Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1916 — Valley of the Rio Neoro [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Valley of the Rio Neoro

Thomas falkner, in his book, speaks of the Rio Negro as the largest river of Patagonia. It is not only the largest river of Patagonia but, next La Plata and its two large tributaries, ■which do not, however, belong to Argentina alone, the largest of gentine Republic. Roughly speaking, it drains a large triangular piece or territory lying between 36 and 42 degrees of latitude south, with the base following the line of the watershed between Chile and Argentina and the apex resting at the mouth of the river on the Atlantic coast just south of ~ tfictortleth parallel of latitude. Falknef gives quite a list of names for this stream, of which the Indian name of Curu Leuvu has been retained to this day in the Spanish translation of Rio iNegro. -It-ia not.iQ.be wondered at that the Spaniards neglected the inhospitable coast of southern Argentina in those early days of conquest and settlement. No one could be expected to settle down in an unattractive and desert country ■while there was an unlimited supply of more desirable lands closer at hand and to be had only for the asking or taking. It is only when the good land has become exhausted and fwhen railroads and science make tho

desert more accessible and more easy and certain of remunerative development that the eyes of the colonist are turned toward the less attractive, eavs Walter Fischer in the Bulletin of the Pan-American Union. The most convenient method of reaching the valley today is for the traveler to take the train which leaves Buenos Aires at 6:37 in the evening, arriving at Bahia Blanca at 9:25 the following morning. Leaving Bahia Blanca again at 9:55 on one of the triweekly trains he reaches Neuquen at 10:35 that night; there he passes the night in a hotel or inn, leaves at 5:20 in the morning and gets to the end of —the te en s mixed freight and pasaenger train at either Hh 30 or 12:45 noon,, according to which of the biweekly. tra j n 9 he happens to have taken.

Crossing the Rio Colorado, a rather shallow and rapid stream, the railroad follows the river for about ?5 miles and then strikes southwesterly across the first narrow place to the Rio Negro, which it reaches at Choele Choel. From Choele Choel the traveler follows the valley of the Rio Negro, which is wider below that point and continues to narrow as one approaches Neuquen. River Is Dark and Swift. - We are more particularly concerned •with that part of the valley extending eastward one degree of longitude, or about sixty miles, from the juncture pf the two rivers to the small station of Chichinales. The valley is narrow here, not more than ten miles from bluff to bluff, with the fertile, irrigable land north of the river about half that Width at its widest and narrowing down to almost nothing where the rivers meet. The Rib .Negro Itself is a dark and silent, deep and rapid stream; a steamer is said to take only as many hounj to make the down trip It takes days- to ascend the sWift current. . , The melting of the Cordilleran gtibws often causes "considerable worry to the inhabitants, but therg have been i

no floods of any magnitude since the great inundation of 1899 caused the town of General Roca to be moved from the old site of the fort near the present station of Rio Negro* to a safer location about two miles away. The winds of the southern Pacific lose most of their moisture on coming in contact with the cold peaks of the Cordilleras and then syeep down across the Patagonian tablelands like an ocean gale. They often last for days, obscuring the sky and landscape with clouds of dust and are at times of such velocity as to hurl small-sized pebbles, but they are most frequent and-summer, -and. when .once over are soon forgotten in the delightful weather which otherwise prevails —warm or very hot days, according to The time of year, usually with breeze and cool nights always, with the temperature "6613010 below 20 degrees F. in winter. The climate most closely resembles that of the interior of the state of Washington. As snow seldom falls, the abundance of verdure which follows every winter rain is available for grazing cattle and sheep. Good Place for Hunters. Hunting is very good, as many kinds of game are plentiful; the guanaco, the small silver fox, the skunk, the Patagonian hare, three Species of

armadillo (the and molita), and three species of gopher or prairie-doglike rodents (the bizcacho, the tucutuco and the quise) are abundant in the -valley, while other species of game are common bar the mountains not far away; in the river are otter and plenty of fish. The inhabitants are as cosmopolitan a lot as is to be found almost anywhere. As in the greater part of Argentina, the Italian predominates on the farms and the Spaniard in the .small towns;, there are a few Germans, English and Scandinavians, jin fact practically every country in Europe is represented, usually by immltive Argentine! is represented by a few of the gaucho class and by wealthy landowners who possess palatial homes and spend much of their time in Buenos Aires; and there is quite V sprinkling of Chileans who' have filtered in through the mountains from their own country near by, 1 and the Indian has by no means become extinct.

Fruit Prospects There.

A great impetus wan, given to settling and farming by several droughts and crop failures in other parts of Argentina which drove up the price of alfalfa, a crop which was absolutely guaranteed under irrigation. Other crops such as wheat, barley, and to a slight extent maize, are &sown, but lately the. planting of the vine has assumed enormous proportions. There are vineyards of nearly 1,000 acres and several wine presses have been erected, one at Roca having * ffhpacity of 3,000 hogsheads. Sheep and cattle coming from the mountains and from across the desert are “Bought, fed and then shipped on again; hogSrtoo, are raised locally; the drying of the natural pastures in sutnmer does not, however, permit of local ranching. Fruits of all kinds grow well and are being planted, so that in general the small and mixed fartft Is on the increase.

ALONG THE RIVER

INDIANS OF THE VALLEY