The Winslow mail., 1910-12-24
BIG RAILROAD PROJECT
SOUTH AMERICA SPAWNED BY
GREAT STEEL HIGHWAY.
Structure, Which Is Second Only In
Importance to Panama Canal, Is
Being Built by Yankee Pluck
and Brains.

engaged IN building the connecting
link of a great transcontinental high
way Of commerce across South Amer
lea, claimed to be second only in i'm
portance to the Panama canal as the
great construction project of the pres
ent day in the western hemisphere,
as it will give an outlet to the mar
velously rich rubber and timber lands
of Brazil and Bolivia
Eliza E. Van Sickle, a young civil en-
gineer, is home in Uniontown on va
cation after 1S months on that work,
says a correspondent of the Pittsburg
Dispatch being located at Porto Vel
no, in the wilds of Brazil, $500 miles
from Pennsylvania About 200 high
salaried and skilled men from the
United States and 1000 laborers are
on the project, working for the Ma
deira-Mamore company, an immense
concern, Of which Mr.. Farquhar Of
Paris, France, is president. The con-
tractors and directing heads of the
work are Yankees.
AS early as 1878 an attempt was
made to build this road by Philadel-
phia contractors, who found the health
conditions and natural surroundings
obstacles too big to overcome.
Later French company worked in
the same field, and now the Madeira
Mamore company is prepared to carry
the work to completion. Mr.. Van
Sickle said:
With the power and sanction of the
Brazilian government behind this big
undertaking, and with millions of dol
lars of capital to carry it forward, sue
cess is assured The object is to build
a railroad around six falls to connect
the Madeira river with the Mamore
river Above these falls the Mamore
river is navigable for small steamers
clear into Bolivia.
when completed, there will be 1872
miles of road. Track has already been
laid for 80 miles, with 80 more under
construction, and in the course of two
years more the entire distance will be
covered. Then the big engineering
feat of bridging the Mamore river will
be undertaken to get over in Bolivia.
This latter country will then build a
road to meet the Brazilian road, and
eventually rivers and railroads will
unite in great transcontinental route
across South America Hitherto i'm
penetrable forests and jungles will be
opened up and their products sent out
to the markets of the world. And to
very large extent Yankee brains and
capital are carrying forward this prof.
ect, which means so much to South
America, as well as the world at large.
American contractors, May, Jekyll
& Randolph, are doing the work for
the Madeira-Mamore company, and the
machinery is shipped there from the
United States. This firm built the
Cuba eastern road in Cuba, which was
completed in 1906. Baldwin locomo-
tives from Philadelphia and steel rails
from France are used. Those engaged
in the work subsist largely on canned
goods imported from Uncle Sans do
main.
1.-TWO thousand miles from the
mouth of the Amazon, in the great
wilds of Brazil is Porto Velho, the
headquarters of this great railroad
project Starting in 1900 with few
tents, it has grown in three years to
perhaps the most wonderful station Of
the kind ever established so far from
civilization.
"Great structures have been erect
ed for permanent use and offices are
fitted up with an elegance to compare
with the average Offices of big cor
porations in New York city. Some of
the worlds best talent has been drawn
there and some salaries reach as high