Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-02-06
MisrelIane0us.
CARDIFF, WALES.

Cardiff. the handsome seaport town
which sits at the mouth of the Taft, does
not owe its importance to the ancient ruins
which besprinkle Glamorganshire, but to
the fact that the country is the greatest
coal centre of the British Empire. To
iron and coal Great Britain chiefly as
cribes its grandeur among nations, and
from Glamorganshire it draws vast guam
titles of these the deposits are deemed
well-nigh inexhaustible. Cardiff is but
an outlet for this wealth, and is not, as
some suppose. smoky and sooty sort of
Pttsburg. 1t is clean, handsome, with
broad streets and fine edifces, and clear
blue sky overhead. From the collieries
and ironworks of the mountain cities on
the Taft by railway and canal the mineral
treasures of Glamorganshire are brought
down to Cardiff and shipped upon
saltwater. As regards its relations
with American shipping, Cardiff is the
second seaport town in Great Britain,
the first being Liverpool. But it is only
within the last forty years that Cardiff has
assumed this importance, and it is barely
a hundred years-a bagatelle in the his
tory OF Cardiff. though somewhat impor-
tant period of time from an American
with no better means of communication
with the mining regions than by donkey
power. 1t was customary for women and
boys TO drive into port mules laden with
coal in bags, and iron came down the
hills in scanty wagon-loads. 1t is related
that "Mr. Bacon's contract guns in the
American war" were thus transported to
Cardiff. In 1898 canal was opened from
f,, ,h..,. II
tains, which was considered one of the
seven wonders of the world, rising to
a height. within twenty-four miles, of
five hundred feet, by means of thirty
locks. This canal is still used though
there are three lines of railway to
rival it. The grand impetus to the bus
mess OF Cardiff was given by the construc-
ton of the enormous stone docks, begun
in 1884 by the late Marquis of Butte at his
own private costa matter of some five
million dollars. Precisely what is signi-
lied by work OF this character no un-
travelled American can easily comprehend.
There is nothing of the sort on our side
the Atlantic. Imagine stone-shored lake
cut IN the land, as it might be vast deep
cellar dug out of the ground and walled
about with huge blocks of dressed stone.
Give imag gination scope until you realize
cellars SO large as to afford mile or more
of stone wharves, at which, and in the
waters inclosed by which, innumerable
ships may ride at ease as in walled room.
About one hundred acres of water surface
are thus inclosed, remote from the open
Channel, and in the midst of the town.
No storm that ever ragged could ruffie to
anger the placid bosom ofthis stone-shored
lake or combination of lakes. Wide fields
of sandy plain stretch between and around
these lakes, leveled and graveled, having
long lines of iron gas-lamps and graceful
iron fences, and huge stone warehouses,
and railway tracks on which the laden
trucks from the mountain mines roll down
alongside the sleeping ships. Huge iron
steamers lie and doze as in placid pond.
Looking about in this novel marine world,
you observe that there are various levels
of water; here the ships ride on the
smooth liquid floor not twelve inches be-
low the sole of your foot as you stand :;
you walk across a bit of the sandy stretch,
and there the ships are lying in a
gulf below you, SO that you could rest
your foot on their yard-arms. Huge locks
connect these different levels-locks so
capacious that sometimes two vessels at
once may pass in and be lifted together
from the lower to the higher plane. .-Wirt
Skies in Ha'per's Magazine for February.