Mendoza, Argentina

“ Mendoza, with 45,000 inhabitants, the largest city in West Argentina, has a remarkable record. Strange, indeed, that this town at the base of the loftiest of the Andes, by these separated from one ocean, and by 650 miles of pampa from the other, was founded nearly fifty years before the first settlement in the United States and twenty years before the city of Buenos Aires came permanently into being. If we knew or reflected more on the bold deeds of other days in other countries, we might, perchance, have more respect for others and less assurance of our own great superiority. ”

“ Mendoza (137) , province in the extreme W. of Argentina; has the Andes in the W., Aconcagua (23,500 ft.) , the highest peak in the New World, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated from the small Mendoza River; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful, coal and oil are found. Mendoza (20) , the capital, 640 m. W. of Buenos Ayres by rail, is on the Trans-Andine route to Chili, with which it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes. ”

“ As far as its fruit and streams are concerned, Mendoza may compare with Damascus, and in every respect is the only Argentine city, except Cordoba, which possesses any old-world charm. It is an old Spanish City, and the people have the leisurely ways and open-air habits of their forefathers. From the nature of the case it cannot possess fine buildings, because, in case of another earthquake, the inhabitants desire light houses that will either resist the shock, or, if they fall, do the minimum of damage. ”

“ But the general scenery of the Mendoza Andes is most disappointing. In autumn, at least, even the mighty Aconcagua shows very little snow, and in general the mountains are perfectly bare with the straightest of contours. Their size is their only attraction. In the Province of Mendoza alone the following huge mountains are to be found:—
Nothing can be more desolate than the appearance of these unlovely monsters. ”

“ From Buenos Aires to Mendoza, from Bahia Blanca to Tucuman, are to be seen all the signs of wealth and [2] prosperity, all the unmistakable portents of coming potency usually apparent in a new country that has emerged from the stage of childhood and weakness and feels the vigour of lusty youth in its veins, impelling it to take its place in the system of world politics.
If a single volume is all too short to represent Argentina in its manifold aspects, still less adequate is a single chapter to sketch its physical characteristics. ”

“ The canine population of both of these cities outnumbers that of the human in a proportion of at least three to one. Only two dogs out of this vast number are of any consequence and they are on exhibit in the zoölogical gardens. The other dogs are not worth the powder to blow them up.
With the exception of Buenos Aires, Mendoza is undoubtedly the finest city in Argentina and is the liveliest of the provincial capitals. It is a beautiful place with many broad avenues bordered by symmetrical rows of sycamore, plane, and linden trees. ”

“ Farther south the country becomes more arid and sparsely populated, and unsubdued tribes of Indians for a long time prevented its exploration. In this region the Sierra de Payén and Sierra del Nevado (otherwise known as the Sierra Quero Matro Pellon) extend in a north-easterly direction. With the exception of the Rio Grande in the south-west part of the province, which forms the principal source of the Colorado, all the rivers of the province flow easterly and southerly into the great saline depression of western Argentina, which includes a great part of Mendoza, San Luis and La Pampa. ”

“ The town, thus covering a large area, appears to be more considerable than it in reality is, but it is rapidly growing, and its forty thousand population will probably soon be doubled. Land in the outskirts is rapidly rising in value, and great credit is due to the State of Mendoza, which is planning the extensions on a very handsome scale. At the west end a large park and zoological gardens are being made, and at sunset there is a beautiful prospect from their pleasant walks, which seem to be under the very shadow of the Andes. ”

“ At Mendoza a change is made to the less comfortable narrow-gauge train, which conveys the traveller through the fastnesses of the Andes. The mountains are now plainly visible and the snow peaks can easily be distinguished from the dark background. The route leads first through grape and peach orchards, but these soon give place to the cactus and scrub growth which cling to the foothills. The Mendoza River, fed by the melting snows, tumbles along on its way down from the mountains and is crossed and recrossed many times. An occasional station is a somewhat forlorn outpost of human life. ”

