Names of Americans in the Madeira Mamore Expedition of 1877-1879

Bob Moyer brings us this new and rather exciting database which he gathered from many different sources.

The Disastrous American Expedition of 1878 that included the contractors P. & T. Collins (Col. George Earl Church) and the laborers who went to Brazil to build a railroad was also called the "The Railroad of Death" and a "railroad from no-place to no-where".

It was estimated that a worker died for every sleeper that was laid in the jungle and the loss of workers was on a scale that rivaled the Panama Canal project. The purpose of this project is to create a database of names by transcribing newspaper accounts, books and other sources about the expedition.

Careful attention has been given to separate these names from the later Farquar Jekyll expedition of 1907-1912. Thousands of men from many countries lost their lives in both expeditions.

Most of the participants in the 1877-1879 were from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Deleware and New York.

View the list of names of men in The Madeira Mamore Expedition of 1877-1879

See the list of sources for Bob's research project