The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-07-26

The recent discovery of a pass across
the mountain chain which divides Chill
from the Argentine Republic may posi-
bly, exert an influence, commercial and
military, upon the future of South
America hardly less important than that
Of the war in Peru, which is now COM
ing to an end.
This pathway has long been known to
the Indians of the mountain region. but
they have hitherto kept it a secret. For
distance of thousand miles and more,
the Andes extend between Gillian and;
Argentine territory, at an average ele-
Walton Of $4,000 feet above the sea level.
When the dispute IN regard to the pos
session of Patagonia, few years ago,
threatened to bring the two republics to
blows, it was seen that any war between
them must be fought out at sea. the
passage of the Andes by any openings
then known being impossible against
any hostile force. An Argentine army.
TO maintain itself at all, would have
needed to emerge from the mountains
upon Gillian soil somewhere near its
obJectlVe-that is to say, Valparaiso and
Santiago, which are comparatively near
each other, and would be included in
any plan OF invasion. The practicable
passes thus became limited to the Patos
"-ANA Vic CAAAD1C9 III luOSC uOLAu
would not only give an invading army
dangerously long line of comrnunica-
ton with its base; but are too difficult
OF ascent and In some cases are APP
preached over barren regions. The
only pass to be seriously thought of, in
TACT was La Cumbre, which is almost
opposite Valparaiso, or on the same
parallel; and yet its height, its extreme
narrOwnesS for many miles, its eontin-
Ual windings and abrupt ascents, would
make it defensible by thousand good
men against an invading army from
either side.
But the newly discovered Barilochi
Pass, being near Lake Nahuelhaspi,
puts an entirely new face on the ques-
ton of transandean communication. 1t
is situated where the continent, narrow
ing greatly, forms the peninsula of Pat
agOnia; it is approached easily across
the pampas; and from the westernmost
Argentine post at Nahuelhaspi, the dis
lance is only few score miles to the
Pacific coast.
The commercial importance of this
pass, however, far outweighs all mill
tary consider ations. The two enter
prising republics have removed their
only serious source of dissension by
peaceful division Of Patagonia, and
henceforth the one can pursue its de-
Velopment as an Atlantic, and the other
as a Pacific country. Both, however,
have long sought railroad coinmunica-
ton across the Andes from ocean to
ocean. One such road, in fact, has
already been undertaken between Bue-
nos Ayres, the capital of the Argentine
Republic, and Santiago, the capital of
Chill, designed to pierce the mountains
by way of Mendoza, through one of the
passes already spoken of. The ex-
IRENE difficulties of this route have
much impeded its construction; but a
road starting from the Gulf of San
Matias undressing Northern Patagonia
through the Barilochi Pass would, to
begin with, have only half the length of
the more nOrtherly route, thus saving
enormously in the original cost and in
the running expenses; it would also
traverse region where the peculiar re-
latiOns of the mountains to the two
oceans cause the storm to be usually of
rain rather than snow, the route being
IN about fourty-two degrees of south
latitude. and hence in a temperate eli
mate. The great drawback seems to be
that it traVerses a region infested with
hostile Indians.
OF course a most important considera.
ton is the exact height of the new
pass; but since it is known that the
Andes in Patagonia fall off to an aver
age altitude a little more than half that
of a few hundred miles further north,
the route is certain to yield advantages
in this particular. The explorations of
military engineers, both Gillian and
Argentine, will probably soon give exact
measurements.-N. = Sun