In other words, we may well ask whether the Argentine, in addition to its agricultural wealth, should pretend to a great industrial future, like that of the United States.
So far we cannot reply in the affirmative; not, at least, under present conditions. However rich the subsoil of the country may be, a matter at present uncertain, especially in respect of coal and iron measures, which are the basis of all industries, we must remember that the majority of these measures are situated in the region of the Cordillera, 4000 to 5000 feet above sea-level, over 900 miles from the coast, far from roads or waterways, and are consequently very badly situated for the establishment of industrial centres.
What coal and iron the Argentine may possess is distributed over a region of some thousands of miles in extent, which does not appear to contain continuous lodes or measures, and in which there are no real valleys or river-basins. Putting all questions of tariff aside, but considering the constant lowering of freights, we think the Argentine will always find it cheaper to obtain its supplies from abroad, except such as it can produce economically, rather than attempt to embrace all industries in its dreams of greatness.
Neither can we expect from the utilisation of natural motive forces a development which might in some degree compensate for the absence of fuel. There are a few waterfalls in Córdoba and in Tucuman, but such energy as they might furnish would hardly allow one to hope much from their adaptation to industrial uses. One of the most important of these falls is that below the Barrage San Roque, in the Sierra de Córdoba; it belongs to the North American Company, “Luz y Fuerza” (Light and Force). The company’s plant gives a yield of about 3000 horse-power, which is employed, for the greater part, in providing light and motive power to the town of Córdoba, and also for the production of carbide of calcium. Another installation, belonging to the Molet Company, has a capacity of some 700 or 800 horse-power, which is employed in the same manufacture.
The falls of the Yguassu, on the upper Parana, some 230 miles above Corrientès, on the confines of Brazil, Paraguay and the Argentine, have been described as a marvel of nature. It would seem that these falls represent a force three times greater than Niagara; their width is 12,000 feet, or more than two miles, with a fall of 212 feet. Unfortunately this
cataract is on the border of the Argentine territory, in a region of forests accessible only with difficulty, and will probably flow for many years yet before any one profits by this enormous natural source of power.
Mines.—Although the industrial future of the Argentine is as yet by no means clear, we must admit that during the last four years there has been a livelier movement in favour of gold, silver, and copper mining, which has resulted in the flotation of several important limited companies. It was to support these first steps that the Government built an aerial railway—one of the boldest works ever attempted in the whole world—to exploit the rich mines of Famatina.
“Over the whole stretch of the eastern slopes of the Andes,” says an important official publication[84] which we take for guide, “from Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego, the existence of numerous mineral-bearing regions is proved; notably in the Provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Salta, Jujuy, Tucuman, Córdoba, and San Luis, where traces of ancient mineral workings have been discovered.”[85]
[84] Description sommaire de la République Argentine comme pays d’immigration, 1904.