Industrial and commercial South America

by Annie S. Peck

Colchagua, south of Santiago and O’Higgins, extends across the country from the sea to the mountains, which have three easy passes into Argentina. The plains of the Central Valley have a rich soil and good rainfall, but as the summers are dry, as in Santiago, irrigation is needful. Crops of wheat, beans, alfalfa, etc., are important, and also the cattle industry.

Curicó follows across the south with similar features and productions.

Talca is next, also extending from the coast to Argentina. With a temperate climate, there are greater extremes of heat and cold on the plain. Besides the agricultural and cattle industries, the dense forests here afford opportunity for exploitation. Two Provinces are on the south.

Linares, the more eastern, has Argentina on the east, Nuble south, and Maule west. With considerable agricultural land, along the lower slopes of the Andes it has dense woods.

Maule, the coast Province south of Talca, has both Linares and Nuble on the east, and Concepción south. The valleys of the Coast Cordillera, which are fertile, afford opportunity for increased agriculture, but unwise deforestation has been injurious.

Nuble, again an Andean Province, between Argentina and Maule, is south of Linares and north of Concepción. Easy passes lead into Argentina, forests are extensive, and vines and cereals are grown on a large scale.

Concepción, south of Maule and Nuble, extends from the Pacific to Argentina. Mountainous at the east, it is rather arid in the centre, but extremely fertile near the coast. The fine crops include grapes and excellent wine. Large forests and extensive coal deposits are a source of wealth.

Arauco and Bio-Bio are on the south; Arauco along the coast, with important agriculture and large herds of cattle, has also extensive forests and mineral deposits, coal mines actively worked, and gold, both alluvial and quartz.

Bio-Bio at the east is mountainous and well watered, as is this region in general. Cereals are largely grown and viticulture is practised. The cattle industry is important and the forests are exploited.

Malleco, south of Bio-Bio, is peculiar in the fact that it alone of the Provinces touches neither the Pacific nor Argentina, having a strip of Bio-Bio and Cautín on the east and Arauco on the west. The mountainous eastern section is heavily wooded and the fertile central plain with a mild damp climate is celebrated for its crops of wheat.