Valley Girl Views: The Collins Expedition - When Local Men Went To Brazil To Build A Railroad

The 1878 Collins Expedition: When Local Men Went To Brazil To Build A Railroad

In 1878, the Collins brothers, who had built most of the railroads in Pennsylvania, headed to Brazil to build a railroad through the Amazon. Many of the workers they took with them were men from the Susquehanna Valley. S.C. Hartranft from Watsontown, Eli Slifer from Lewisburg, Horace Aunkst from Milton, Charles Snyder from Winfield, and Hope Hepburn from Williamsport, are just a few of the local men who returned and gave lectures in local halls about their adventure.

The Collins expedition was disastrous. It's estimated that nearly 1/4 of all of the workers died from disease or starvation. Sliffer's account tells of returning to their camp to find that natives, cannibals, had killed their camp cook and his assistants, and were in the process of eating the men when they were scared off by the returning railraod workers.

The investors in England tied up all of the money, so that there was no money to pay the workers, many workers, including Walter Van Fleet of Watsontown, had to find their way home without any money to pay for their trip. Frank Peterman, from Muncy, suffering from fever, borrowed money from Hope Hepburn to make the trip home. When he didn't repay that money, he later went to jail.

Frank Burns, from Winfield, died on the trip home.

On February 14th 1878, 500 men, many from Milton & Watsontown, left Philadelphia on the Collins Expedition.

In October of 1878, The Northumberland County Democrat reported that Elis Slifer Jr would be talking to the people of Watsontown and vicinity on his experiences in Brazil, at Minerva Hall. The use of the hall was donated and all of the proceeds from the evening were to go to the families of "our citizens who accompanied the expedition and died in Brazil.". Burns, from Winfield, was the only local death I found documented, but it's obvious that there were many more I just have not yet found mentioned.

Slifer spoke in Watsontown on October 19, 1878. Later, he wrote a long article about the Amazon. Many of the men wrote letters and even books about the Collins Expedition. Here are some of the accounts given by men from our area:

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Accounts From Local Men

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" The men were not accustomed to the jungle, and found it near impossible to make any progress cutting their way through. Supplies and food were lacking, and the men were sieged by insects day and night. Of the 941 Americans who went to Brazil, it is known positively that 221 died, a mortality rate of 23.6%. Many died of tropical fever, and, possibly, starvation."

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The Kesley Brothers

Milton, May 1878
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Early in the expedition, in May of 1878, a letter was received from two of the sons of J.W. Kesley of Milton. They wrote that they were well, that their shanty was built, and they were at work. They had seen lizards, but had not yet seen snakes. "San Antonio, which is so prominently mentioned, it said to be about the size of Limestoneville". They reported that there was no cultivation among the Amazon, and very little through the part of Brazil they had passed through. They ended their letter by saying that "those who were disappointed in not getting into the Brazilian part need not feel badly about it. The weather on the last of arch was about like July in this section."

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Horace Aunkst

Milton

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Letters written by Horace were published in local papers, but I do not yet have a copy.

He is mentioned in the accounts of S.C. Hartranft, from Watsontown.

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Prof. Samuel Cloyd Hartranft

Watsontown

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This photo from 1909, from the 3rd expedition, shows the "shanties", many of which were built during the Collins expedition and were still standing when the last expedition arrived. =============== Frank Burns Winfield ============== Frank Burns died on his way home from Brazil =============== Charles Snyder Winfield ============== =============== Charles Sturg Hartleton ============== Charles Sturg from Hartleson had purchased and was running a saloon in Para, Brazil December 1878					8

Cloyd in his Brazil attire and his beloved 6 shooter
Each of the men who signed up in Collins office had their photo taken right there.

Kathi Wertman, who has a copy of Cloyd's diary, tells me "Cloyd was only 18 when he left for Brazil. They gave him "tweeds, belt and a revolver" The gun was a "six shot double action" and he could "shoot them all out in about 5 seconds." He was on the "Richmond", it took 37 days to reach their destination, and their meals consisted of hard-tack, bean soup and tea. It is really amazing what they endured, and how many from our area went. They were building the railroad from San Antonio, Brazil to the Mamon River in Bolivia. Between March and May, 1878, they made roughly 4000 railroad ties. The mail boat traveled up the river once a month. The mail route from the US went to New York, London, then Rio and then to the camp, taking an average of 3 months for them to get mail from home."

