32 NATURAL REGIONS OF ARGENTINA 



Tucuman and Mendoza the change was accompUshed 

 a generation ago. In other places, as at Salta and San 

 Juan, it is still going on. In yet other places, the more 

 remote valleys, hke Jachal and Santa Maria, it will 

 occur in the near future. By a singular anomaly 

 the Far West of North America, which sprang up half 

 a century ago, tends to withdraw more and more from 

 the influence of the eastern States, which provided 

 it with capital and immigrants, while the Far West 

 of Argentina, which is just as old as the east and by 

 no means a creation of the east, since it developed 

 in isolation and freedom, and was already adult and 

 rich when they came into contact, has nevertheless 

 fallen into complete dependence upon the east in the 

 course of a few years. 



The life of the whole country depended upon the 

 great colonization movement which transformed the 

 plain of the Pampas. This brought about an economic 

 unity which was at once reflected in the political world. 

 The railway from Buenos Aires reached Tucuman 

 before 1880 ; Mendoza, San Juan, Salta, and Catamarca 

 before 1890 ; and La Rioja before 1900. The establish- 

 ment of closer economic relations between the coast 

 and the provinces of the interior has nearly always 

 inaugurated a period of great prosperity for the latter. 

 In every case the influence of Buenos Aires vitalized 

 them, put an end to their slumbers, and made them 

 rich. 



Not only did the coast take for itself the products 

 of the western provinces, which had hitherto found 

 their way to other markets, but new centres of production 

 had to be created to meet its needs. The forests of 

 the Chaco received a great influx of wood-cutters, to 

 provide the sleepers for the railways. The valley of 

 the Rio Negro was planted with vines, to provide the 

 wines of the colonies in the district of Bahia Blanca. 

 The attraction of the Pampa was felt as far as 

 the frontiers. Paraguay competed with Corrientes in 



