By 1926, portions of the Chortitzer and Sommerfeld Mennonite churches belived they could no longer trust the Canadian government after they had lost control of educating their children. Samuel McRoberts, a wealthy banker who, at the behest of his wife, helped the Mennonites by purchasing their land on the prairies and selling them land in Paraguay. These photos were likely taken by McRobert's associate, Fred Engen and were intended to show the progress and good conditions in the Menno Colony in Paraguay and thus encouraging more movement to Paraguay.
A train is on the railroad at Kilometer 63 from Puerto Casado to the colony. There a two people in the foreground and trees of the Chaco bush in the background.
The photo shows Km 104 along the railroad from Puerto Casado to the colony where the cargo for the colony was handled. There are two buildings and offloaded cargo alongside the railroad track surrounded by the Chaco bush.
The photo shows two men standing in front of a bridge on a raised road bed going from Km 145 to the colony approaching Pozo Azul. The Chaco bush is in the background.
The photo shows a man standing beside the monument of the first delegation of settlers in 1921 at Hoffnungsfeld. [The initials A E appear to be carved into the monument.?] The surrounding area is scrub vegetation with the Chaco bush in the background.
The photo shows the westward view of the future nursery garden at Hoffnungsfeld. A row of fenceposts give evidence a fence surrounded the area and two people are working in front of the fence. A building and the Chaco bush are in the background.
The photo shows the southward view of the future nursery garden at Hoffnungsfeld. There is scrub vegetation in the foreground and the Chaco bush in the background.
The photo shows five indigenous workers chopping a tree trunk into poles at Hoffnungsfeld. In the foreground is grassland with the Chaco bush in the background.
The photo shows two indigenous men transporting poles on a primitive cart with wooden wheels across grassland at Hoffnungsfeld. The bush is in the background.
Three Mennonite men are working with hoes along straight rows in the nursery garden at Hoffnungsfeld, while another man and women appear to be seeding by hand. The garden is surrounded by bush.
The photo shows an indigenous man and woman using a primitive plow hitched up to a pair of oxen to plow a field at Hoffnungsfeld. There are a couple of trees scattered throughout the field with denser bush surrounding the field.