Andean Adventure Brings Together the ACS and Latin American Surgeons

Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS, a man of restless energy, was
an inveterate traveler both for the ACS and personal pleasure. In 1920, alongside William J. Mayo, MD, FACS, and their wives, Isabelle Hollister Martin and Hattie Damon Mayo, Dr. Martin made the first of three trips to establish closer relations between the College and Latin American surgeons.^1,2 

Together, the group would cross the Andes between Chile and Argentina on the Transandine Railway on the most spectacular and dramatic part of their tour of Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.

The journey began in Valparaiso with a mainline train to Los Andes (2,720 feet) in the foothills of the Andes. After a layover in Los Andes, the “cheerful if a sleepy group” boarded the three-coach, narrow-gauge Andean train in high anticipation of a 14-hour journey across the Cordillera to its eastern terminus at Mendoza (2,376 feet).³ 

Built between 1887 and 1910, the line was one of the great railway projects of the time, covering 154 miles with more than 80 bridges and tunnels.⁴ Contemplating the route, Dr. Martin observed that “one has great difficulty in deciding whether to admire more the work of nature or the work of man.”³ 

From Los Andes, the train wound steadily upward to the 2-mile-long Uspallata tunnel (10,471 feet) that spanned the border between Chile and Argentina before descending toward Mendoza. 

The altitude took its toll when during the lunch stop at Puente del Inca, Argentina (9,000 feet), Drs. Martin and Mayo became “well winded” while walking from the train to the hotel, something their wives prudently avoided by taking the waiting jitney.³ 

A welcoming crowd broke into cheers on hearing that the famous Dr. Mayo was in the party.⁵ After an excellent meal, the journey resumed, and the travelers marveled—in Isabelle Martin’s words—“as hour after hour the most majestic, multicolored mountains crept by us.”³ 

Despite the awe-inspiring scenery, the route was not without hazard. Three days earlier, a landslide had swept away a bridge, small hotel, and several unlucky travelers.⁵ Consequently, the party made a moonlit trek along a temporary trestle once the locomotive had gingerly pushed the empty carriages across. Looking down a short while later, Dr. Martin saw the roof of an upended coach from an earlier disaster that drowned 11 passengers. 

Reaching Mendoza unscathed at midnight, the weary but exultant travelers boarded a mainline sleeper and made the 20-hour journey to Buenos Aires across plains that reminded Dr. Martin of North Dakota and Manitoba. 

Once they reached their destination, they were met by a delegation of Argentinian surgeons and brought in style to their hotel. After productive meetings in Argentina and Uruguay, the party returned to Chile by the same route. 

Drs. Martin and Mayo were impressed by the surgery they had seen. The trip marked the start of an ambitious effort to link the North and South American surgical professions.² By 1928, 242 Latin American surgeons from 17 countries had become Fellows of the ACS.¹ 

Dr. Peter Kernahan is a lecturer in the Program in the History of Medicine and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

References

1. Nahrwold DL, Kernahan PJ. A Century of Surgeons and Surgery: The American College of Surgeons, 1913-2012. American College of Surgeons; 2012.
2. Stephenson GW. Martin and Mayo plant the seeds: A history of the international program. Bull Am Coll Surg. 1980;65(7):22-28.
3. Martin FH. South America from a Surgeon’s Point of View. Ada, MI: Fleming H. Revell Company; 1922. 
4. Brady GS, Long WR. Railways of South America: Part I and III. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce; 1926 and 1930.
5. Martin FH. Diary: Jan 7-Feb 6, 1920. Box 4 File 9. Franklin H. and Isabelle H. Martin Papers. Archives of the American College of Surgeons.