114 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1911. 



n 



It Is All Part of the Cost of Rubber." 



THERE is in prospect a branch of the Maileira-Mamore rail- 

 way — regarding which details have appeared recently in 

 The India Rubber World — to cross the Madeira river 

 near the cachucla Pao Grande, to the bank of the Beni river, 

 above the cachuela Esperanca, the line to be about 17 miles long. 

 The little Madeira river newspaper, the Porto Velho Marconi- 

 gram, states that the operation of this short branch line will 

 eliminate 300 odd kilometers [= about 186 miles] of river naviga- 

 tion, in giving an outlet for rubber for the Beni and Madre de 

 Dios rivers, in Bolivia, to say nothing of avoiding the present 

 heavy loss of lives and property. 



Regarding the hardships of transportation in the waters to be 

 paralleled by the Madeira-Mamore railway — and the consequent 

 effect in making rubber costly — the Marconigram, in its issue of 

 October 29, says : 



"The monetary loss each year from wreck and loss of rubber 

 alone would go a long way toward building the Madeira-Mamore 

 railway, to say nothing of the toll taken of life due to drowning, 

 disease, and the hardships incidental to the river life. 



"Several months ago three bateldos* of rubber arrived at the 

 head of the rapids of Lower Caldeirao. The jeffe in charge de- 

 cided to shoot the rapids instead of making the portage. Two of 

 the boats were tied up and the third double manned and started 

 through the "Cauldron of the Inferno" — as the name implies. 

 About half way through the boat struck a rock and was wrecked, 

 three of the crew being drowned. The survivors succeeded in 

 reaching shore, and with the addition of several more men from 

 the other boats started down the second bateldos. This also was 

 wrecked, but little nearer shore than the first boat, and one man 

 only lost his life in the water, though several others were badly 

 cut and bruised by being tossed against rocks. 



"There was still a third boat to be brought down, and, undis- 

 mayed by their previous loss, this heroic little band of boatmen 

 once more essayed the seemingly impossible, tempted fate a third 

 time, and a third time their bateldos went crashing on to a rock. 

 No life paid the penalty this time, however, and all the crew 

 succeeded in reaching shore, some more dead than alive. A little 

 later the partially wrecked boat swung free of the rock and 

 drifted ashore, though a portion of the valuable cargo was lost. 

 The boat was later repaired and, with part of the cargo, which 

 was recovered below the falls, resumed its voyage. It still had 

 three rapids to negotiate before reaching Santo Antonio. 



"The loss in this one accident was rubber valued at 300,000 

 milreis [=$91,230, with exchange at 15 pence], two boats worth 

 several thousand milreis each, and five lives, one of the injured 

 crew dying after reaching shore. Most of the cargo saved was 

 pulled from the water by men other than the boat crew, and to 

 these had to be paid 25 per cent, of the value of the salvaged 

 cargo. 



"Below each cachucla there is generally found a house, the 

 owner of which gains a livelihood by saving from the river 

 wrecked cargoes of rubber. Some of these men are satisfied 

 with the 25 per cent, allowed by law and custom, and redeem 

 the salvaged rubber. Others, when opportunity offers, cut or 

 burn out the stamp of the original owners, smoke in a patch of 

 new rubber over the mutilated brand, and dispose of the ball at 

 a good figure. The penalty for this, if caught, however, is heavy. 



"This is one mention of the many wrecks that occur annually 

 in the perilous stretch of water between Santo Antonio and 

 Guajara-Mirim. At both the Upper and Lower Caldeirao, Girau, 

 Paradao, Pederneiro, and other places where long portages of 



boats and cargo are made, the bank above high water is dotted 

 with graves. 



"The heavy, heart-breaking work of dragging a big batelao 

 across country, over rocks, and under a tropical sun takes its 

 toll of life just as much as the swirling rapids. 



".Along the smoother stretches of river between the rapids one 

 often sees on the high bank a rude cross, sometimes six feet or 

 more in height, .-^.n investigation discloses a small cleared patch 

 under the hills, dotted with the inevitable mounds that seem to 

 mark the path of the Rubber Man everywhere along the river. 



"It is all part of the cost of rubber; part of the price of pio- 

 neering a newer and better order of things first made possible 

 by such men of the rubber tade as Suarez, .Arnold, Picollet, and 

 many others." 



* * * 



PEOGRESS ON THE MADEIRA-MAMORE ROAD. 



The wild rubber country of the .Xniazon valley continues to 

 >ield to the invasion of the engineer, backed by outside capital, 

 lured by the great natural wealth of that region. .As early as 

 June last, 88 kilometers of the Madeira-Mamore railway had been 

 opened to traffic [see The India Rubber World, September 1, 

 1910, page 410], and rubber was actually transported by that 

 line as a welcome substitute for the much obstructed Madeira 

 River. On October 30 occurred the formal opening of an addi- 

 tion of 64 kilometers, making a total of 152 kilometers [ z= 94.5 

 miles] ready for traffic. The first train over this whole distance, 

 starting from Porto Velho, and running to "Camp 25" — the 

 station farthest up river — consisted of a locomotive, a third-class 

 car, a buffet car, and two first-class coaches, all of American 

 manufacture. On board were the principal engineering staff 

 connected with the construction of the road, representatives of 

 the contracting firm, and business men of Santo Antonio. The 

 train was decorated with the colors of Brazil and Bolivia, and 

 with them, as the Porto Velho Marconigram reports, "the silken 

 folds of the Stars and Stripes — fluttering proudly, as though the 

 far-away Republic was rejocing that in the building of the 

 Madeira-Mamore she had been given the privilege of thus help- 

 ing to draw closer together her two sister republics of the 

 South." 



By the opening of this last 64 kilometers of railway two more 

 of the dangerous falls of the Madeira have been eliminated in 

 the journey from Bolivia to the .Atlantic. One more week of 

 time consumed in the old batelao voyage is cut away. Rubber 

 loaded on cars at Camp 25 in the morning can reach Porto 

 Velho easily on the afternoon of the same day, a journey which 

 has always taken about two weeks to accomplish. At Porto 

 Velho the rubber can be loaded from the cars to ocean steamers 

 and carried, without rehandling, direct to the L^nited States or 

 Europe. 



Incidentally, another feature of progress in the Madeira 

 River region is the construction of a telegraph line along the 

 route of the railroad with the idea of reaching Bolivia and 

 connecting with points in that republic beyond the limits of the 

 railway. The train above referred to stopped at the barracks of 

 the Brazilian troops engaged in the construction of the tele- 

 graph line, and the telegraph and railway forces were photo- 

 graphed in one group. 



•The batelao used in navigating the Madeira and its affluents was illus- 

 trated and descrihed in The India Rl'bbek World September 1, 1910 (page 

 413). — The Editor. 



The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. (.Akron. Ohio) have pre- 

 pared for garage display a wall hanger containing a complete 

 list of tire sizes and the corresponding air pressures; also, of the 

 rims which the different sizes will fit. The Firestone people are 

 building some larger and heavier tires than hitherto, which are 

 interchangeable with present tires on their present rims. 