S. C. Hartranft:

Fullertonian Tells Fascinating Tale Of Last Century

Local Farm Center members Wednesday night heard S. C. Hartranft, Fullerton citrus man, tell
the story of a South American pioneering venture of sixty years ago, a venture that came close to ending the career of the speaker.

The expedition, financed by Pennyslvania interests, set out to lay 180 miles of railroad on the head waters of the Amazon river between the Madeira river, branch of the Amazon, in Brazil and the Mamore river in Bolivia.

Just four miles of track were laid, but in the laying was the gist of such adventure as few eighteen year-oldyoungsters—Hartranft’s age in 1878—have met in this modern age.

Hartranft and his chum, a lad of his own age named Horace [Aunkst, of Milton], joined the party of 450 men in Philadelphia. A coastwise vessel designed to hold about one-tenth that number of passengers was selected to take the railroad builders to their job. Hardship began at once, with the constricted space and lack of cooking and other facilities. They left Philadelphia in March.

Landing some weeks later at their point of debarkation, an Indian village on the banks of the Madeira, work of building the road through impenetrable tropic jungles began with shovels and wheelbarrows. Food ran short, ammunition was wasted and ran out, and medicine was entirely lacking.

Seventy-eight men died outright. A dozen more were killed by poisoned arrows fired by skulking Indians.

By fall the first four miles of track were laid. Word was forwarded to financiers in England. Instead of a four million dollar bonus to the contractors, they received nothing. Moldy hardtack and
monkey meat had become staple ]diet for the survivors by the time Hartranft and a party of ten others took to one of the lifeboats for the 4,000 mile journey down |the Madeira and Amazon to Para, Brazil.
Eventually the party reached Para. But their hardships continued, they had no money, and faced the
voyage back to New York. Eventually they made it, but not without again running out of both water
and food on the small schooner whose captain had agreed to transport the unwelcome passengers.

The Fullerton man is now sole surviving member of the ill-fated railway building expedition.
The journey, according to Hartranft, was recounted about two years ago by Ripley in his “Believe it or Not” series.

This 1909 photo shows how dense the trees were on either side of the path that had been cleared.

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Eli Slifer Jr

Lewisburg

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On October 19 1878, Eli Slifer Jr lectured on the expedition, "for the benefit of the families of Watsontown of the deceased members of the party"

When Eli Slifer Jr returned after seven months in the Amazon, his account was much more optimistic and favorable than many of the other accounts to follow. In a much later newspaper article, he gave vivid descriptions of the plants and animals in the Amazon. He also made mention of some of his party being eaten by cannibals.
Slifer returned after finding he "could not agree with the climate". He had been sick, "sieged with the fever", most of his time there.

Both his early newspaper account, and a much later article he wrote detailing the Amazon, can be found here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/10/eli-slifer-jrs-account-of-his-time-on.html

Another article about Slifer tells of a piece of wood he brought home from the Amazon.

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Walter Van Fleet

Watsontown

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''His party was composed almost entirely of young fellows from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, . . . under command of a man named Huff. . . . Compelled to work in the noxious vapors of such a climate, to sleep on the wet ground teeming with malarial dampness, to eat, after a day's work, the insufficient and unwholesome food, could have but one end, sickness and death. . . . Despair and desperation began to grow upon the party and many of them stole off to find their way back to their homes. . ."

Hartranft and a party of ten others resolved to leave. They had worked their six months, fulfilled their part of the contract and, besides, had obtained permission to go. They purchased a boat and equipped it with several barrels of hard-tack and some salt meat. They had no money after buying the outfit, as the contractors had not paid their men a cent, but promised payment by their agent in Para. On the night of October 2d they left San Antonio and for nineteen days rowed down the Madeira and the Amazon rivers, a distance of 691 miles, to Serpa, a small town of about 700 inhabitants and a custom house. During that time the provisions had given out and there was discord as to the party's future course. The men's nerves were unstrung by hard exertion and their weak condition at the time of starting.

