Industrial and commercial South America

by Annie S. Peck

Rivers, Amazon Tributaries

North of the nudo or knot in the Loja province, spurs and ravines lead off from the high mountain range. Here swift flowing streams descend in a region called wild and savage. Those rising farthest north reach the Amazon at a more eastern point than the streams rising nearer, at the south; so the mention of the principal rivers of the eastern slope will begin with the most southern and western tributary. It may be remembered that the Amazon is formed by the union of the Marañón and the Ucayali Rivers, both flowing northwest in Peru, the former, the one nearer the Pacific coast. Above 6° S. Lat. the Marañón turns sharply east, flowing with northerly and southerly deviations, receiving in its course many tributaries before and after breaking through the East Cordillera of Peru at the Pongo de Manseriche. Here the waters of the previously broad river pass through an extraordinary chasm 3 miles long and 100 feet wide. The walls are not 2000 feet high as often stated; in one or two places they may rise 40 feet perpendicularly, but usually they are wooded slopes, rising in a single locality perhaps 2000 feet.[6] The principal rivers flowing from Ecuador into the Marañón or Amazon are the Chinchipe, Santiago, Morona, Pastaza, Tigre, Nanay, and Napo. These with the streams from Colombia drain the northwest part of the Amazon Basin and are capable of adding much to the economic value of the region. The few white settlements existing are as nothing in this vast wilderness.

[6] See Geographical Journal, October, 1920

The Chinchipe River rises in southern Loja and after receiving many tributaries flows into the Marañón a little below where that river runs northeast. The lower part of the Chinchipe is navigable.

The Santiago River rises near the town of Loja between the two Cordilleras. Several of its important tributaries rise in Loja, or in the Cuenca basin farther north. One of these, the Pauta, has a branch rising only 30 miles from the Gulf of Guayaquil, a source nearer the Pacific than that of any other river flowing into the Atlantic unless it be in the very south of Chile. The Santiago enters the Marañón a little above the rapids of the Pongo Manseriche. At the mouth of the stream was once a town, Santiago, which like Borja below the Pongo was destroyed by savages.

The Morona River. Two of the many tributaries of the Morona rise in the East Cordillera at heights above 13,000 and 14,000 feet north of the Apuay knot. At high water the Morona is navigable for 300 miles, at low water for 200, for steamers drawing from 2 to 4 feet, and also two of its tributaries; but due to the tortuous course of the river the 300 miles equals but 120 in a straight line. Earlier many flourishing missions existed in this section, but in the last century the Huambisa Indians inhabiting the upper reaches of the Santiago and the Morona almost exterminated the Indians who had been civilized. So recently as February, 1913, members of the same tribe massacred the soldiers of a Peruvian outpost. This, notwithstanding, was later re-established by Peru.

The Pastaza River, rising in the basin of Riobamba at a height of nearly 15,000 feet, flows through a little known district receiving many tributaries. The lower part is navigable for steamers at high water to the Huasaga branch, 120 miles, and 200 miles farther by canoe. This fluvial system drains the basins of Latacunga, Ambato, and Riobamba, the snows of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and other peaks contributing to its waters. A spot where the unified river at an altitude of about 6000 feet in one leap makes a splendid fall of 190 feet is said to be one of the most picturesque scenes in the Andes.

The River Tigre belongs to the region of the plains, though some of its affluents rise in the East Cordillera. Although in volume not to be compared to the Pastaza or the Napo it is quite as important, being navigable for steamers of 4 to 8 feet draught at high water for over 400 miles, and in low water for steamers drawing 2 to 4 feet; 100 miles more on the Corriente branch and 40 on the Pucasuro, with an additional 1260 miles by canoe on its various tributaries. The region traversed is rich in natural products and with over 100 tributaries the river deserves remembrance. It enters the Marañón 40 miles above the Ucayali.

The Nanay, a much smaller plains river with a slow current, yet with a high bank and a healthful climate, may be ascended for 105 miles and has some importance.

The Napo River, formerly part of the boundary line between Colombia and Ecuador but now given over to Ecuador, has sources among the Ecuadorian volcanoes, Cotopaxi, Antisana, and others. At first the descent is rapid. At the foot of the Cordillera 100 miles from the source, and but 1500 feet above the sea, canoe navigation begins at the village of Napo. Sixty miles below, the Coca River comes in. This section includes the Napo missions, a beautiful region long known and visited by botanists and geologists. Here ends the influence of the Roman Church and the land of the salvajes or infieles begins. It was down the Coca valley that Gonzales Pizarro and Orellana came in 1540. From this point the Napo runs in forested plains, receiving many more tributaries, the large Aguarico, and the Curaray. The Napo is called navigable in high water for steamers from the Amazon about 200 miles up to the Curaray, some say to the Aguarico, 560 miles, and little less at low water. At one point the Napo is but 50 or 60 miles from the Putumayo, with which communication by canoe is possible, and often made. The route from the Putumayo to Iquitos by way of the Napo is much shorter for the rubber gatherers, as the Napo flows into the Amazon not far below that city, while the Putumayo enters it several hundred miles farther down.