In the state of Bahia short lines run back to the interior, one, 140 miles, from Nazareth, south of the bay, and one from São Felix, 165 miles, to Santo Amaro, serving the best sugar district, as Nazareth that of cacao and manganese ores. The principal road is from Bahia, 281 miles, to Joazeiro, on the São Francisco River; the oldest, opened in 1860, is along the coast to Aracajú in Sergipe, 268 miles. Two other small railways are farther south, in all about 950 miles.
The Brazil North East Railway operates in Ceará about 472 miles, one division from the port of Forteleza, another from the port Camocím to Granja and Crato.
The State of Pará has less mileage than most of the others, the short line, 40 miles built, at the junction of the Tocantins and Araguaya to avoid bad cascades. Another road, the Bragança, runs northeast from Pará to the Atlantic Coast.
The Madeira-Mamoré is in some respects the most remarkable railway in Brazil, perhaps in the world. It was built in accordance with a treaty with Bolivia in settlement of the Acre difficulty, and in compensation for the surrender by that country of the Acre Territory, to give access to that Republic by making a way around the prohibitive falls and rapids on the Madeira and the Mamoré Rivers. In the heart of the wilderness, 570 miles up the Madeira River and about 1100 miles from the sea, this road, 202 miles long, was constructed. In 1871 an American, Colonel George Earl Church, a Civil War veteran, and a distinguished civil engineer, turned the first sod of the railway, but work was soon suspended. In 1877 P. T. Collins of Philadelphia undertook the task and completed 20 miles of railway, but the difficulties were too great, especially the mortality, modern methods of sanitation not then being understood; the work was therefore abandoned. In 1907 the recent operations were begun, again in charge of Americans, and the road was opened for traffic, July 15, 1912. From Porto Velho the road runs up the river to Guajará-Mirím, the road of course on the Brazilian side of the river, and in the State of Matto Grosso, which is thus made accessible as well as Bolivia. The new little American town of Porto Velho of 1500 population has an ice plant making six tons a day, a wireless telegraph to Manaos and other conveniences. The road passes through a jungle which is cut out 100 feet wide. Two days are required for the short journey. At Abuná they halt for the night; leaving early next morning they should arrive at the terminus at 3:15. About 60 miles south of Abuná, Villa Murtinho is passed, opposite the town of Villa Bella in Bolivia, at the junction of the Beni and the Mamoré, which two rivers form the Madeira. A road across from Villa Church opposite Guajará-Mirím or from Villa Bella to Riberalta on the Beni was in the plan, as the Beni below Riberalta is unnavigable on account of rapids. Automobile roads are now in construction, at least one from Riberalta to Puerto Bello (Villa Bella) or to Villa Church.
CHAPTER XLIX
BRAZIL: RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
Brazilian industries as we have already seen have the variety befitting a country of its enormous area. The States of Minas, Pernambuco, and São Paulo can produce almost anything, but even these have specialties. Of the various products of Brazil, as in the other South American countries except Bolivia, the vegetable are the most important, with coffee far in the lead. Stock raising comes next; minerals of prodigious variety and richness are third. Manufactures, developing later, may in time largely satisfy the requirements of the inhabitants.
Agriculture
Coffee, we all know, is in value the most important crop of the country, growing over vast areas, chiefly in what we may call the northern part of South Brazil, the States on or near the edge of the tropics, São Paulo, Rio, Minas, and Espirito Santo. North and south of these States coffee grows and flourishes more or less according to local conditions. There are said to be 1,400,000,000 coffee trees in Brazil, which produce perhaps three-fourths of the world supply, more than half of them in the State of São Paulo. The State contains about 60,000 plantations. Probably more than 1¹⁄₂ billions are invested in the industry, $900,000,000 in São Paulo. The larger part of the crop moves over the wonderful railway between São Paulo and Santos and goes out from that port, some from adjoining States as well as from São Paulo. For ten years the average value of the coffee exported was $120,000,000.
Great fortunes were made by some who embarked many years ago in the business; the coffee king, Colonel Schmidt, who has 8,000,000 trees and produces 11,000 or 12,000 tons of coffee yearly, was himself a poor immigrant. But the best lands were taken up long since; production is increasing in other countries, as well as consumption, and there is not now the opportunity of earlier days. São Paulo especially has the rich red soil that the plant loves, the sloping ground, the right climate, and the water supply, over a greater extent of accessible territory, probably, than any other land in the world; though districts in other countries produce coffee of equal excellence. Here of course there are different varieties and grades, the original plants having been imported from Arabia and Java and preserving their characteristics. Life on the faezendas, as the farms are called, is agreeable both for the rich proprietor and for the Italian and other laborer, who has his own garden and whose wife and children help in the picking season. The rows of trees extend for miles in even lines; there are great cement drying grounds in the sun, pulping machinery, and store-houses. The business generally is in the hands of Brazilians, though there are foreign stock companies, paying large dividends. Coffee is about 40 per cent of the Brazil exports and 97 per cent of São Paulo’s.
Cacao. Other agricultural industries are of importance and capable of infinite expansion. Cacao is a product the consumption of which is rapidly increasing. Bahia stands second in production, a crop of 40,000 tons being exported from the city in 1917. Cacao forms 60 per cent of the State’s export. Large areas of suitable land are said to be available for plantations in States south of the Amazon, including North São Paulo and Matto Grosso. That grown in Maranhão ranks as the best. The groves run inland along the river valleys, full of rich red soil. There are two gathering seasons, one from September to April, the next crop beginning in May, less important. It is said that one person can take care of 1000 trees, which yield from 5 to 13, sometimes 20 pounds annually. A plantation at pre-war prices cost 80-85 cents a tree. Three hundred are planted to an acre. The investment of a moderate sum is pretty sure to give good returns after three or four years.