“ Mendoza is a more northerly province, and mostly dedicated to the grape and wine industry, while a lot of fruit is also exported from there. Wine is made in very large quantities, and a lot of very good quality. The value of land varies very much. The greater portion is worth at present very little. The great point is to get the water concessions for irrigating; without irrigation the land is useless. A good vineyard in its prime, with good irrigation rights, is worth as much as from £40 to £50 per acre, while the ordinary camp land is at about 7s. ”

“ Gradually the loosely built low adobe houses have been and are still being replaced in the New Town by several-storied buildings of solid masonry; courage growing as the date of the last great earthquake grows more remote. Still slight shocks are of frequent occurrence in the Capital and elsewhere in this Province.
The City of Mendoza is rich in public gardens and avenues filled with luxuriantly umbrageous vegetation and has, of course (what self-respecting Argentine town has them not?) , electric light and trams ”

“ In the meantime the Spaniards had penetrated into the interior of what is now the Argentine Republic, and established themselves on the eastern slopes of the Andes. In 1553 an expedition from Peru made their way through the mountain region and founded the city of Santiago del Estero, that of Tucumán in 1565, and that of Córdoba in 1573. Another expedition from Chile, under Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, crossed the Cordillera in 1559, and having defeated the Araucanian Indians, made a settlement which from the name of the leader was called Mendoza. ”

“ In this rapidly expanding city a very large hotel is being built, which will certainly supply a long-felt want, and doubtless it will be much superior to anything at present to be found at Rosario. At Mendoza there is a large hotel of very handsome appearance, but probably the best accommodation there is to be afforded by a hotel kept by a genial old Frenchman, who has almost abandoned the Parisian in favour of the tongue of Castile. ”

“ The best to do inhabitants instead of repairing their ruined homes, laid out plans for a new and better city with wide streets and spacious parks. It is this new part that to-day is the most important. Old Mendoza with its one-story, primitive adobe buildings, in some respects resembles San José de Costa Rica, although it is not nearly as fine and clean a city. Its streets are treeless and most of them are never paved. The poor element lives here. The old plaza with its dirt walks, which was formerly the center of the city, is a full mile from that of San Martin. ”

“ The prosperity of Mendoza to-day depends upon the cultivation of the vine, just as that of Tucumán depends upon sugar. The cultivation of the vine is possible in the greater part of Argentina. In the early days of colonization there were vineyards as far as the Paraguay. They still flourish at Concordia on the Uruguay and at San Nicolas on the lower Paraná. But the wet summers of the eastern provinces are not suitable for them. The climate for them improves as one goes westward, and there is less rain. The dry zone of eastern Argentina is the special field of the vine. ”

“ We have to come down to the close [Pg 37] of the nineteenth century to find men reaching the limits which nature has set to colonization, and mapping out their domain. It is not until then that La Rioja ceases to compete with Mendoza, or Catamarca with Tucumán. While large industrial enterprises develop at Mendoza and Tucumán, strong centres of urban life arise, the population increases, and immigrants stream in, the oases of the interior scarcely change. Their population does not keep its level. Life has an archaic character that one finds nowhere else in Argentina. ”

“ Mendoza occupies a prominent place amongst the cities of Argentina. It is a magnet of attraction, especially to Italians who have experience in wine making; and now every year the province receives something over fifteen thousand immigrants. Some freshly developed countries have a law that no immigrant shall enter under "contract," that no man shall (without special permission) be allowed to land if he has a job and a definite wage awaiting him. There is no such regulation in Argentina. ”

“ It has two thousand inhabitants and is seventy-four miles west of San Luis and eighty-eight miles east of Mendoza. It is important for here begins the cultivated zone which [77] extends as far as the Andes and which is known as the Zona del Riego. The estancia limits and the country roads are all bordered by Lombardy poplar trees, planted closely together. Our North American farmer who plants his fence trees a rod apart would be astonished to here behold them a yard apart. Notwithstanding their proximity to one another, they here attain a goodly height. ”

