Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-01-11
RUBBER Is FITS GOLD.
Valley of the Amazon and It's Vast
Wealth

! Courtney de Kalb. the South Ameri
can traveller, tells his experiences in
the valley of the Amazon as follows.
says the New York World:
From the very day in 1916. when
/ Pinzon. who had followed Columbu.
in his first daring leap into the IN
known west. entered the Amazon a
/ glamOr of romance began to gather
about the mighty fOreSt-covered valley
Of that river. In 1910 Francesca de
/ Orellana came across the Andes and
sailed down the Amazon to the sea.
! bringing WondrOIs tales of the land
Of silver and gold and the Kingdoms
Of warrior women. Padre CriStOval de
Acuna, after his journey across the
basin Of the river. boldly affirmed. in
1889. that there was situated the ia
nous Ell Dorado, that there abode the
Amazons in the richest splendor that
til" world had known. that the river
! TOcantius was afiame with golden
/ sands and precious stones. and that
the glory Of the Aztecs and the Incas
was aS nothing compared with the
land of the Omaguas. These ideas,
which we now smile at, powerfully ill.,
famed the minds of those distant
epochS.
Such were the incentives that car
ried the first white men into the ANA
ION Valley. The hopes of the fathers
became the food of the sons This I'M
reasoning expectancy, this unreal ex-
lstence, was the Inheritance each gen
GRAFTON left to the next. The people
of the Amazon slowly became disillu-
stoned. but the spirit Of Incidence. the
life of penury cOJlched in the luxury
of gllded dreams is still their birthright
from the past. New forces are work
ing also, and the Amazon ANS have
found their Eel Dorado at last. sur
rounding and Overhanging their very
| homes in that wonderful gum from
their forests of rubber trees. whose
uses in the arts of civilizat ton seem to
nave no end. The steam whistle star
ties the wilderness. the hum of saw
mills rises from the river banks. cities
are growing in many parts. new faces
crowd among the old, and the Jingle
u1ttCtISlOIllCl
The valley of the Amazon is a terra
incOgnitO to the great bulk of our peo-
pie. in spite OF its wonderful CONNER
c1al advantages. Yet there have been
many works written by Studious and
careful travellers which give the
ampleSt information about life and
scenery in the remarkable valley.
Among these travellers may be men,
toned A. r. Wallace, Professor Agas-
slz. II. W. Bates, Keller, Orion, Gre
vauX, and chiefly Lieutenant Herndon.
who was sent under orders by the
state department Of the United States.
and who submitted a report which
stands today as an acknowledged elias
sic on the resources of the Amazon
THE principal city and port of the
Amazon is Para, situated eighty miles
from the sea on the estuary of the
TocantiuS. 1t is ~ city of between
$4,000 and 10000 inhabitants. and is
one of the most beautiful cities of the
western hemisphere. The climate is
one of the most charming in the world
for equality of temperature. and the
constant sea breeze and daily thun-
der showers keep the air sweet and
exceptionally healthy city until 1850,
when yellow fever was imported there
This dread disease is now epidemic
in Para, and keeps away thousands of
tourists who would otherwise visit
there.
THE exports of rubber from Para
exceed S2O,OO0.OOO per annum, and eX-
ports of Brazil nuts and deer skins
bring this up to S25.000,OO0 One line
of steamships from New York sails
monthly to Para, and thence 1000
miles up the Amazon to the city Of
Manaos. The Amazon Steam Naviga-
ton company at Para has a fleet of
fOrty-ei@ht steamers which run up the
Amazon and every one of the rivers
navigable tributaries. This company
pays dividends of nearly 100000 per
annum and is increasing them rapidly.
The valley of the Amazon is not
generally regarded as being suitable
for colonization by people from tenn
perate climates. This may be true and
it may not. There are. of course
dangers from the climate for foreigners
in the beginning, but with proper pre-
cautions risk to life may be avoided.
There may be danger for a new conner
to work energetically, exposed to the
sun and the rains, but through the
direction of native labor there is a
chance for foreigners settling there to
establish highly remunerative planta-
tons of rubber trees
AT present there are no cultivated
rubber orchards in Brazil, but the de-
struction Of the wild supply by the
rubber gatherers and the rapid increase
in the demand for rubber are making
imperative the necessity of establishing
large plantations of these trees. A rub
Der tree requires twelve years to ma
ture Short crops may be obtained
after the sixth year. When in full
bearing the yield is an average of
three pounds to q tree. The value of
the rubber on the spot will probably
never be less than 80 cents a pound.
Two hundred trees can be planted on
an acre of land without undue crowd
ing. and when once in bearing they
will continue to yield for periods of
from seventy-five to one hundred years.
The trees require to be planted in
alluvial bottom lands. subject to an
nual inundat ton. Enormous areas Of
such bottom lands. somewhat similar