The farmer and mechanic., 1915-06-01
On The Mighty Parana
A Vast River Basin That Will Be the Future
Meat Basket of Europe and the
United States
United States

The Wonders of the Rio de la Plata
River That Makes tho Gangcs |
Look Puny. The Parana ard Its |
Ten Thousand Islands. How 1t
Compares With the st. Lawrence
and the Mississippi. Transportation
Controlled by MOnOpOly-HOw Il |
Cabin Boy Made Millions. Meals on
IA south American River Steamer.
Copyright. 1915, by Frank G. Car
penter).
Steamship San Martin, ON the Para
quay River.
or the past five days l have been
st.aming up the Parana river, and L
ann now on the steamship San Mar
tin on the great Paraguay which is
branch of the Parana. on one side
of me is the republic of Paraguay,
and on the other the Chaco, which be-
longs partly TO PARAGUAY and partly
10 Argentina. / am in the heart of
the Parana basin. which is potentially
one of the worlds greatest meat
baskets of the future. 1t has already
supplied vast quantities of beef and
mutton for the warning armies OF Eu-
rope and it is also shipping meat
northward for Uncle Sans stomach.
| As | left Buenos Aires l saw one of
the Lamport & Holt steamers loaded
with chilled beef starting out for New
| York, and, sailing up the Rio de la
| Plata, ] passed the mouth of the Uru-
| quay river that carries down the cat
| tie of Uruguay and the Argentine
Mesopotamia to Buenos Aires and
Montevideo. The next morning we
anchored in front of Rosario, on the
Parana, several hundred miles from
the ocean. There the vessels were
| taking on Indian corn for the horses
OF the armies now fighting in France
and all the way UP the Parana prop
err distance as great as from New
York TO Chicago, ] passed estancis
after estancia upon which Thousand
OF beeves were fattening on the r1cl
grass In some places saw droves Q
horses similar to the hundreds whicl
are now going by ship loads to Eu
rope and flocks Of sheep which will
soon be frozen mutton in the frsgeri
ficos Of Buenos Aires. At Corriente
was near where the AltO-Paran
flows into the main stream. and
little later on entered the Paraguay
which extends from here more tha
Eteen hundred miles northward, open
Ing up another vast meat supply.
The Paraguay river has it's source l
the highlands Of Matto Crosse, tn
of land of the South American cont
nent. The region correspondents
the great lakes region OF North Amer
lea, and it is covered with pasture
The Paraguay flows through h gras
lands and forests for a distance 9
great as from Philadelphia to tn
Rockies. Not far north from where
am now is the mouth of the Pilct
mayo river, that rises in the And'
and passes through the cattle lant
of eastern Bolivia, flowing in to-
tuous course Of fifteen hundred mile
through unexplored wilds before
comes into the Paraguay. The Pilc'
hot "a
gentina and Paraguay, countries th
have pasture lands scattered here ar
there through them. The pastures a.
now being stocked, and they will &C
greatly to the meat supply Of Il
world.
The country opened up by II
streams | have described is so va
mat | despair of giving an adequa
Idea of it. The system Of rivers
beyond conception immense.
travelled four days and four nights
the Rio de la Plata and Parana
coming from the ocean to the. mOu
OF the Paraguay. The Rio de la Pl
"a where it empties into the ocean
vast estuary, 1S6 miles wide and
Is lully that long to the point whe
Ihe Uruguay and Paraguay join. I
py the Alto-Parana and the Paragu
IS 500 miles long. and it is from t
~ elghteen miles wide thrOughC
that whole length. If you will lima
me stream on the average abe
I0urteen miles wide running frC
niladeiphia almost to Chicago. y
may nave some idea Of the Para
proper. Both the Parana proper a
,ie Rio de la Plata are more like
Hhd seas of liquid mud than Ii
rivers. took a bath one morning