“ The stirring history of Mendoza's attempts to found a settlement on the Paraná, the establishment of Buenos Aires and its abandonment again and again, the fateful colonisation of Asuncion, [xix] far up the river in the heart of the continent, the heroic adventures of Irala, Ayolas, and Cabeza de Vaca, and the reconquest of the river territories down to the sea from the isolated Spanish post of Asuncion eight hundred miles up stream, is adequately told in Mr. ”

“ Nevertheless he is far from being the only factor. The nation is spread over a vast space. To conjecture its future we must think of the physical and economic conditions under which it will develop. These, therefore, I will try to sketch briefly, admitting that my own personal knowledge is confined to Buenos Aires and its neighbourhood, and to the region round Mendoza, mentioned in Chapter VII. I shall speak first of the natural features of the country, and then of the natives and of the colonists who came among them, before describing the Argentina of our own time. ”

“ To many the greatest interest of Mendoza will be in the neighboring vineyards and bodegas. Many fortunes, large and small, have been made in viticulture in Argentina, and this region east of the Andean foothills is wonderfully well calculated for its development. Investments in this business return as high as 25 to 30 per cent profits. One hectare (21⁄2 acres) of land will bear 300 to 400 cwt. of grapes, which sell at 3 or 4 pesos a cwt., an Argentine peso being 44 cents. An economical Italian family can live on the returns from a 211single hectare. ”

“ The Province of the capital also supplies most of the maize and practically all the oats, but in linseed is far out-distanced by Santa Fé. Apart from Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Cordoba, and Entre Rios, the grain production, except wheat, is insignificant.
Tucuman is the great sugar district, and tobacco is largely grown there and in several of the other northern Provinces. Mendoza accounts for more than nine-tenths of the wine raised in the country, but San Juan, Salta, Cordoba, and La Rioja are of some importance. ”

“ This is the port of La Paz, Bolivia, and traveling men to and from that city are often obliged to put in a few days in this most northern seaport of Chile while waiting for their steamer. Coquimbo, Talca, and Chillán need modern hotels, as well as Los Andes. The latter town which has a population of 8097 is important because it is the jumping-off place for Argentina. The narrow-gauge railroad from there to Mendoza is of such a nature that the trip has to be made in daylight on account of curves, bridges, and steep gradients which would be dangerous to traverse at night. ”

“ In character, San Juan is much like Mendoza although it has less fertile lands. This is due to the fact that while Mendoza has three rivers which serve to irrigate [93] it, San Juan has but one. San Juan is noted for the superior quality of its figs which here thrive to perfection. Its capital city is also named San Juan. It is ninety-eight miles north of the city of Mendoza and is reached by the Buenos Aires Pacific Railway which here has its terminus. It is a small town of 14,595 inhabitants with shady streets and of ancient appearance. Most of its houses are of adobe. ”

“ To San Martin the only hopeful plan seemed to be to drive the Spaniards out of Chile, and then attack Peru, the stronghold of Spanish power in South America. He aimed not only for the independence of Argentina, but of all of that great continent; he vowed he would not [313] be satisfied until the last Spanish soldier had left the soil of South America, and every province was free. To this end he sought the appointment as governor of Cuyo, nestling up against the Andes on the direct route to Chile, and now known as the province of Mendoza, in Argentina. ”

“ Argentina is a country that is purely pastoral and agricultural, for the proportion of those engaged in manufacturing is numerically very small. And yet one city contains nearly one-fifth of the total population. When you include the other cities, such as Rosario, Tucuman, Mendoza, etc., the proportion of city dwellers is still greater. The cities of Argentina have outgrown the rest of the country. With people of an excitable nature, such as the Latins are, it may bode serious trouble in the future. ”