AWAKENING OF ARGENTINA AND CHILE 



135 



are extensive plantations and refineries ; 

 and on the mountain slopes are the villas 

 of the wealthy planters, who may be 

 whirled in a few moments in their autos 

 over well-built roads to temperate or even 

 to alpine climes. Extending still farther 

 northwest, the railway reaches Quiaca, 

 on the Argentine boundary, where it is 

 eventually to be connected with the Bo- 

 livian system that centers in La Paz. 

 Those who do not mind two or three 

 days' staging may even now go on via 

 La Pas to Antofagasta or Mollendo, on 

 the Pacific coast. 



Cordova, the old university town, was 

 linked in the old colonial days by such 

 lines of commercial intercourse as ex- 

 isted and by ties of interest rather with 

 Tucuman, San Juan, and Mendoza, the 

 centers of population in the Andes, than 

 with the isolated settlement of Buenos 

 Aires on the coast ; and in sympathy at 

 least the relation still holds. Provincial 

 conservatism is characteristic of the in- 

 terior cities. In Mendoza, however, 

 wealth has done more to modify the old 

 customs than in Cordova. 



TILE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OE SOUTH 

 AMERICA 



Mendoza is the southern California of 

 Argentina. Irrigation has long been suc- 

 cessfully applied to her vineyards and 

 she has grown rich on their products. 

 She lies also on the historic route across 

 the Andes by which San Martin entered 

 Chile with the army that liberated that 

 country from the Spanish dominion. The 

 railway now ascends by the valley of the 

 Mendoza River over the barren wastes 

 of the high Andes, which are here cursed 

 by both drought and cold ; and, passing 

 through the summit at 10,600 feet, de- 

 scends rapidly to the valley of the Acon- 

 cagua River and the fertile plains of cen- 

 tral Chile. 



In our excursions thus far we have 

 traveled among the centers of the old 

 Spanish settlements founded 300 years 

 ago. Now let us turn to the south and 

 southwest, to the country where the In- 

 dians were dominant till within 30 years, 

 where explorers now living have been 

 held captive by them, or have been able 

 to traverse the plateaus and mountains 



only as companions of the roving Indian 

 bands. 



Bahia Blanca is today a city of 70,000 

 inhabitants, with extensive wharves, huge 

 wheat elevators, and various lines of rail- 

 ways converging to it. Yet as late as 

 1879 it was an outpost which was repeat- 

 edly isolated from Buenos Aires by pow- 

 erful Indian raids. Now the intervening 

 pampa is all converted to private property 

 and divided by wire fences. 



A POOR PROSPECT BECOMES A RICH INVEST- 

 MENT 



When, in 1902, war over the question 

 of the boundary in the Andes seemed im- 

 minent between Argentina and Chile, it 

 was felt that easy communication must 

 be established between Buenos Aires and 

 western Patagonia, where the disputed 

 boundary lay, and the government gave 

 the Great Southern Railway of Buenos 

 Aires a very liberal concession to build a 

 branch from Bahia Blanca westward up 

 the valley of the Rio Negro as a strategic 

 element of defense. 



The company undertook it unwillingly, 

 for the country was considered a desert ; 

 but the road has paid interest on its cost 

 almost from the first year after its con- 

 struction, and, being now extended be- 

 yond the valley of the Rio Negro to a 

 low pass in the Andes, it will ultimately 

 form a transcontinental route which will 

 connect Bahia Blanca with Concepcion. 



In the valley of the Rio Negro is a re- 

 gion which, through the utilization of the 

 waters of that great river for irrigation, 

 is being converted into one of the garden 

 spots of the Republic. The climate, which 

 in temperature resembles that of our 

 south Atlantic coast, the fertile soil, and 

 the abundance of water, which will even- 

 tually be brought under control, so as to 

 minimize the effects of floods and the 

 scarcity of the dry seasons, all combine 

 to give this district a rich promise. At 

 present it is still in the initial stages of de- 

 velopment, lacking adequate organization 

 of its industries and society and needing 

 competitive development of means of 

 communication with its markets. 



In this excursion to the valley of the 

 Rio Negro we reach the southern limit 

 of the connected Argentine railway sys- 



