3-028-299 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Valley of the Aconcagua, Chili, 1870. 'The mighty chain of mountains which runs parallel to the western coast of South America, extending from the territory of New Granada, several degrees north of the Equatorial Line, through the States of Ecuador, Peru, and Chili, till it subsides into the monotonous waste of Patagonia, about 45 deg. of latitude to the southward, affords an immense variety of picturesque scenery on a scale of stupendous grandeur. The Chilian province of Aconcagua, which has a town and river of the same name, adjoining the metropolitan and commercial city of Valparaiso, gives access by the CumbrePassto Mendoza, in the interior plains of the Continent, belonging to the Argentine Republic, whence spring the head waters of many streams that flow into the great Rio de la Plata, and so into the Atlantic Ocean. The highest summit of the Andes in this province of Aconcagua is a volcanic mountain, which attains the altitude of 22,300 ft., and which also bears the name of Aconcagua, common to mountain and river, province and town. The average height of the mountain chain is 13,000 ft. or 14,000 ft. and they exercise a beneficial influence on the climate of the narrow strip of land between them and the sea'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.