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The name Malargue was changed after 10 years of the creation of the
district by a decree signed 17 May 1887. The new name given to it
was Coronel Beltrán in honour to General San Martín’s Army chaplain
who was his arsenal chief in charge of weapons, munitions and
baggage.
Under this new denomination it lasts for five years, depending on
the San Rafael district, known as 25 de Mayo then, under the
Governorship of Dioclesio García, by law on 26 March 1882. In 1902,
the deeds of the lands in Chacay and Cañada Colorada are given to
Rufino Ortega, excluding the 2,500 hectares for the Villa de
Malargue.
“La Orteguina” had its own flour mill, built in adobe made of mud
and wheat grass trodden on by horses to give it more consistency.
Some of the walls still keep their structure, and some of them have
a thickness of one metre.
The workers employed for construction were Ortega’s own as well
natives brought after the Desert Campaign. The mill stopped
functioning after the eruption of the Descabezado Volcano in 1932,
for the whole area and the mill were under the ashes spewed by the
volcano. The mill’s production supplied the whole of the region,
selling in San Rafael and in Chile.
Large corrals were built on Ortega’s land as well and some of them
still remain. These corrals had a capacity for 12,000 heads of
cattle.
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In order to solve the problem created by lack of water Ortega
requested and obtained rights in May 1887 to use the Atuel River’s
waters in order to be able to cultivate land hi owned within the
district. The intake of water is built one league downstream where
the Atuel and Salado Rivers meet and it was the first canal opened
on this river. |
General Ortega’s labour had many negative aspects in his dominion of
the land: he abused his links with the government for his own
benefit or that of his friends, he made use of forced labour using
people who had lost their land and could not quite choose what to do
with their lives, the use of water, and some other aspects.
However, his impulse was still very good for the region. He was a
member of a generation of governing rulers.
The district of Malargue was definitely created by Law 1937 of 16
November 1950 under the Governorship of Faustino Picallo.
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