Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-05-25
Irrigation Has Rescued Millions
of Acres of Once Waste Land
in Patagonia.
HOME or TIE "pll ESIOSlURUS"
Little Known Country Brought to Pub
lie Attention by Report That Land
May Harbor Prehistoric
Monsters.

1t has its supposed strangeness furth-
er emphasized by the reported discov-
cry there OF Il pleSi0SduruS, a huge
liZard-lilie creature thought to have
been extinct for many thousands of
years, Something OF this land which
may harbor prehistoric monsters is
told in bulletin issued from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic society.
IF the ideas of Patagonia general
ly held are bit hazy," says the bull
letin, 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 sizeable areas
that have not been explored. The tirss
fact that needs to be understood about
Patagonia is that it is not an official
division. Like the Northwest terri
tory Of the early days of the United
States, 1t has been carved up into
states or provinces. But even il the
name, Patagonia, has been pushed OF
many official papers, it has chung 10
popular usage and probably will re-
main for long time.
Twice Area Of California.
- 1.-The extreme southern tip Of Az
gentina would probably be given as
the off-hand location of Patagonia in 9
large number of cases. But the region
given this designation really covers
one-half the north-andsouth extension
of the republic, stretching from cen
trail Argentina for more than 1000
miles south almost to the tip of the
continent. Its width varies from about
80 miles in the south to $50 in the
orth, and its area is nearly twice
hat of California.
An idea of the physical condition
and economic 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, cherries country
hat could never be reclaimed. BIr
With the extension of railroads, farms,
ranches and irrigation systems tfGs
North American desert Is disap-
peartng.
Just so Patagonia was labeled
desert for many years; but farms apd
irrigation works have already rescued
great enclaves from the region and
millions of head of cattle and scnM
Of million sheep are supported toaGg
on only portions of the area. After
few thousand more miles Of railway
shall have been constructed, kew
hundred steam shOvels shall have been
set to work, and few million yaSds
of wire fencing shall have been
stretched in place, the Patagonsan
desert will probably so the way Of
Its North American precursor.
Darwin Gave Region Black Eye.
1T is an interesting fact that The
statement of careful SCIENTIST
Charles Darwin-did much to give
Patagonia an undeservedly bad repu-
tation before the world. Darwin
studied chiefly the forbidding desert
coast of the lower portion of the COON
try, and his discouraging report vas
interpreted as applying to the entire
country. For decades no one thought
it worth While even to explore the
hinterland
1T is westward beyond the semi
arid pampas or plains that the most
interesting and least thoroughly
known portions OF Patagonia are
found. Along the eastern slopes of
the Andes and in some Of the valleys
between its parallel ranges Is a scenic
and climatic paradise, Grassy meadows
and forest-clad slopes alternate with
sheer cliffs and towering, snow-man-
tied peaks, and scattered everywhere
are innumerable sparkling streams and
sky-blue lakes. This Is, in fact, one
Of the most extensive and most Won
derful lake regions in the world. A
number Of these bodies Of water are
comparable in size to Lake Cham
plain. Only relatively few of the
smaller lakes have been named and
some have been numbered. Many Of
them, however, have not been ex-
plored.. It Is In this inter-mountain
lake region that scientific expeditions
will search for the strange creatures
reported to have been seen there.
zone Of the best known of the
Andean Lakes Of Argentina Is Manuel
Huapi. This lake Is In the edge Of
Patagonia, but is still nearly 1000
miles north of Cape Horn. The AREA
Of this many-branched body Of water
is probably in the neighborhood of
$50 square miles Its latitude In the
southern hemisphere almost exactly
corresponds to that in the northern
hemisphere Of the Rock Mountain Ma
tional park, just north Of Denver; and
1t is about 800 miles from Buenos
Aires, the same distance as that
which separates Denver from Chicago.
Much territory will be made into one
OF Argentlna's principal national play
grounds. 1t is planned to harness
the outlet river and to build at the
eastern margin of the lake, In . re-
giOn OF delightful climate. 4 great IN