222 ROADS AND RAILWAYS 



narrow gauge of forty inches. Hence goods coming 

 from Tucuman had to be transferred at Cordoba. At 

 the same time (1875) the line from Concordia to 

 Monte Caseros was opened, and this made it possible 

 to avoid the rapids of the Uruguay, which was to be 

 a source of supply to the whole Mesopotamian system. 

 Its gauge was fifty-seven inches. Differences of gauge 

 are, and will continue to be, one of the characteristics 

 of the Argentine system. 



During the period from 1875 to 1890 w r ere con- 

 structed the main lines w r hich took the place of the 

 old roads from province to province. The Andean 

 railway reached San Luis in 1882 and Mendoza and 

 San Juan in 1885. Branches of the Central Cordoba 

 reached Santiago del Estero in 1884 and Catamarca 

 in 1889. In 1891 the Central Argentine opened a 

 new direct broad-gauge line from Rosario to Tucuman ; 

 and almost at the same time the narrow-gauge line 

 of the Central Norte, from Santa Fe to Tucuman, 

 was finished further north. The Tucuman line was 

 continued northward to the foot of the Andes as far 

 as Salta. In the province of Buenos Aires the Bahia 

 Blanca line was opened in 1884. Since 1900 the rail- 

 ways have pushed on to the frontiers and are linked 

 in various directions with those of the adjoining 

 countries. The Cumbre tunnel on the Mendoza trans- 

 Andean was completed in 1910, and traffic with Chile 

 by rail is now permanent. The Salta line was con- 

 tinued in 1908 to the Bolivian tableland. In Meso- 

 potamia, in fine, the north-eastern line reached Posadas 

 in 1911 and effected a junction with the Paraguay 

 line. 



These details, however, give a very imperfect idea 

 of the history of the development of the Argentine 

 railway system. It has not merely been superimposed 

 upon the old roads, but has, on the other hand, helped 

 to open up and develop new lands, which could not 

 have been colonized without it. As early as 1883 



