August i, 1901.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



327 



SAN ANTONIO — HEAD OF STEAM NAVIGATION ON THE RIVER MADEIRA, BRAZIL. 



[photographed by MR. GEORGE RIDEHALGH FAIRBANKS.] 



,A RUBBER SHIPPING PORT IN BRAZIL. 



THE above view shows a point at the head of steam navi- 

 gation on the river Madeira, the largest tributary of the 

 Amazon, and which serves as the chief water outlet for the re- 

 public of Bolivia. The place is known as San Antonio, and it 

 is located in the state of Amazonas, about 500 miles from the 

 Amazon river, into which the Madeira discharges just below 

 Manaos. The Madeira is navigable by large steamers up to San 

 Antonio, and but for the series of cataracts which begin at this 

 point, such vessels might go freely up to Bolivia, and navigate 

 the Mamore, Beni, and other Bolivian streams which converge 

 to form the Madeira. All navigation above San Antonio must 

 be by means of canoes, which are unloaded as each cataract is 

 reached, and the freight carried around the obstruction by por- 

 ters. Coming down stream, the boats cannot always be con- 

 trolled, and they often shoot the rapids, capsizing and losing 

 much of their cargo. It is estimated that one quarter of the 

 rubber sent down over the rapids is thus lost. By the way, it 

 is intimated that, after such an upsetting, the people ashore are 

 much more concerned about securing the rubber than in sav- 

 ing the lives of the crew, since the former has a much greater 

 value from a money standpoint. 



The idea long has prevailed that a railway around the falls 

 of the Madeira would in the end prove profitable, as the rail- 

 way around the falls of the Congo river, in Africa, already has 

 done. About thirty years ago the Madeira and Mamore railway 

 was projected, owing to the encouragement granted by both 

 the Brazilian and Bolivian governments to Colonel George Earl 

 Church, an American civil engineer. A concession for build- 

 ing such a road was given to the Bolivian Steam Navigation 

 Co. The first contractors were the Public Works Construction 

 Co., relying principally upon English capital. The actual work 

 of construction was begun finally by P. & T. Collins, of Phila- 

 delphia, in March, 1878. As reported by a United States con- 

 sul at Para, " about five miles of track were laid, and everything 

 promised a speedy completion, when an injunction was put on 

 the funds in England by the bondholders, who pretended to 

 doubt the success of the enterprise, and after long litigation 

 they obtained the money and left the men who had done the 

 work with nothing." 



According to another American consul at Para, the loss in- 

 volved to parties in the United State$ was about $500,000. They 



had gone down with about fifty miles of rails and some rolling 

 stock, together with tools and provisions, and had graded 

 twenty miles or mi-TC of roadbed, ahead of the track layers, 

 when their financial troubles began. The interests involved 

 were closely connected with the Reading railroad, in Pennsyl- 

 vania. But there were other troubles. In the dry season in 

 that region the river falls about thirty feet, numerous lagoons 

 also dry up, and the locality becomes very unhealthy. Partly 

 from this cause many of the laborers became sick, and not a 

 few deserted the work, and it may have been from this cause 

 that the investors became discouraged. At any event, all the 

 material on the ground was deserted, and some of it may still 

 be found there. Some of the buildings at the steamer landing 

 at San Antonio are said to have been constructed in part by 

 piling up the rails and ties intended for the railway. 



In 1884 a new survey of the route was completed by order of 

 the Brazilian government, the distance being 416 kilometers 

 ( = 258^ miles), but in the absence of available capital nothing 

 more was done at that time. More than once since that date 

 the question of building the road has been revived, but always 

 without any practical result. Yet without doubt the wealth 

 of resources of Bolivia, and portions of southern Brazil now 

 without adequate transportation facilities, would ultimately 

 lead to a profitable traffic being developed if such a road were 

 in existence. But in addition to the hardships which engineers, 

 contractors, and laborers would have to undergo in construct- 

 ing such a road, there exists along the route no material suita- 

 ble for ballast, and to import this would involve a very heavy 

 cost. 



Meanwhile it is not probable that the port of San Antonio 

 will ever present a more inviting appearance than it does in 

 the picture at the head of this page. The only population 

 which it possesses is that which is concerned with loading on 

 an occasional steamer from Manaos or F^ara the rubber which 

 comes down over seventeen cataracts from remote Bolivia, 

 in which country the present tendency is to try to find more 

 convenient routes for reaching the seaboard. 



A NEW and enlarged edition has been published of "The 

 Standard Guide to Mexico," by Robert S. Barrett— a book con- 

 taining much information of interest to prospective travelers 

 in Mexico, and profusely illustrated with attractive half tones, 

 [iVfodtrn Mexiio office, St. Louis ; price, 50 cents,] 



