1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Santa Fé (Argentine province)

SANTA FÉ, a central province of Argentina, bounded N. by the Chaco territory, E. by Entre Rios and Corrientes, S. by Buenos Aires, and W. by Cordoba and Santiago del Estero. Area, 50,916 sq. m. Pop. (1895) 397,188, (1904 estimated) 640,755. Santa Fé belongs to the great pampa region of Argentina, and has no wooded districts in the south except on the river courses. In the N. which is borderland to the Gran Chaco region, there are extensive forests, intermingled with grassy campos. The surface is a level alluvial plain, with a saline substratum at no great depth. Salt is found on the surface over large areas, and throughout the province the water is brackish 15 to 20 ft. below the surface. The soil, however, produces wheat, corn, alfalfa, linseed and other crops in abundance. Stock-raising (cattle, horses, sheep and swine) is also an important industry, with the related industries of butter and cheese-making, meat-curing and lard-refining. Many colonies have been made, especially near the provincial capital. It is one of the most productive provinces in the republic, in spite of notorious misgovernment. The Paraná forms its eastern boundary for about 435 m., and provides unfailing transport facilities. The great river is broken into many channels, forming islands and sand bars which are constantly changing their outlines. It receives two large tributaries flowing across the province—the Salado, the upper course of which is called the Pasage and Juramento (the last given to commemorate the circumstance that the oath to wrest their independence from Spain was sworn on its banks in 1816), and which enters the Santa Fé channel of the Paraná near the capital; and the Carcarañá, or Carcarañal, whose sources are in the Cordoba sierras. The northern districts are well watered by numerous tributaries of the Salado. The railway communications of the province are good, comprising the trunk lines of the Buenos Aires and Rosario railway with its extension to Tucuman, which crosses the province from S.E. to N.W.; the Central Argentine from Rosario to Cordoba, and to Buenos Aires; the Cordoba Central; Santa Fé to Tucuman; and the Provincia de Santa Fé; a network of small lines connects all the important towns; and the Buenos Aires and Pacific which crosses near its southern boundary. The river ports having railway connexions are Reconquista, Santa Fé, Colastiné, Coronda, Puerto Gomez, San Lorenzo, Rosario and Villa Constitucién. The capital is Santa Fé, and other important towns are Rosario, Esperanza (pop. 1904 estimated 10,000), San Lorenzo (7000), Rafaela, Ocampo, Galvez, Canada de Gomez and Villa Casilda.