Jeff Ehler

In 1924, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Barroso No. 2 oil well erupts, and the earth’s black gold beckons men from around the world. Frank E. Hilton, a young Iowa railroad worker turned west coast oil man, sees an opportunity to build his fortune and travels south, keeping in touch via post with his childhood friend, Charles “Noisy” Paine. But the Great Depression snakes its way south, and Frank is forced to return to the States, floundering as his dreams begin to fade.

Two years later, good news arrives—more work in Maracaibo. But without money for visas, Frank’s only option for a return trip is on foot, overland, slinking past border guards along the way. On a beastly hot day in Texas in May 1933, he wades into the Rio Grande and illegally heads for a new country, the outcome of his journey uncertain, his options meager.

Frank chronicles his journey through near-constant letters, keeping Noisy apprised of his condition and whereabouts. In ten months, he crosses nine national borders, visiting oil camps in Mexico, trekking the Yucatán, and wandering through Honduran jungles. He falls sick, almost dies twice, and is aided by banana companies, missionaries, and indigenous peoples. In his letters, he describes the incomparable beauty of mountains and jungles, the pestilence of insects, his mortal fear of Nicaraguan Sandinistas, and the putrid jails he endures under the eyes of the Guardia and comandantes.  

With striking imagination, historian and researcher Jeff Ehler brings Frank’s letters to life in End of Rails, recounting a tale of one man hellbent to return to his adopted foreign country in the middle of a failed economy, and another anchored by deep roots to his hometown, his loved ones, and a community stitched together with faith.