12 BULLETIN 1409, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
EL CHACO 
The Chaco or " Gran Chaco" is an extension of the Pampa region 
with the distinguishing feature that its surface is covered with 
alternating belts of woods and prairie. It begins about 100 miles 
north of the city of Santa Fe near parallel of latitude 30° South, 
and extends northward through Paraguay into Bolivia and Brazil, 
a distance of about 900 miles. Its width is from 200 to 400 miles. 
J\.bout half of the Gran Chaco is in the northern part of Argentina. 
It is a flat, level region of low elevation, similar to the Pampa, with a 
semitropical climate, humid in the east and semiarid in the west. A 
large portion of the Chaco is covered with alternating belts of 
woods, prairie, and swamps. There are large areas of prairie with a 
scattering growth of palm trees called "palmeros," the trunks of 
which are used for telegraph aud telephone poles and fence posts. 
Sometimes they are split and hollowed for use as tiles on roofs of 
houses. The principal industries in the past have been the raising 
of long-horned native cattle on the prairies and exploiting the 
Quebracho Colorado. Quebracho is equal to the best coal for fuel, 
and large quantities have been so used, also enormous quantities 
have been exported for tannin either in the form of logs or extract 
made from the logs. The trees attain considerable size. The 
larger quebracho trees are usually isolated and not more than 10 
or 20 are found growing on an acre. Along with them are found 
various species of acacia trees, somewhat similar to the honey locust 
of the United States. Underneath the quebracho and acacia trees 
there is usually an impenetrable thicket of thorny bushes and shrubs 
up to 15 feet in height, interspersed with many giant cacti. 
Because of the flatness of the surface there are many swamps, and 
the absence of streams or channels to carry off the surface water is 
noticeable. In the western portion of the Chaco, which includes 
most of the Province of Santiago del Estero, semiarid conditions 
prevail, trees and shrubs are smaller and more scattering, and large 
areas of almost solid stands of giant cacti are found. 
Portions of this region are not yet well explored, and the popula- 
tion is confined to small settlements along the rivers and railroads. 
As a general rule the land belongs to the National Government or is 
held in large tracts by private owners. The public lands are open to 
settlement after they have been surveyed by the Government, but in 
1924 only a small portion had been surveyed. Among the large 
private holdings may be mentioned one of 556,000 acres and another 
of 1,850,000 acres. For many years this property produced more 
than 60,000 tons of quebracho annually. The records of the 
Argentine Land Office show that although large areas of public land 
remain most of it lies at a distance of 20 miles or more from rivers 
and railroads. It is in the Chaco region that most of the develop- 
ment in cotton growing is taking place. 
MOUNTAINS 
The mountainous region includes the Andes Mountains and the 
northwestern quarter of Argentina north of the Pampa and west of 
the Chaco, about 150 miles east and west by 400 miles north and 
south. It includes a portion of Cordoba, all of Tucuman, Salta, 
Jujuy, Los Andes, Catamarca, and La Rioja, and portions of San 
