El Maitén is a town in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
in
Cushamen Department
Cushamen is a Departments of Argentina, department located in the north west of Chubut Province in Argentina.
The provincial subdivision has a population of about 17,000 inhabitants in an area of 16,250km², and its capital city is Cushamen.
T ...
on the margins of the
Chubut River, on the northwest of
Chubut Province
Chubut ( es, Provincia del Chubut, ; cy, Talaith Chubut) is a province in southern Argentina, situated between the 42nd parallel south (the border with Río Negro Province), the 46th parallel south (bordering Santa Cruz Province), the Andes ra ...
, in
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
. In older times it was the intermediate point in the railroad tracks of the
Old Patagonian Express between the towns of
Ingeniero Jacobacci
Ingeniero Jacobacci is a city in Río Negro Province, Argentina. It has a population of 12,000 inhabitants and was named in honor of Guido Jacobacci (es), the director of the railway opened in 1916 between San Antonio Oeste, on the Atlantic Oc ...
and
Esquel
Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other ...
.
Location
The town is located south of the 42
parallel
Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Computing
* Parallel algorithm
* Parallel computing
* Parallel metaheuristic
* Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel
* Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...
(inter-province border between the provinces of
Río Negro and Chubut), at
AMSL
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
. Ex-Provincial route 40 runs through it on a north–south direction, which connects to the city of
Esquel
Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other ...
south.
Other connecting routes to El Maitén are National Route 243 towards
El Bolsón and
Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro Province, Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel ...
in Río Negro Province, and Provincial routes RP 4 and RP 71, connecting to
Cushamen
Cushamen is a town in Chubut Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Cushamen Department.
Cushamen is located in the wild plains of Patagonia, its name means "place of solitude" in Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a gr ...
and
Epuyén respectively.
El Maitén lies south of
Ñorquincó, east of El Bolsón, and northwest of
Cushamen
Cushamen is a town in Chubut Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Cushamen Department.
Cushamen is located in the wild plains of Patagonia, its name means "place of solitude" in Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a gr ...
, and northeast of Epuyén.
Geography and climate
The town of El Maitén lies on the right margin of the Chubut River. The river's
valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...
is of
Glacial
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
origin, and in this region it runs in a north–south direction on the first highlands of the
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
on the West, and the ancient formations of the Patagonia to the East. The topography is mountainous, but of lower elevations, always under .
This geographic region is a clear example of the transition between the humid wooded Andes areas to the West, and the classic more arid
steppes
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
of central Patagonia. Typical native trees of the area are the
Austrocedrus chilensis, Coihue ''(
Nothofagus dombeyi
''Nothofagus dombeyi'', Dombey's beech, coigue, coihue or coigüe (from Mapuche language, Mapudungun ''koywe'') is a tree species native to southern Chile and the Andean parts of Argentine Patagonia. It is a fast-growing species that can live i ...
)'', Ñire ''(
Nothofagus antarctica
''Nothofagus antarctica'' (''Antarctic beech''; in Spanish ''Ñire'' or ''Ñirre'') is a deciduous tree or shrub native to southern Chile and Argentina from about 36°S to Tierra del Fuego (56° S), where it grows mainly in the diminishing tempe ...
)'', and over 2,000 meters AMSL the Lenga ''(
Nothofagus pumilio
''Nothofagus pumilio'', the lenga beech (from the Mapuche language), is a deciduous tree or shrub in the Nothofagaceae family that is native to the southern Andes range, in the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina to Tierra del Fuego, from 35 ...
)''.
The climate is semi-steppe, with humid winters with occasional strong snows and an annual precipitation between, .
History and economy
What started as a rural community was influenced greatly by the arrival of the
General Roca railroad to the area in 1939, on a branch that continued to
Esquel
Esquel is a town in the northwest of Chubut Province in Argentine Patagonia. It is located in Futaleufú Department, of which it is the government seat. The town's name derives from one of two Tehuelche words: one meaning "marsh" and the other ...
. This branch was completed and opened in 1945, and El Maitén was selected as the site of its maintenance sheds and locomotive warehouse. This changed the town towards a railroad-based economy until the 1970s, when the Argentine railroad industry started a steady decline.
Even though most of the railroad system on which El Maitén was a waystop closed in 1993, a train still operates out of El Maitén, running a loop from El Maitén to the train station Bruno J. Thomae then back to El Maitén.
See also
*
Old Patagonian Express
References
External links
El Maitén websiteOld Patagonian Express website
{{DEFAULTSORT:El Maiten
Populated places in Chubut Province
El Maitén