By the end of the 19th century many detailed technical and economic studies had been undertaken but Mesones Muro was the first to embark on the task of exploring all the regions of Peru in order to identify a route for the much anticipated railroad.

Powerful political and economic interests were already planning the construction of the proposed railroad when on April 10, 1902, Mesones Muro, at the time completely unknown, published a documented letter in Lima in which he suggested that the starting point for the shortest route to the Marañon should be Puerto Etėn.

With even greater determination Mesones Muro returned to his study of maps, planes, historical accounts and anything else that might be useful to him in work that very few other people understood.

The idea of diverting the Huancabamba River to irrigate vast areas of land in the basin of the Pacific Ocean came to him in one such moment of inspiration.

Ten years after his previous expedition, with his high-minded enthusiasm once again enabling him to overcome the indifference and parsimony of Government authorities and employees, he sailed down the Marañón River to Iquitos in record time to show how it was possible to defend the region.

Back in Lima, he embarked on a vain campaign to challenge the lack of strategic vision that resulted in wasteful expenditure on small-scale projects.