The founding of the town dates back to the arrival of
Welsh immigrants in Chubut in 1865. The settlement was created on 25 February 1906, as an extension of the
Colonia 16 de Octubre, that also contains the town of
Trevelin. The city, the main town of the area, is located by the Esquel Stream and surrounded by the mountains La Zeta, La Cruz, Cerro 21 and La Hoya. La Hoya is known as a ski resort with good quality snow right through the spring. The
Los Alerces National Park is northwest of the city. An important tourist attraction is the
narrow-gauge railway (with between the rails), known as
La Trochita locally and in English as
The Old Patagonian Express after the book
The Old Patagonian Express by
Paul Theroux. At in length, it is said to be the only narrow-gauge long-distance line in operation and the southernmost railway in the world. The first fifty oil-fired steam locomotives were made by
Henschel & Son of Germany in 1922. Later twenty-five locomotives were bought from the
Baldwin Locomotive Works of
Philadelphia. The train remains authentic and in operation thanks to the effort of the team of workers at
Talleres Ferroviarios El Maiten, that make several parts by hand. Trains now run as a tourist excursion between Esquel and the small settlement of Nahuel Pan, located at the foot of the volcano of the same name, with other services all the way to El Maitén. Until 1993, the train ran all the way to the city of
Ingeniero Jacobacci in
Río Negro Province, from where trains ran to
Viedma, Río Negro and from there to
Buenos Aires, forming the General Roca railway. According to the , the Esquel district had about 28,000 inhabitants, with one of the highest rates of growth in the province, mainly as result of the immigration of people from Buenos Aires, but also from other provinces. It has wide cement streets with sidewalks, and is clean and well maintained. Their hospital is the primary one for the zone and is often a destination for "Medical Tourism" from both foreigners and Porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) alike. In 2003 a
mining referendum was held in Esquel with 81% of voters, with a participation rate of 75%, rejected the establishment a mining project by
Median Gold. The mine was estimated to create 1,500 jobs during ten years. In May 2009, Esquel was twinned with
Aberystwyth in Wales; with representatives of the Welsh town traveling to Argentina to participate in the signing of a charter formalising the link. ==Esquel meteorite==