The Exponent, 1906-03-01

              The Industrial-Normal Exponent
VoL. 4 ABERDEEN, S. D., MARCH, 1906 No. 5
Madeira and Mamore Reunion
On Saturday evening, February 24th,
there took place at the Bellevue-Stratford
Hotel at Philadelphia, a reunion
of the members of the Madeira-Mamore
Association, which is composed
of the survivors of a party of 600
American citizens, who in 1878 tried to
construct a railroad around some
rapids in the Madeira River near San
Antonio, Brazil. Professor S. C.
Hartranft of this city, professor of
history and English at the Northern
Normal and Industrial School, was a
member of the party and he was called
upon to attend the banquet and deliver
a toast. He found it impossible for
him to be present; but he has given to
the News an interview, which covers
an heretofore unwritten topic in American
history.
Many attempts had been made to
build the railroad before the Americans
took up the task, but all had
failed, owing to the terrible conditions
to be encountered. The Bolivian government
first conceived the idea that
the road could be built. It failed and
was taken up by the English, who in
turn failed. When Don Pedro, emperor
of Brazil, was attending the Centennial
at Philadelphia in 1876 he met Colonel
Jamison, a leading capitalist of that
day and a noted Philadelphia banker
and succeeded in getting him interested
in the enterprise. The colonel
in turn interested Collins Bros., a firm
of well known railroad contractors,
in the proposition of building the 135
miles of track around Madeira River
rapids and that firm in conjunction
with the Reading railroad took up the
enterprise in 1878.
The Northumberlands
Three boat loads left Philadelphia at
different times for the scene of activity.
Mr. Hartranft, then a mere
lad of 18 years, went in the last party,
which sailed on February 14, 1878. His
party was composed almost entirely of
young fellows from Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, and were known
as the "Northumberlands." They were
under the command of a man named
Huff. On February 20th the party
touched at St. Thomas Isle, one of the
West Indies, for coal and supplies, and
again at Para, at the mouth of the
Amazon River. Here the river is 180
miles wide and is distinguished from
the ocean only by the color of the