Tracks in the Amazon : the day-to-day life of the workers on the Madeira-Mamoré railroad / Gary Neeleman and Rose Neeleman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Neeleman, Gary.

Contributor:

Neeleman, Rose.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré--History.

Ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré.

Railroads--Brazil--Rondônia (State)--History.

Railroads.

History.

Brazil--Rondônia (State).

Physical Description:

xix, 195 pages ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City : The University of Utah Press, [2014]

Summary:

When construction of the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad began in 1867, Bolivia had lost its war with Chile, causing it to become landlocked and unable to ship its minerals and other products from the Pacific Coast. The government decided to build a railroad around the Madeira River (which originates in Bolivia and travels almost two thousand miles through Brazil to join the Amazon River) to facilitate shipment to foreign markets via that waterway and the Atlantic coast. Completion of the railroad was initially stalled by lack of funding, but the project was resurrected in the early twentieth century and completed in 1912. Intended as an integral piece of the rubber export industry, the railroad became unnecessary once the world's principal supply of rubber moved from Brazil to Asia. Although there have been brief chronicles and articles about the Madeira-Mamoré Railroad over the years, most barely scratch the surface of this incredible story. Of particular import in Tracks in the Amazon are the rarely seen photographs taken by Dana Merrill, a New York photographer hired to document the construction of the railroad. The book also includes reproductions of The Porto Velho Marconigram, an English-language newspaper written for and by the American expatriates who lived in the construction headquarters at Porto Velho. Because this unique railroad traversed the densest tropical jungle on earth, working conditions were next to impossible. More than ten thousand workers lost their lives laying the first five miles of track, besieged by the daily hazards of an unforgiving climate, mosquitos bearing malaria and yellow fever, and the threat of wild animals. Through images and descriptions, the book tells the story of those who labored to create this once important railroad through the Amazon jungle. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 George Earl Church 11

Chapter 2 White Gold 17

Chapter 3 Porto Velho 30

Chapter 4 The Workers 54

Chapter 5 Camps and Right-of-Way 83

Chapter 6 Water Challenges 112

Chapter 7 The Inauguration and Beyond 131.

Notes:

"This book was first published in a Portuguese-language edition in 2011 by BEI Comunicao Ltda with the title Trilhos na selva: O dia a dia dos trabalhadores da ferrovia Madeira-Mamoré."

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781607812753

1607812754

9781607812760

1607812762

OCLC:

854889980