The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-24
RUSSIA ON THE PACIFIC
VISIT TO us GREAT NAVAL STA
TION AND RAILWAY TERMINUS.
A Military City with . Srlendid Har-
bor-Enstern Siberia and It's EnOr-
mously Rich Gold Mines.

copyrighted, 1895, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
Private letters which I have just re-
ceived from the capital of Corea state
that the Russian surveyors are explor-
ing the harbor of Gensan, on the east
coast of Corea. This harbor is one of
the finest on the Pacific. 1t is in about
the middle of the east coast of the
Corean peninsula half way between Flu
san and Vladivostock. 1t is open
throughout the winter. and the Rus
slams want 1t to use as terminus for
the transsiberian railroad. Vladivo-
stock, their present harbor, is on the
southeastern edge of Siberia, and it is
frozen UP for about five months of the
year, SO that no ships can land, and
SO that the Pacific Is practically shut
off from Siberia during the winter.
visited both harbors last summer, and
it was from Gensan that I sailed to
Vladiyostock in order to investigate the
condition of the transsiberian railroad.
If the Russians should seize northeast
ern Corea, as is supposed to be their
intention from the fact of the above
survey. Gensan will be one of the most
important ports of Asia. Its harbor is
large enough to float the navies of the
world. and already there is great
trade connected with it. The gold
mines In Corea lie not far off, and the
country surrounding it, though it is
mountainous. has many well-cultivated
valleys. 1t has now a population Of
about a thousand Japanese and fifteen
thousand CoreanS. 1t has q missionary
station and Russian. German and Dan
ish exporting houses. 1t has a little
Japanese hotel. where I stopped while
! waited for the steamer. and it has
one Japanese bank. This bank, how
ever, has not much faith in foreign let
tiers of credit. 1t cost me three hun
dred thousand cash Cor about $100) to
make my trip across the country, and
/ landed in Gensan with fifteen silver
dollars in my pocket. I had a letter Of
credit with me, and / tried to get some
money on it at the Japanese bank.
Japanese, but at last gave it back to
me and told me they could give me
nothing. / tried to get trusted by the
Japanese steamship agency for my pas
sage. They looked at the letter of
credit and then looked at me and told
me it was no go. The fare was just
$14 to Viadivostock, and by persuading
my hotel keeper to wait until I came
back / was able to buy ticket and
have 81 left for incidentais. The ship
was the Tokyo Maru, one Of the great
est of the Japanese steamers, which
runs from Kobe, Japan, to Siberia reg
ularly. It was about two thousand tons.
1 judge, and though the sailors were
Japanese, the officers were English.
The accommodations were good, and
after a voyage of two days we found
ourselves in the great harbor Of Vladi-
vostock.
THE KEY TO SIBERIA.
Viadivostock is the key to eastern
&c Ha To.,r IA
of the east, and is one~~of the most
strongly fortified towns on the globe.
1t is the chief Russian naval station
on the Pacific, and it is now the term
mus of the Siberian railway. 1t fairly
swarms with soldiers and officials. The
military governor Of eastern Siberia, in
GLIDING millions Of square miles. lives
here. and it has an admiral who gov
erns the shipping, and who is indie
pendent of the governor. 1t has scores
of police. and you can't throw a stone
without hitting a general. The town
now contains about 10000 people in adj
dition to a large garrison of soldiers.
1t grows like green bay tree, and it
is slice OF European Russia spread
out over the mountains of Siberia. The
houses are of brick, stone and wood,
and it has many fine buildings. 1t has
magnificent dry docks, and its new
floating docks admit of the largest yeS-
sells being laid UP for repairs. An i'm
mense ocean steamer was under repair
during my stay, and the harbor was
filed with all kinds of shipping, includ-
ing two Russian men-of-War and an
American sailing vessel from San Fran
cisco. This last had brought a cargo
of wheat and flour to Vladivostock,
and the captain, who was a bright
young fellow from Maine. came on
ord tn inn n I,4
by way of Japan.
There is no more picturesque bay on
the Pacific than that of VIadivostock
1t would float the navies of the world,
and you could put all the shipping that
comes into Liverpool in a year within
it and have room to spare. 1t is known
as the gulf of Peter the Great, and it
has a length of about fifty miles, while
it's width at the entrance is more than
one hundred miles. This gulf is di-
vided into two large bays by a hilIy
peninsula, and the Russians call the
straits which separate this peninsula
from the islands in front of it the East
ern Bosphorus. Vladivostock is on the
peninsula, which they call the Golden
Horn, and the city has quite as beauti-
full location Constantinople ]
lived on the ship during the week that
I spent in ViadivOstock, as there are
no good hotels. We were anchored
about two miles from the shore and
were in a harbor surrounded by hills
and spread out in the shape of fan,
with yladivostock built upon the han
die. On all sides of us were great forti-
fications, and the hills were crowned
with what looked like immense fac
tories machine shops. They had
many windows. and an army of men
was continually marching about them
These are the barracks of the Russian
| soldiers, of whom there are 5000 in
| this city alone. Two thousand OF these
belong to marines and the other 5000
| are of the land forces. I saw other
| barracks and soldiers in my trip over
| the transsiberian railroad, and there
are now, / am told, about 10000 soldiers
| in eastern Siberia, or more than we
have il our army.
RUSSIA ON THE PACIFIC.
As soon as the ship came to anchor ]
took boat and was rowed to the shore
| We went through all kinds of shipping
| There were great Russian steamers
| from Odessa, on the Black sea. which
| were filled with immigrants and stores
| There were ships from Japan, in the
| passenger and carrying trade, and there
| were hundreds of Chinese junks, which
| had sails like bats wings, and which