Bahia Blanca, the “white bay,” is a thriving place. It is a name the significance of which is not yet wholly appreciated in the United States, or the world at large, for its importance has not yet been fully grasped. The growth of this city has been phenomenal, mushroom-like, and yet its development has been substantial. As a port its strategic value cannot well be overestimated. It is the only safe naval harbour for the big battleships, and the government has built an arsenal and docks on the eastern side of the estuary, called the Puerto Militar. It is a natural outlet for one of the richest agricultural sections of the republic. The wheat which was formerly shipped to Buenos Aires, and exported from that port, is now loaded on ocean liners from Bahia Blanca, and forwarded to Europe. The railroads are pushing out their lines west and south, and opening up new wheat and grazing lands each year, so that the shipments from this port are jumping by leaps and bounds. Not very long ago this site was nothing but a sandy waste, with an unimportant settlement at which only coasting vessels stopped. Now there are electric tramways and lights, great elevators and a good system of docks. The value of the land has increased and a few far-sighted individuals have reaped fortunes. The “boom,” if such it can be called, is still on as development progresses. The Great Southern Railway at first had a monopoly on the business of this port, but the Buenos Aires and Pacific has built into it, and now claims a share. The port works of the Great Southern form an addition by themselves and are called Ingeniero White, in honour of the engineer who built them. Several moles and elevators with an enormous capacity and which cost a million and a half of dollars have been constructed at these terminals. Puerto Galvan is the name of the Pacific Railroad terminals. To what extent Bahia Blanca will become a rival to Buenos Aires is uncertain, but it seems to me that there is room for both and to spare. It now ranks next after Rosario. Three hundred miles is a goodly distance, and each town ought to continue to grow rapidly, and neither necessarily at the expense of the other. Bahia Blanca is bound to expand, as she has the great undeveloped western pampas and the fertile part of Northern Patagonia right at her very doors. At the present time Bahia Blanca has a population in the neighbourhood of fifty thousand inhabitants.
Between Bahia Blanca and the Andes lie three rich territories, all of them of goodly size. The most important one at present is La Pampa, which is directly west of the southern half of the province of Buenos Aires. It is about the size of Iowa and is rapidly being populated and stocked. A few years ago this territory was entirely undeveloped, and the gaucho in charge of wandering herds of sheep held full sway. Railway extensions brought private ownership, however, and now this territory bids fair to become one of the richest sections of the republic. The Western and Southern Railways are both continually pushing extensions across the fertile plains, and material prosperity everywhere follows. It now has a population of about one person to each square mile. According to statistics it is third in the number of sheep of all the territorial divisions, which is a good showing for a new country. Wheat and flax culture is also being rapidly developed. Toay and General Acha are the only towns of any importance, the latter of which is the capital.
The territory of Rio Negro lies directly to the south of La Pampa and stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes. It lies between the Colorado and Chubut Rivers, and is watered by the Negro River as well. Along these rivers there are a number of estancias already located, most of which are owned by companies and many by foreign landowners. A new branch of the Southern Railway has been constructed across this territory, following the Rio Colorado, the red river, for some distance, then cutting across to and following the Rio Negro, the black river, as far as the town of Neuquen. This has led to the establishment of other estancias along those streams. All three of these rivers carry an abundance of water, and it will not be long until the question of irrigation will be taken up on the same lines as in our own western states; then there will be a development take place that will make this land blossom as the rose. The possibilities are there and the great demands for grains will sooner or later lead to this action. There is no doubt that those lands are fully as rich as any part of Colorado or California, and that is saying a good deal. The Rio Negro and Rio Chubut are both navigable for vessels of light draught for a considerable distance.
Neuquen is another large territory, as large as Ohio, lying right at the base of the Andes. It is mostly mountainous and as yet very little is known about this province, as few have visited it. Its population does not exceed fifteen or twenty thousand, many or most of whom are Indians. The rainfall is not abundant, but it is well watered by the streams which are formed by the melting snows. It is possible that it could be cultivated just as profitably as the province of Mendoza, which joins it on the north, and which partakes of much of the same character of soil and physical configuration as Neuquen. Chos Malal, a small town in the mountains, is the capital, but it is difficult of access. A railroad extension, however, is now headed in that direction.
The slopes of the Andes here and in many parts of the republic are covered with valuable timbers. If these timbers were near the markets or easy transport they would be worth fabulous sums. As it is Argentina imports nearly all her building lumber at high prices, with an undeveloped wealth of timber within her own borders. Most of these forest lands have scarcely been explored, and it would be impossible to give even a faint estimate of their real value, but it is undoubtedly very great.
CHAPTER VII
THE MYSTERIOUS LAND OF THE PATA-GOAS
Patagonia has always been a land of mystery. Only a few years ago the geographers labelled it “no man’s land,” because no nation seemed interested in it. Later Chile and Argentina, longing to expand, cast envious eyes upon this great territory immediately adjoining their borders, and parcelled it out between themselves. The Andes was made the general boundary line, and this gave to Argentina by far the greatest share of the territory. Even Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, was thus divided, so that each nation has a share in that large island which is the last inhabited land on the way to the Antarctic continent.
Patagonia impresses the traveller as vast and elemental. Its natural configuration is stamped with these characteristics. From its northern boundary it tapers gradually to the Straits of Magellan. The Argentine section naturally divides itself into three divisions, running north and south. Along the Atlantic shores lie the pampas, the flat and level plains. These plains rise in gently graduated terraces toward the west, one level plain above another. Then follows a network of lagoons and lakes, some connected by rivers and others by channels, many of which shift and alter under the climatic influences. On the western side the Andes range of the Cordilleras stand out against the sky like a mighty barrier. They are a tumult of mountains ever climbing upwards, their lofty gorges choked with glaciers, their hollows holding great lakes of ice-cold blue waters, and about their bases stretch thousands of miles of forests of which only the mere edge has been explored. Thus it is that the vast extent of Patagonia offers the most extreme and the most abrupt contrasts. Flat pampa, with hardly an undulation in sight, stands in sight of mountains almost inaccessible in their steep escarpments. Side by side these contrasts lie, mountain against plain, forest against thorn-scrub. The wind is the only element common to both. For a thousand miles the Atlantic coast is a low-lying, level, treeless series of bleak and brown downs, with few bays that offer protection to shipping; the Pacific coast, in Chile, is dented and notched with fiords, and the shores are covered with dense forests due to the excessive rainfall.