Sheep
Farming
Monte
León
was a sheep ranch from 1905 to 2001. In the 1880s, sheep farming
became southern Patagonia´s leading industry. Most of Monte
León's present day facilities were built around 1914.
Their wonderfully functional design has allowed them to stay
in working condition for almost a century with little change.
The massive naval-looking one-piston, fuel-oil run engine in
the shearing shed is a fine example of the days’ engineering
prowess. Frame houses were shipped from England, and to this
day stand in perfect condition. Monte León is
a fine example of the "globalization" of the sheep
farming in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Supplies
for sheep farming, including wire fencing, pre-fab sheds,
veterinary supplies, shearing machinery, vehicles, stoves, were
shipped from Great Britain and sold by, among others, Braun
& Blanchard, which opened a branch in Santa Cruz in the
early nineteen-hundreds. Farmers, sheep and dogs usually came
from the Falklands. Management, frequently drawn fron the
military, was also imported.
As
with most other sheep farming operations in Patagonia, installations
closely followed the models layed out earlier in Great Britain
and Australia, and their aim was purely industrial.
This
is a major difference with the traditional Argentine cattle-farms,
or "estancias", were the owners usually were locals
who either lived or spent lengthy periods there.
By
1895, Curtze & Wahlen, the Punta Arenas agents of the German
inter-oceanic freight line Kosmos, were registered as owners
of a fraction of what was starting to be called Monte León.
15,000 sheep belonging to them thrived there, and wild cattle,
the survivors of an ill-fated colonization attempt of 1872 reputedly
haunt the coast’s "cañadones" (ravines).
The lands were sold to Walter Curtze and Augusto Wahlen by the
Argentine Governement, or according to the original title deeds,
by "his Excellency, the President of the Republic, Lieutenant-General
Don Julio A. Roca".
Walter
Curtze, a German living in Punta Arenas since 1885, embodied
many of the characteristics which contributed to the making
of the new Patagonia which was rising at the time: European
stock, interoceanic sailing, a close relationship to finance
and trade. Curtze business activities were not confined to sheep
ranching and sea freight (besides working for Kosmos he eventually
ran a line of his own). He was one of the founders of the Punta
Arenas Bank, as well as one of the partners in the city’s
first power company.
As
for Augusto Wahlen, he and his siblings had arrived to Punta
Arenas in 1874, aboard the same ship which carried don Elías
Braun, his wife Sara Hamburger and their four elder children:
Sara, Moritz (who was to become the owner of Monte León,
as well as one of the leading businessmen of the era) Oscar
and Ana.
In
1903, Curtze and Whalen heirs sold the rights on the lands of
Monte León to the Valparaíso (Chile) based
German merchants Vorverck y Cia., whose chairman was Edgar Vorverck,
which ran the farm under the name of Sociedad Estancias Santa
Cruz. Major shareholders in the SESC were Moritz (or Mauricio)
Braun and the London-based English businessman Sir Peter Hannay
Mc Clelland, through Duncan Fox & Co. Although already a
powerful businessman in his own right, Moritz Braun’s start
in large-scale farming had a key ally in Mc Clelland, who contributed
the initial capital for the colonization of the 2,500,000 acres
of fiscal land in Chilean Tierra del Fuego which Moritz’s
sister, Sara, inherited from her husband, Portuguese entrepreneur
José Nogueira in 1893.
In
1912, the Southern Patagonian Sheep Farming Co. Ltd., a public
company, was formed in London by a group of businessmen which
once again includes Moritz and Duncan Fox & Co. as major
shareholders. SPSFCo. statutes describe the company’s aims
as, "acquiring land suited to sheep farming both in
the Argentine Republic and in the Chilean Republic (...) Making
all and any land purchased by said company fit for production
(...) by constructing, mantaining and equipping all sorts of
buildings, stores, and habitations, as well as cultivating,
planting, draining and otherwise developing the aforesaid lands."
In 1913, all SESC property, including, of course, land and
stock was acquired by the newly SPSFCo. Ltd. A year later SPSFCo.
Ltd. acquired an adjoining lot, rounding out the present day
Monte León’s 63,000.
Most
of Monte León present day facilities were built at that
date, through SPSFCo. Ltd making good of the purposes stated
in it’s statutes. Their wonderfully functional design has
allowed them to stay in working condition for almost a century
with little change. The massive naval-looking one-piston, fuel-oil
run engine in the shearing shed is a fine example of the days’
engineering prowess. This was a prime-age for shipbuilding,
with British naval power at its heyday and advances in this
field poured over to many other industries. Frame houses were
shipped from England, and to this day stand in perfect condition.
Monte León is a fine example of the "globalization"
of the sheep farming in the late nineteen and early twentieth
century.
As
with most other sheep farming operations in Patagonia, installations
closely followed the models layed out earlier in Great Britain
and Australia, and their aim was purely industrial. Management, frequently drawn fron the military, was also imported.
This is a major difference with the traditional Argentine cattle-farms,
or "estancias", were the owners usually were locals
who either lived or spent lengthy periods there.
While
Duncan Fox & Co. acted as London agents for SPSF Co. Ltd.,
Braun y Blanchard, Moritz’s trading firm in Punta Arenas
did likewise in Chile and Argentina. Argentine researcher Eduardo
José Miguez, includes the following information in his
"Las Tierras de los Ingleses en la Argentina, 1870-1914:
"By 1914, Southern Patagonian Sheep Farming Co.
owned 121,500 hectares and leased 133,500 more. Lands were in
Santa Cruz and Chile. It’s principal amounted to £141,003,
and it had also placed debentures on the market at an anual
rate of 6%, as well as mortgage guarantee at £71,000. Besides
paying up due interests to the debentures, the company distributed
earnings of 6% since its creation in 1912 till World War 1 broke
out. Those were subsequently raised due to wools mounting price.
