute organization wise. In 1916 he engaged in Euskal Esnalea, an association set up to study Basque language; he took part in its labors and co-organized a grand “Homenaje al idioma vasco”, hailed among “conocidos cultivadores del euskera”. In the late 1910s he contributed to emergence of Sociedad de Estudios Vascos and took part in its “Subcomisión de autonomía de Vizcaya”, entrusted with drafting an autonomy scheme. In 1920-1922 he represented the province of Biscay in