OPENING UP THE LAND 225 



Hence railway construction must be regarded in 

 modern Argentina as one of the aspects of the problem 

 of developing the soil. The railway companies have 

 been compelled to intervene directly in the work of 

 colonization. In 1863 the Central Argentine received 

 from the Government a strip of land three miles wide 

 on each side of the line it was making, between Rosario 

 and Cordoba, on condition that it colonized the land. 

 The company had its own immigration agents and 

 its colonizing staff, and it opened its first colonies 

 west of Rosario between 1870 and 1872. This kind 

 of concession is exceptional in Argentina. On the 

 other hand, the irrigation law of 1909 obliges the 

 railway companies to undertake, on behalf of the 

 Government, the work that is necessary to develop 

 irrigation in the areas they serve, such work being 

 immediately reflected in an increase of population 

 and traffic. In compliance with this law the Southern 

 railway is constructing a canal which will water the 

 whole valley of the Rio Negro below the confluence 

 of the Neuquen. The Central Argentine and the 

 Pacific also have undertaken to construct dams on 

 the Rio Tercero and Rio Quinto, in the provinces of 

 Cordoba and San Luis. 



As it is the essential function of a railway to 

 convey the produce of the area it serves to the export- 

 ing port, the problem of the relations between the 

 administration of railways and the administration of 

 ports is of primary importance. The chief ports 

 served by different companies, such as Rosario and 



may compete for traffic with the Rosario and Tucuman lines. In 

 Patagonia, the continuation across the Andes of the line from San 

 Antonio to Lake Nahuel Huapi has been considered. A pass has 

 been found at a height of 4,000 feet. When this plan is carried out, 

 the Trans- Andean from Nahuel Huapi would be in a position to com- 

 pete successfully with the Trans- Andean from Uspallata, which is 

 condemned by its elevation to remain a passenger line. These plans, 

 still far from realization, do not deprive the Ramos Mejia lines of 

 their character as colonization lines, entirely devoted at present to 

 conveying the timber of the Chaco and the wool of Patagonia. 



15 



