Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-09-16
1000 Men Died Carving This Railway Through Jungle
BY Harry Lever

In the impenetrable fastness of the
Amazon jungle in Brazil there is little
2O0-mile railway which is one of the
worlds smallest but unquestionably its
most expensive per mile. 1t cost $751;
600 900 and the lives of 1000 of the
10000 men who engaged in its construc-
ton.
The terrifying story of the tiny Ma
deira- Mamore Railway is one of the
greatest sagas of modern engineering
and possibly the biggest construction
fiasco of these times. On the basis of
its past history, it obviously can never
hope TO pay off because of unrelenting
natural barriers.
American troops in Burma may have
faint conception of the natural hor-
rors that abound in the area traversed
by the railway, which runs from Porto
Velho, in the state of Amazonas, to
Guajara -Mirim, in the adjoining state
of Matte Crosse. They have expert
enced identical hardships, alleviated
only by the advances of modern science.
The Brazilian and Burmese jungle are
very similar in climate, terrain and wild
life, the rain is equally torrential, and
in both places, nature has shown no
favoritism in evincing herself at her
very worst.
Two men in the Washington area also
know what this green hell is like. They
are John H. Armitage, Presidential Gar
dens, Alexandria, Va, and Frank M.
Gibson, Cab Thirty-irst place, Chevy
Chase, D. c., both civil engineers and
with $50 other men scattered through
out the world, survivors of the Madeira
Mamore project. Hardening to the call
of adventure, they and hordes of engi-
neers and workmen left New York and
other ports between 1908 and 1912, only
to return disillusioned and often broken
in health.
Witnessed Death Frequently
Mr.. Armitage and Mr.. Gibson wit
messed death frequently as the right-of-
way of the Madeira amore progressed
slowly through the jungle. They saw
American, German, Panamanian and
native workmen fall from the ravages
of malaria, typhoid, yellow and black
water fever, dysentery, beri-beri, the
poison-tipped barbs of hostile Indians,
and host OF natural terrors that
crawled, walked, flew or swan.
The tragic story of the Madeira Ma
more began to unfold in 1873 when a
group of Americans commenced con-
struction of the railway as a means of
circumventing the insurmountable Ma
deira Falls. The falls prevented rubber
in the area from reaching the navigable
headwaters of the Amazon and thence
being transported to Para and other At
lantic ports 1900 miles away.
The jungle was too much for this early
expedition, however, and the attempt
was shortly abandoned in the face of
hariships which were rapidly decimat-
ing construction personnel. For each
tie laid, the railway seemed to demand
human life in sacrifice.
Project Revived
Thirty years later. in 1908, the Bra
lillian government voiced its redetermi-
nation to bypass the obstacle of the
Madeira Falls, for rubber at that time
meant prosperity for the Amazon region.
The Malayan rubber boom had not yet
started and competition simply did not
exist
A contract was then awarded to the
May & Jekyll construction firm of New
York City, and the railway was COM
pleted on July Is, 1912. But meanwhile,
the great Amazon rubber bubble had
burst and the very purpose for which
the road had been constructed was null
lifted. With the product so easily OBJ
tainable from Malaga without the neces-
sity of penetrating deep jungle growths,
the American firms reasoned there was
no need to bring rubber from the dank
interior of the Amazon region. Accord
ingly the price of Brazilian rubber
dropped hopelessly below the Malayan
product
Mr.. Armitage, who lost 45-pounds
while in the Amazon region, is assistant
secretary of the Madeira -Mamore As
ISOLATION, composed of survivors. On
this coming Friday and Saturday the
association will hold reunion in New
York City. He signed a contract with
the railway in 1910 because of the fancy