The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-06-02
)RT DALNY'S VALUE.
or $40, 600, 900 Had Been Spent
on the Russian City.
EATED BY ORDER OF THE GEAR.

,iaI Emporium of His Far East
)OminiOn-Its Great HarbOr and
Dock improvements Made Regard
ess of COst-Five Large Piers Built,
Dalny, the Russian town which was
.StrOyed as a result Of the fortunes
the Russo-Japanese war, was one
the most extraordinary towns ever
lOV-n, says the Philadelphia Press.
was created by an edict of the car
}ly 80, 1899, and by virtue Of that
uct stately town with superb dock
g and railroad facilities was devel-
ped where before there had been moth
lg but Chinese huts. The creation OF
ais town was set idea Of the car
imSelf, and in his edict he said of it:
In our constant solicitude for this I'M
ertaking of such general usefulness we
ave carefully considered what a position
Importance the starting point Of this
me, TalienWan, will occupy when the
Dad has been constructed. AS we OBJ
erVed at the time OF its occupation that
he port should be open to the commercial
IeetS of all nations, we have now decided
20 begin the erection near to it Of a city,
sGhich we shall call "Dalny.''
In Russian Dalny means Far away"
and this poetic suggestion played "a
part on the imperial imagination, for
nothing was left undone to realize his
wish that the city on the Talienwan
bay, on the east coast of the Liautong
peninsula, should be the chief COM
mercial emporium of his far eastern
dominion. The bay on which Dalny
was built is one Of the finest deep
water harbors on the Pacific. 1t is
free from ice in winter time and ships
drawing thirty feet of water can enter
at low tide without difficulty and with
out aid Of pilots can sail or steam
alongside the former immense docks
and piers, where their cargoes can be
loaded into railroad cars and run di-
rect for 5000 miles into the city of st.
Petersburg.
Five large piers had been construct
ed, each supplied with numerous rail
road tracks and immense warehouses
and elevators, gas, electric lights and
water, and large breakwater was be-
ing constructed SO that ships could lie
at the piers and load and unload re-
CARELESS of weather. Docks for for
eign vessels, steam and sail, extended
between the piers and along the shore
for two miles. There were two first
binary ocean steamers and the other
designed to accommodate the largest
vessels Of war or commerce.
Over 100000 had been expended
on the harbor system alone before the
end of 1902, and it was estimated that
the cost of completing the works would
be nearly $2O,OOO,0OO, but this does not
In any way represent the huge total
cost Of the erection Of this great COM
mercial port, which, with Port Arthur,
distant about twenty miles, was leas-
ed by the Chinese government to Rus
STA in 1898.
The amount expended on the docks
was more than equaled in building up
the administrative town, which was
laid out on magnificent scale in the
style of model city and was expected
to house 100000 people. AS everything
was developed from the ground up
the administrators were able to do as
they pleased, and in consequence the
residential portion was developed in a
way that made it one of the finest
cities in the east. The streets were
well paved, broadly laid out, and many
of them were in the form of parkways
or boulevards, while a beautiful park
was made part Of the scheme, and one
of the most important features of the
work was the effort to make the town
beautiful by reason of the character of
the houses and their surroundings.
The houses themselves were built
substantially of brick and stone, with
varied architectural effects, surround
ed by picturesque stone and iron rail-
ings, and the city was up to date in
that in it's center were concentrated
oil the important buildings of the town
arranged about a parklike plaza from
which radiated the streets in all di-
rections like the spokes of a wheel.
In all the town was to have cost, when
finished, $25,OOO,O00 and more, and a
large share of this amount had already
been expended when war broke out.
Curiously enough, although Dalny
was made a free port, Russia was un-
able to force commerce to come to the
new city, so that with all it's magnif-
cence in the way of the imperial docks
and in the lavish attention that was
paid to the comfort of the residents
# was a commercial failure.
With half the houses empty, build
ing proceeded without interruption.
and it is estimated that the Russians
have spent more than $20000,OO0 ON
the city from which they expected so
much. Great docks were added to by
the building Of still greater ones.
Custom houses, government build
ings, hospitals, churches and barracks
were built on a plan attempted in few
towns even in European Russia. and
DaIny was expected to eclipse any Eu-
ropean settlement in the east. but even
with the imperial support it was sim
ply developed to be wiped out at the
first blow Of war;