The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-09-11
A GREAT RAILROAD
SYSTEM NOW Open
South American Line Will Be
One of Most Important
in the World.
BY JONATHAN WINFIELD.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11.-Yester-
day there was held, at the little town
of Villa Bella in central South Amer
lea, a celebration of which the wrold
in general will probably hear little,
but which will be of immense import
ance to nearly all parts of the civiliz-
ed globe, particularly those portions
interested in the use and greater pro-
duction of rubber.
The celebration marked the compile
ton of the Madeira-Mamore Railway,
little line only 230 miles in length,
lying a thousand miles from the near
est rails with which it could possibly
We connected; but it is no unwarrant-
ed statement to say that this little
railway will carry on its roadbed more
traffic and do more to develop an area
almost boundless in extent than the
1000 miles of the Cape to Cairo"
railroad in Africa and the projected
Pan-American line in this hemisphere
put together.
The Madeira Mamore Railway, now
completed after years of hard work
trackless jungle, is intended to tap the
heart of the South American contin-
ent, to provide an outlet to thousands
of productive but unapproachable
acres and to bring into contact with
commerce from across the seas a
region which cannot possibly progress
without it-a hugh tract in Brazil, Pc
ru and Balivia, which must otherwise
remain virgin wilderness.
The size o: :his vast territory is
best noted by comparison. The two
Brazilian states most to be benefited
by the new railway are Matte Crosse
and Amazonas. The former is six
times and the latter eight times the
combined areas of England, Scotland
and Wales. The combined area OF
these two Brazilian states and the
part of Bolivia which will be tapped
by the new railway is slightly less
than one-half the area of continental
Europe and little more than one
half that of the United States, inclus.
ritory to be brought into contact with
world commerce by railroad com
paratively small and insignificant. A
line of this size anywhere in the Unit.
ed States, already honeycombed by
vast trunk lines from coast to coast
would make but little difference-in
South America it will mean the addi
ton of millions upon millions of dol
lars of internal revenue and the addi
ton to the wealth of the world OF
billions of dollars in valuable produce
For this railway will tap the very
| heart of the South American contin
ent. 1t is destined to make the names
of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil we'll known
in the markets of the world after the
| tin of the first, the copper of the
second and the diamonds of the third
are forgotten. The mineral wealth OF
all three republics may be exhaust
ed, but their agricultural resources
will increase as time goes on and the
land becomes more accessible. Rub
Der, cocoa, coffee, sugar, cinchona
cotton and the citrus trees all thrive
abundantly in this garden spot of the
world-all would be inaccessible were
it not for the railway which American
genius and capital has completed.
The finished railway measures 23e
miles $3.50 kilometers) and runs from
Porto Velhao on the Madeira river to
Villa Bella on the frontier of Bolivia
and, under an extension planned com
poratively recently, somewhat further
into that republic. The line is almost
| in the center of Western Brazil and
offers fast and regular communication