The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-03
Patagonia a Desert
 That Is Blossoming

Washington, D. G., April 2-(Special. )- Patagonia has long been ticketed in many minds with Kamchatka and Timbuktu as representing the ends of the earth Now, it has its supposed strangeness further empha- sized by the reported discovery there of a plesiosaurus, a huge lizard-like creature thought to have been extinct for many thou sands of years. Something of this land which may harbor prehistoric monsters is told in 6 bulletin issued from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic so- ciety.
 ''If the ideas of Patagonia generally held are a bit hazy" says the bulletin, there is good reason for it, for the region did not really begin to be we'll known until a generation ago, and even now there are sizable areas that have not been explored The first fact that needs to be understood about Patagonia is that it is not an official division. Like the northwest territory of the early days of the United States, it has been carved up into states or provinces. But even if the name, Patagonia, has been pushed off many official papers, it has clung in popular usage and probably will remain for long time.
 "The extreme southern tip of Argentina would probably be given as the the off-hand lo- cation of Patagonia in large number of cases. But the region given this designation really covers one-half the north and south ex- tension of the republic, stretching from central Argentina for more than 1000 miles south ale most to the tip of the continent. Its width varies from about 150 miles in the south to 45o in the north, and It's area is nearly twice that of California, our second largest state.
 "An idea of the physical condition and eeo- homie development of this vast area can be conveyed best perhaps by the statement that Patagonia is to Argentina what the great west and the southwest were to the United States just after the Civil war. There was the myth of the great American desert then--a dry, cheerless country that could never be re- claimed But with the extension of railroads, farms ranches and irrigation systems this North American desert is disappearing.
 "Just so Patagonia was labeled desert for many years; but farms and irrigation works have already rescued great encIaves from the region and millions of head of cattle and score of million sheep are supported today on only portions of the area. After few thou sand more miles, of railway shall have been constructed, few hundred steam shovels shall have been set to work, and few million yards of wire fencing snail nave been streucneo III place, the Patagonian desert will probably go the way of it's North American precursor.
 ''It is an interesting fact that the statements of careful scientist, Charles Darwin, did much to give Patagonia an undeservedly pad reputa- tion before the world Darwin studied chiefly the forbidding desert coast of the lower DOT ton of the country, and his dscouraging re- port was interpreted as applying to the entire country For decades no one thought it worth while even to explore the hnterland.,
 Ut is westward beyond the serni-arid pam pas or plains that the most interesting and least thoroughly known portions of Pata- gonia are found. Along the eastern slopes of the Andes and in some of the valleys between it's parallel ranges is a scenic and climatic paradise Grassy meadows and forest-clad slopes alternate with sheer cliffs and tower ing, snow-mantled peaks; and scattered every where are innumerable sparkling streams and sky-blue lakes. This is, in fact, one of the most extensive and most wonderful lake regions in the world A number of these bodies of water are comparable in size to Lake Champlain. Only A relatively few of the smaller lakes have been named. and some have been numbered. Many of them, however, have not been explored It is in this inter-mountain region that scientific expedtions will search for the strange creature reported to have been seen there."