Not far above Cacheuta is Potrerillos, where it is pleasant to see a speck of green. Steers graze in alfalfa fields enclosed by tall poplar trees. A stock company was formed to bore a tunnel two kilometres through the mountains to the plain, deviate the stream from its course by running it through this tunnel and which once through, would irrigate new lands. As it would also render waste the lands now under cultivation, the wine growers and agriculturists served an injunction on this company stopping them in their undertaking. The tunnel is completed, but it is a hundred to one shot nothing will ever come of it for the company tried to steal the river.
Thermal Establishment at Cacheuta
One of the Diversions at Cacheuta that is Neither Bathing nor Gambling
The whole trip to Santiago over the Andes so often described is one of great scenic beauty on the Chilean side where the descent is very abrupt and where one can look down the whole length of the valley of the Aconcagua River which is cultivated where nature will allow. That on the Argentina side is grand with the giant peaks in the neighborhood, and also awe-inspiring, but it is apt to be tedious. The last stop of importance in Argentina is Puente del Inca, where there is a thermal establishment and electrical works. Here there is a natural bridge under which the Mendoza River flows and which gives the place its name. High up on the mountain side are curious groups of rocks which from the valley appear like people praying. They are named the Penitentes. The crest of the Andes is pierced by a tunnel at an altitude of 10,364 feet. This tunnel is 9848 feet long, 5460 feet of it being in Argentina and the remaining 4388 feet being in Chile. It takes eight minutes to run through it on the train. In the winter time when snow blocks the passes so it is impossible for trains to run, travelers between Argentina and Chile ride through this tunnel on horseback. About 1500 feet above the tunnel at the summit of the Cumbre there is a statue of Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), seen by me on several occasions as I have crossed the mountains on horseback. It was designed by the Argentine sculptor Matteo Alonso. It is of bronze and is over twenty-nine feet in height. It was unveiled at a mass said on the top of the Cumbre in March, 1904, as a monument of perpetual peace between Argentina and Chile in the presence of the presidents of the two republics. There had been a scrap over the boundary question and both countries were on the verge of war. It was a case of one being afraid and the other dare not, Chile probably holding the pole. Chile was unable to obtain a loan and therefore war was averted. The image of Christ with his arms extended is looking southward and the boundary line of the two countries runs through His center. Since the traffic on the Cumbre has greatly lessened on account of the tunnel, this bronze Christ has fallen into neglect. Storms have knocked the cross out of his hands, and in many ways have damaged it. The Chilean mozos who cross the Andes to work in the electrical works at Puente del Inca, use this statue as a target when they pass by it and when I saw it, it was quite pock-marked with the bullets from their revolvers. One hundred meters north and one hundred metres south of the statue are two iron poles named "itos" which demark the boundary.
