This area all started as a Welsh settlement in 1865. Tre is the Welsh word for town and Lew is the first name of the first Welsh settler Lewis Jones. Thus the name Trelew (pronounced treleu). The Spanish did not stay here due to lack of a good drinking water source and Indian problems. Puerto Madryn is today a town of 80,000 people and several factories. The main industry is the aluminum factory which processes 270,000 tons a year. They also export fish, wool, granite and ceramic. The whole area is called the Patagonia Steppe. It is a dry, semi-desert area. They mostly raise sheep on the grounds which somehow survive on saltwater from 80 meters deep and the bushes they eat.