Puerto Casado (Departamento de Alto Paraguay, Paraguay)
Puerto Casado, Paraguay, situated on the west bank of the Paraguay River, 190 miles north of Asuncion, was founded in 1889 by the Carlos Casado Company of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with 50 Paraguayan families. Serving largely as the center of the large tannery and cattle ranch owned by the Casado Company, it gained significance as a Chaco river port with the coming of the Mennonites, and was, until the establishment of the air service, almost exclusively the port used by the three Chaco Mennonite colonies for all travel, exports, and imports. Narrow-gauge railroads run into the interior to facilitate the shipment of logs to the tannery. One of these railroads is used up to Kilometer 145 (Station Fred Engen) by the Mennonite colonists. It operates one train weekly and has special small cars (autovia) for passenger hire. Many of the 130 Mennonites who died in the typhoid epidemic in 1927-1928 are buried in the town cemetery. In the late 1950s Puerto Casado had approximately 6,000 inhabitants, most of whom were in the employ of the Carlos Casado Company factories. It had one Catholic church. The town is approximately 240 feet above sea level. During the Chaco War of 1932-1935 the port became invaluable to the Paraguayan army as a railhead and supply center.
Bibliography
Quiring, Walter. Russlanddeutsche suchen eine Heimat. Karlsruhe, 1938.
Raine, Philip. Paraguay. New Brunswick, 1956.
| Author(s) | Cornelius J Dyck |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Dyck, Cornelius J. "Puerto Casado (Departamento de Alto Paraguay, Paraguay)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Puerto_Casado_(Departamento_de_Alto_Paraguay,_Paraguay)&oldid=67393.
APA style
Dyck, Cornelius J. (1959). Puerto Casado (Departamento de Alto Paraguay, Paraguay). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Puerto_Casado_(Departamento_de_Alto_Paraguay,_Paraguay)&oldid=67393.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 230. All rights reserved.
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