It
is clear from these figures that wool was a booming commodity
at the time, and that Hannay McClelland had efficiently placed
SPSF Co. Ltd. stock on the London market.
When
SESC shareholders met at Valparaíso to decide on the
turning over of their company to SPSF Co. Ltd., the company’s
president, one Mr. Arturo Goldfinch, who represented shareholders
Moritz Braun and his sister Sara as well as Duncan Fox and Co.
put forth his points of view on the operation: "The
President has informed the board about the constitution of Southern
Patagonian Sheep Farming Co.Ltd. and to inform of the said companies’
negotiations to acquire estancias "La Carlota" and "Los Manantiales"
which will give a good basis to start operating, as they count
with 217,000 hectares and 90,000 sheep. The President further
stated he had given the proposal detailed study, and found it
very convenient, thus daring to recommend the board approbation
of the purchase". As already seen, his suggestion was
taken, and SPSF Co. Ltd. return was certainly worth it.
During
the years in which what might be termed "Punta Arenas capitalism"
expanded, operation through limited companies was a popular
form of adding as much volume as possible to farming operations
carried on lands both leased and straight-out purchased. The
limited company structure expanded to new areas, and even the
German School Club at Punta Arenas functioned as such.
The
period between Braun’s early association to SPSF Co. Ltd.
and the take over of that firm by Braun himself is one of deep
changes in the world’s economic outlook. While World War
I gave rise to record wool prices, Patagonian producers did
not fully benefit from it, as the opening of the Panama Channel
in 1916 considerably slowed the Magellan Channel area brisk
activity. Nevertheless, it must be assumed local bussinessmen
were not caught off their guard, as the opening of the Panama
Channel had been announced for years.
In
1920, Southern Patagonian Sheep Farming Co., which had been
gone into liquidation since 1919, was sold to Sociedad Anónima
La Ganadera Argentina Limitada, the family firm owned by Moritz
Braun and his father in law José Menéndez.
The sale include all assets belonging to the Monte León
farm, among them 40,535 sheep, 375 horses, 8 cows and a bull,
as well as facilities, equipments, utensils, gear, machinery,
vehicles, and telephone lines. The total price amounts to 422,899
pesos, 364,815 of which are payed for the sheep, valued at 9
pesos a head.
The
farm’s 87,143 hectares, were sold at 871,430 pesos. Interestingly,
the price per hectare (10 pesos) was barely higher than the
one of a sheep. The whole operation was paid by with shares
of the acquiring company. The other two farms belonging to SPSF
Co. Ltd. at the time were also purchased: "La Carlota",
near Río Gallegos and including land both in Chile and
Argentina, and "Los Manantiales", near San Julián.
Sheep
farming in Patagonia has often been condemned by Argentine Nationalists
on the grounds of its occupation of huge stretches of national
territory by English, or in Braun’s case, Chilean, subjects. While most of these farms were, and
are, run
according to British standards, and many were owned and managed
by Britons, their development effectively colonized regions
of Argentina which would otherwise have remained unoccupied,
and never clashed with the authorities on matters of sovereignity.
Besides, in the enormous but unfertile spreads of Patagonia’s
steppe and seaboard, afflicted by a chronical shortage of work
force, only extensive production systems had a chance of success.
This circumstance has helped preserve the environment in ample
areas of Patagonia, scarcely modified by the relatively small
livestock population. Nevertheless, the "mallines"
or Andean valleys where fertile soil has gradually piled up
during millenia of sedimentation has suffered severe damage
due to sheep farming.
Sheep
farming in Patagonia was once a thriving bussiness, but has
undergone a steady decline, as the ever dwindling number of
farms (less than 2,000 out of 3,500 registered "estancias"
are now active) shows. Nevertheless, even in its heyday, and
given the theoretically ideal business milieu of Punta Arenas,
farming in Patagonia always was a prime example of risk capitalism,
as the harsh climate and endless distances demanded incredible
efforts from the producers. Government land policies have historically
been erratic at best, and entrepreneurs not always counted with
due legal security for their investment. A major source of trouble
with the zoning of the territory of Santa Cruz was that it was
a purely geometric business, performed on maps and paying small
or no attention to key elements like water and the relative
height of lands. High lands, while productive in summer are
absolutely barren in winter.
In
the late 1940, Juan Perón’s governement started
a much needed labour reform which put many "estancieros"
in jeopardy. This, however, was not don Mauricio’s case.
By then, the conditions of workers at the "La Anónima", owned
farms were really exceptional, and no cause for measures against
the firm or the family which owned it was found. Even thus,
under the latent threat of expropriation and a steady campaign
in the official press against "Chilean latifundists",
Mauricio Braun met Perón for a man-to-man agreement in
1951. What they talked has never been disclosed, but "La
Anónima" survived unscathed the Peronist reforms,
which were to prove fatal to many other businesses.
Even
so, Nationalist and Peronist myth about British and Chilean
latifundia dies hard, and as late as 1985, a group of Peronist
Congressmen, including the prominent Carlos Ruckauf, presented
a project for expropriation of several farms in Patagonia, including
Monte León. The project was declaredly based on the "impossibility
of tolerating British presence in our mainland after our soldiers
generously shed their blood in Malvinas". Of course,
nothing came of it, as Monte León has not been British-owned
since 1920.
