Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-05-02

NoLodNE'--I write today of the
4 Rhine, not the Rhine pctur-
esque, nor the Rhine romantic,
nor the Rhine Of the castles
and cathedrals, but the Rhine
as a trade route aud az the
great water avenue Of the
~ American invasion Of Ger
many. During this trip in Europe
have studied Il from It's sources to It's
mouth, ] was near lis beginning ON
Mount saint Gothard In switzerland, !
saw Il rushing past Basel, the head Of
navigation, and watched the enormous
traiiic moving into it from Rotterdam
near the sea. It IL j26 miles from
Basel to the German ocean, and
throughout this distance the Rhine Is
spotted with towns and cities. il Is
cut by canals, which lead TO the Seine
and the Danube, and others which bring
In into connection with the busiest sec
tion of this busiest Of all the cOnti-
nents. You can get from Hamburg TO
the Rhine by canal The ports OF Bel
GUM have access to Il aud a network
or railroads leads out from Il to every
quarter OF Europe.
THE RHINE AT COLOGNE.
Here at Cologne the Rhine is about
1900 feet wide, and II Is deep enough
Tor boats drawing II feet Of water
The fall Is slight from here TO the sea,
and the flow Il so slow that Il does not
impede navigation A little further
south the river narr0ws. and in the
Beven Mountains the current IL 50
swift that the steamers make only q
lew miles an hour, and so strong that
the banks have 10 be walled In with
stones almost the whole way 10 keep
them from washing
Cologne is the trade center OF the
Rhine. Il has about 100000 people. and
Is largely dependent upon Its river
trade. 1t has built up a great harbor
for handling the traffic and Is now a
general transshipplng point for all
parts OF Europe. Ships come here from
London, Bremen Hamburg. Copenha-
gen and Russia There are daily boats
10 England. and three boats which run
regularly between Cologne and st. Pc
tersburg.
AMERICA ON THE RHINE.
The most OF the goods from the
United States is transshipped at Rot
terdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp or Ham
burg, and large part Of II IL sent up
the Rhine In barges. have spent much
time on the river, now passing RATS
Of logs and boards Of American lumber,
ltf 80. -
barges piled high with barrels Of Amer
lean petroleum, / have met few
American travellers and one or two OF
our drummers, but the most Of the
travel Is European. and the most of our
goods 80 on German or Dutch boats
handled by German importers,
A GREAT INLAND PORT.
Cologne is a good place to study the
Rhine traffic. 1t is the headquarters of
the leading steamship companies. The
trade is carefully watched, Il steadily
increases from year TO year, and II now
approximates a million tons annually.
Something like 1000 passenger boats
call at Cologne every year and the
freight boats number many hundreds,
There are also sailing vessels, and an
enormous traffic by tugs and barges,
| saw my first Rhine barges at Rot
terdam, They are built for the narrow
parts Of the river and are, ! venture,
the longest boats made In proportion
TO their width. The average barge Is
about II feet wide and 200 or 300 feet
long. II looks like a great black eel
ms IL is towed up the river At the back
Of II is a little cabin, with a stoyepipe
sticking out Of It's roof and about mid