The nights spent in the boat on the river were uncanny, the darkness being filled with the chattering of monkeys, the roaring of tigers and other terrifying sounds. One of the men named Carpenter, from Ohio, because drunk and insubordinate, was left on the bank of the Amazon. That was the last known of him. At Serpa the party hailed a steamer, sold their boat and some trinkets and had just eight dollars apiece, after paying eleven dollars each for passage to Para. They were treated as slaves, fed a slave's fare and slept with the cattle on deck. When they arrived at Para the agent told them sadly that he had received no money for them. They were in desperate straits with no money and far from friends; so they applied to the American consul for aid. That dignitary told them it was not the business of the Government to look after all the tramps roaming about the country, but that, if they could find no means of sustenance he would see what he could do. At last he found them a place to sleep at an Englishman's hotel. ''They were boarded free of charge at an eating place, kept by a man, who had previously deserted from the railroad. At the end of a week they were kicked out by the Englishman, because they could not pay for their lodging. Then they went to a native hotel and there remained until November 15th, when they boarded a two-masted schooner for New York. One of the persons on board was Horace Aunkst, a boy neighbor and friend of Mr. Hartranft, whose home was in Milton, Pennsylvania.

''The boat, delayed by tropical calms and storms off the coast of the United States, did not reach New York until the day before Christmas. The captain, Jesse E. Cavalier, became disgruntled at the men, because he found the orders they had given him were worthless. He went ashore, leaving them aboard ship for two whole days without fire and food. Still dressed in tropical clothing, they nearly froze to death and their Christmas dinner that year consisted of some cold boiled potatoes.

"Finally they succeeded in making a landing and their appearance in New York City was an odd one. They had a letter to a business man in Maiden Lane. He helped them as much as he could, but Mr. Hartranft says to-day they would have frozen or starved to death, had it not been for the saloons. They sold some pieces of tropical wood to pay their fare to Philadelphia, where they arrived December 27th. They met Mr. Philip Collins at his office, but he was bankrupt and could not pay them for their work. The first really good meal the men had, after leaving home in February, they enjoyed with the servants of a Philadelphia hotel. The youngsters ate well into the night and, next day, were furnished by Mr. Collins with transportation to their homes.''

Walter Vanfleet, nearly 20 years old, he seized the opportunity to join the expedition, hoping to study tropical plants and birds. At some during his return, Van Fleet had became ill. A local family took pity on him and took him to a specialist. This inspired him to become a doctor himself and when he returned home he enrolled in medical school, opening a medical practice in Watsontown.

(Van Fleet is famous for his roses)

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Frank Peterman

Muncy

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While in Brazil in 1878, Peterman "was taken sick with fever and appealed to Hepburn for money to enable him to return home, saying that his brother in Muncy was prepared and would honor a draft upon him; that he was in a dying condition and could not possibly endure the climate of Brazil; that it was a matter of lide and death and that a few dollars would save his life."

Hepburn signed a draft to for the amount required for Peterman to return home.

When friends and family refused to pay Hepburn, Hepburn reported it of the law, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Peterman, who had fully recovered from the illness contracted in Brazil.

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Robert Hopewell "Hope" Hepburn

Williamsport

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Hepburn was in charge of the tugs (boats) that were engaged in the towing on the Amazon and Maderia rivers. Hepburn wrote a 67 page manuscript which can be read here:

https://ia800501.us.archive.org/22/items/MadeiraMamoreRailroad1878Manuscript/1878-Hepburn-Manuscript-Madeira-Mamore.pdf

1928

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Joseph Ward

Williamsport

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In 1912, Joseph Ward of Williamsport, who was on the original Collins Expedition, returned to Brazil to aid in the celebration of the completion of the railroad.

October 1912

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A List Of Those Who Worked & Died On The Collins Expedition in 1878

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-list-of-those-who-worked-died-on.html

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Additional Accounts:

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Neville B. Craig wrote a book about his trip, which can be read online. Recollections of an Ill-fated Expedition by Neville B. Craig

Isaac Coates, a surgeon on the expedition, took his 7 year old son along when he returned to Brazil in February of 1878, 6 months after the death of his wife. When he returned, he wrote a brief, touching, account of his and his son's harrowing experiences, in which they were both lucky to survive the miserable living conditions, hunger, injuries, and illness.