Cayetano Cornet d'Hunval was born in France in the year 1848 and he reached Argentina in January 1873. Mr. D'Hunval came to the Republic with the object of devoting himself to rural occupations for which he had brought sufficient capital and a stock of information and energy which would necessarily bring in its reward at no distant date.

Soon after arriving, he went over to the Republic of Uruguay where he worked as an estanciero on land he had purchased at a spot named Arroyo Malo, in the department of Paysandu. In 1882, he shifted to Entre Rios for the purpose of taking over the management of the "Elia" Colony. This post he gave up to administer the property of the Armstrong family at Chabas. Later on, in partnership with a firm in Rosario he purchased the property "El Consuelo" and afterwards, for his own account, land in Laboulaye. Thence, he went to work in San Luis on land that he had rented from Don Modesto Pizarro.

Counselled by some friends who knew the region, he decided to stock some land in Patagonia to which end he undertook a trial trip and thereafter, in October 1910, he finally came to the territory with the definite purpose of settling on the lands where his present estate "Laguna Benito" was founded and where then stood the tents of some Tehuelche Indians. Mr. D'Hunval and his sons brought all the outfit needed for the enterprise they had engaged in, in a dray, from Santa Cruz. In a short time, the work of settling was finished and already in the following year, they started on a large scale in the industry which was to give such excellent results at the end of a few years.