The practice has been that the male calves born on this estancia should be sent North to the general herds kept at San Cristobal and the adjoining sections, and that the progeny of these animals should in turn be sold as fat cattle.

To facilitate this business the Company found it necessary to acquire a camp specially adapted for fattening purposes in the Southern part of the Province, so that they might be brought into closer touch with the markets of Rosario and Buenos Aires.  They accordingly bought the estancia La Barrancosa in 1906, and have been constantly increasing the area there under alfalfa, equipping it with a full complement of wells and fencing.  This estancia lies half way between the towns of San Isabel and Venado Tuerto, from the latter of which it is distant about sixteen miles.  But, during the year 1909, a new broad-gauge railway line was opened, leading from Rosario to Bahia Blanca.  It passes right through the estancia, and by means of a station just outside the boundary the Company have fresh means of despatching their animals to Rosario.

VERA DEPARTMENT.

The headquarters of the Woods Department is situated about eight miles N.W. of the town of Vera, which stands at kilometre 250 north of the City of Santa Fe on the line of the French Railway Company leading from Santa Fe to Resistencia.  Sawmills and offices were built, which involved the presence of a considerable number of work-people, for whom houses had to be provided.  Consequently, a small village has grown up at the place.

A branch railway was begun in 1905, at a point 13 kilometres north of Vera town, on the French Railway, to penetrate westwards into the Company’s forests, and has been extended to a point called Olmos, lying 30 miles away.  Along the line two or three hamlets have sprung up, where people connected with the wood industry reside, as well as the Company’s officials who control the timber in the neighbourhood.

In 1904 the Company entered into an agreement with Messrs. Albert and Charles Harteneck, Frederick and Charles Portalis, and Hermann Renner, to bring out a Company to work a factory for the manufacture of tannin extract from the wood of the Quebracho Colorado tree, and this factory was ultimately built within the Company’s properties at a place called La Gallareta, which is situated 17 kilometres north-west of the Station of Margarita on the French Railway line.  The Santa Fe Land Company have also built a branch line from Margarita to this tannin factory.

[Illustration:  Watering-Place at Barrancosa.]

[Illustration:  Wood on the Company’s Own Line ready for Loading.]

THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS THE FINANCIAL POSITION OF THE COMPANY FROM 1898 TO THE PRESENT TIME.