20 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



Here follow the salient clauses of a con- 

 tract with Messrs. John and Matthew Clark 

 for the construction of the Transandine Rail- 

 wav : 



1. A line of railway from Mercedes (Rio 

 Quinto), the present western terminus of the 

 Argentine Railway system, to Mendoza, 200 

 miles, for which the Argentine Government 

 gives a 7 per cent, guarantee, at the rate of 

 6,300 per mile; say 1,260,000. 



2. A line over the Andes, 152 miles, in 

 which the guarantee is shared between the 

 two Governments in this ratio : 



Thus the total cost of connecting the pres- 

 ent railway system with that of the Pacific 

 seaboard will be about 3,000,000. The sec- 

 tion from Mercedes to Mendoza passes over 

 level pampas. That of the Andes is described 

 as follows : 



1. The steepest incline on the Argentine 

 side is 1 in 40 (say 2 per cent.) for a stretch 

 of six miles. 



2. The steepest incline on the Chilian side is 

 1 in 25 (say 4 per cent.) for a stretch of seven 

 miles. 



8. The tunnel at the summit will be 3 

 miles long. 



This railway will open for settlement the 

 vast extent of cultivable lands of the provinces 

 of Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, with a 

 present population of 175,000, and insure the 

 development of the mineral resources of those 

 provinces. When it is completed, travelers 

 from Chili can obtain passage to Europe and 

 back for less than is now paid for a single fare 

 from Valparaiso to England (45), with a cor- 

 responding economy of time. 



An Argentine engineer, Sefior Huergo, had 

 revived the project of a port for the city of 

 Buenos Ayres at the Boca, and such progress 

 had been achieved in the work that early in 

 July two sea-going vessels, drawing each more 

 than twelve feet, entered the new port at low 

 water. Senor Huergo asserts that with 200,- 

 000 a port can be provided for Buenos Ayres 

 to rival that of the Clyde. His plans and es- 

 timates had been approved by the Govern- 

 ment, and an adequate appropriation would 

 probably be placed at his disposal for the com- 

 pletion of that much-needed improvement. 



In view of increasing European immigration, 

 and to insure greater security to colonists 



against the incursions of the hostile Indians, 

 the law of 1867, establishing the Indian fron- 

 tier on the Rio Negro, the enforcement of 

 which had been hindered by the Paraguayan 

 war, was revived on the recommendation of 

 General Roca, the Minister of War. The pre- 

 liminary military operations were successful, 

 and the savage Indians driven from tho terri- 

 tory chosen for settlement, though the uncalled- 

 for violence exhibited by the national troops 

 on the occasion was such as to merit sharp cen- 

 sure on the part of the Buenos Ayres press. 



The provincial Legislature of Buenos Ayres 

 had granted to Colonel Plaza Montero 1,200 

 square miles of public lands on the Rio Negro 

 frontier, whereon to establish an extensive 

 model farm for the raising of horses for ex- 

 portation to Europe. A colony is also to be 

 established in the Territory, the four sides of 

 which are to be apportioned off in free farm 

 lots to colonists. President Avellaneda sent 

 the following message on the subject to Con- 

 gress on August 14, 1878, and the Minister of 

 Finance has since called for an appropriation 

 of $2,000,000 to carry the law of 1867 into 

 effect, and provide for the defense of the new 

 frontier : 



The Executive considers the time has arrived to 

 carry out the law of Augustj 1867, for making the 

 Rio Negro our southern Indian frontier. The old 

 By stem of scattered outposts and forts in the Pam- 

 pas, protected by ditches, is found insufficient to 

 keep back the Indians. We must now make our 

 basis upon the deep and navigable Rio Negro, from 

 the Andes to the Atlantic seaboard. Had we spent 

 half as much on such a basis as we have done on 

 pcattered inland frontiers, the result would be dif- 

 ferent. 



In the last century, when Father Faulkner's book 

 on the unprotected state of this country startled the 

 King of Spain, the Cabinet of Madrid sent Biedina 

 and Villarino to explore the Rio Negro and the coast 

 of Patagonia. Accordingly, in March, 1774, the Mar- 

 quis of Loreto proposed to establish the frontier on 

 the Eio Negro. The idea was taken up by F. Azara 

 in 1796, and at various times revived and forgotten, 

 until finally adopted by Congress in 1867, but again 

 postponed on account of the Paraguayan war. A 

 glance at the southern portion of the map of the re- 

 public shows that the Rio Negro is the natural south- 

 ern boundary of the settled part of our territory, al- 

 though our jurisdiction extends to Cape Horn. 



At present our Indian frontier extends 469 leagues, 

 or 1,550 miles, in length : 



Patagones to Fort San Martin ..... .. 809 



Buenos Ayres and C6rdoba .......... .. ICO 



Total. 



From San Martin is the eastern point of the Men- 

 doza frontier. The two lines above mentioned are 

 garrisoned by 6,616 men, with 70 commanders and 

 372 subaltern officers. The annual support of this 

 force costs $2,361,199, exclusive of extras for ditches, 

 torts, or earthworks. But as these men are only four 

 to a mile, we might double the number and still be 

 unable to prevent Indian forays. Meantime, if we 

 adopt the Rio Negro, we can defend it with 1,500 or 

 at most 2,000 men.by forming four sections or head 

 centers, viz. : 1. From Patagones to Choelechoel ; 

 2. From Choelechoel to Chichlnal ; 3. From ChicbiniJ 

 to Lunay Neuquen confluence ; 4. From Limav Neu- 

 ^ e ^- S 0t f the Andes - Th e desert lying between 

 the Rio Negro and the Colorado, as well as the deep 



