BRAZIL: Percival Farquhar and Ross Rogers, Jr.

We welcome Ross Rogers, Jr. to WAIS. He was eager to get another copy of Charles Gauld, The Last Titan. Percival Farquhar, American Enterpreneur in Latin America (1964, pp.427). It was originally a dissertation Gauld wrote under my direction, and it was published under the auspices of Stanford's Bolivar House, which I founded. Unfortunately, like so many of my former students, Gauld has died. Farquhar was an important figure in the development of Brazil. The English edition of Gauld's book has long been out of print. There have been demands for a Portuguese translation. A Sao Paulo publishing house made an agreement to produce one, but did not carry through. The University of Brasília made a translation but then failed to print it for lack of funds. I wrote asking about the translation, but got no reply. I asked WAISer David Fleischer, who teaches at that university, to make inquiries, but I do not know what he discovered. Incidentally, we hope that David is totally recovered from the automobile accident he suffered last year.

Ross Rogers explains his interest in Farquhar: "from 1957 to 1961, based in Corumba, Brazil, I was involved with the Urucum manganese project of U.S. Steel. I was responsible for establishing the pioneering push towing project on the Paraguay river under Brazilian flag, transporting the ore from Corumba to Nueva Palmira, Uruguay, where a new transfer station had been built. At that time, the river between Corumba and Asuncion was without channel markers or any improvements. Navigation had been established, but this was for small vessels, tugs pulling barges, various passenger vessels (including a few side wheel steamers) and navy vessels. I was responsible for the operation and for training crew and pilots in push towing with a modern Mississippi river type pushboat.

On our first trip up the river (I was becoming the "expert" learning the river), we spent a week at Asuncion. With the help of a few friends at the U S Embassy (including Point Four), we held an open house for almost every officer of the Paraguayan navy, with a short trip up and down river in front of Asuncion. The group included General Derliz Samaniego {Ross wondered about the spelling, but I checked it in Who's Who in Latin America, edited by me.RH]. President Strossner was to inspect the boat, but I was only able to greet him in person at the port.

Despite many problems, sometimes low water, and Argentine super-imposed regulations restricting the size of our convoy to only four barges between Asuncion and Corrientes, we proved pushtowing with our very proud Brazilian crews and captains/pilots. Unfortunately, the operation was shut down for many reasons, and the boat and barges were sold to interests at Porto Alegre.

Today, pushtowing is very successful on the Paraguay and Parana, moving iron and manganese ores from Corumba and soja beans from many locations as well as an upstream movement of containers and petroleum products to Paraguay The river has been improved. During the 1970's I made a series of studies in the Amazon for both U S and Brazilian principals. In 1972 to 74 there was a fantastic rush to Iquitos, Peru:almost every oil company in the world was thinking that the Amazon region of Peru was another Saudia Arabia. The Japanese even built a large pipe line over the Andes to the Pacific. But, NO OIL. Some of the other studies included tributary rivers, time in Iquitos, Tabatinga, Manaus, Santarem and Belem---and places where the tourists don't go. Even Porto Velho. Today there is a large movement of soja down stream by push-owing from Porto Velho.

I only wish that before that time I knew of Farquhar since I saw some of his work. At Manaus and Belem there were a few of the sternwheel steamers (shpipped in kit frorm from Pittsburgh about 1909-11) laid up, buildings of his Amazon Steam Navigation Company and a "newer" stern wheel push boat, diesel powered, built in Holland named "Percival Farquhar".From Santarem we went up the crystal clear Tapajos river to Belterra, established by Henry Ford. Again, I wish I had known the story or history before visiting Santarem. And in the late '70s and '80s, working with Brazilian friends and principals, navigation studies were made for the Tieta and Parana rivers in Sao Paulo. This past February was spent in Rio with Brasilian friends/associates re various projects including improved push towing and and dredging of environmentally sensitive materials at a steel company's deepwater port".

RH: It is evident that Gauld's book should be reprinted, but there would probably not be enough interest to justify the expense. Perhaps Ross has some ideas. A Portuguese edition would be more viable. I wish we could find out about those two translation projects. In any case, what Ross tells us opens up the whole interior of South America. Does the navigation he mentions involve the plan to link the Amazon and the Río de la Plata? What progress has been made on that scheme? It could be for South America what the Mississippi is for the United States.

Oil in the Amazon!! The Brazilians have a complex about the Amazon, always worrying that there is some international plan to seize it. As in the Middle East, the US is the alleged villain. A Brazilian once told me that he had seen in the jungle the cap of a well where a US company had secretly discovered oil. I have not kept up with the doings of Petrobras and would appreciate informatioon.

My favorite story about navigation on the Paraná concerns a friend of mine who was British vice-consul in Paraguay. He also worked for the London zoo, which asked him to send two anacondas. He found a fat one sleeping and dumped it into a crate, which was shipped down the Paraná and across the Atlantic to London. When the crate was opened, out came 101 anacondas. The snake had been pregnant. The soo sent my friend an urgent telegram saying "Don't send the other anaconda!"

I trust you have followed all this on a map. You will need a good one to find Nueva Palmira, Uruguay.

Ronald Hilton - 4/18/03