Madeira-Mamoré Railroad

In 1846, José Augustin Palácios and Rudolf Oscar Kesselring convinced authorities in Bolivia that the best way to secure access to the Atlantic Ocean was through the Amazon.

Gibbon's study concluded that a railroad along the Madeira River rapids would allow efficient transport of goods from the Bolivian capital of La Paz to US markets.

[1] During the 1870s, the American George Earl Church made two attempts to overcome the Madeira River rapids in order to gain access to Bolivian rubber markets.

By comparison, construction of the Panama Canal claimed 30,609 lives (5609 workers died during the 10 year US management, the remainder perished while under the jurisdiction of France) because of yellow fever.

[5] However, much of the "devil's railroad" legend is based on the much deadlier failed attempts by George Church, and on the Brazilian rubber boom itself, which cost tens of thousands of lives.