The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-10

posits an outlet to the sea. IL aiso
goes by Tatshan, the most noteu ol
China's sacred mountains, and passes
near the old home of CONTIGUOUS Ihere
Is no people fonder of making pii-
grimages to religious shrines than the
Chinese, and this ROAD will have d
big traffic through the native tourists
and pilgrims. 1t will attract thous-
ands to these classic regions expeclal-
ly when the Anglo-German line Is COM
pleted. Heretofore this country mas
been practically shut out from the rest
Of the world because of travel difhcul-
ties"
Great Railroads Of South China.
How about the railroads of south
ern China, Mr.. Ferguson" / asked.
The region south of the Yangtse
Kiang is the most fertile and, ! might
say, the most thickly populated OF any
part Of China. In many of Its sec
tions the farmers are able to gamer
three crops every year from the same
soil The country is cut up by Sc
ries of canals, which carry the waters
of the Yahgtse far down into the heart
of the provinces, forming an immense
system of irrigation The land Is so nat
that the Yangtse waters can be thus
transported many miles. and the canals
serve not only the purpose of irriga-
tfonN but also as trade routes and farm
roads. There are tens of thousands OF
small boats upon them. The farmers
carry their produce to market In boats,
and the merchant thus sends his goods
to all parts of the country. These ca
nails will be feeders to the trunk lines,
and they will be as valuable as branch
lines are to our railroads. The farmers
will take their produce to the railway
stations in. boats. just as our farmers
take theirs upon wagons.
Owned by nm American Syndicate.
The lines planned to open up this
rich country" Mr.. Ferguson continued,
ARE naturally laid out so as to connect
with the trunk lines on the north OF
the Yangtse. One of the chief ones
indeed. 1 say the most important of all
is the concession of the American
China Development Company to build
trunk line from Hankow to Canton
thereby connecting the chief industrial
and some of the. most fertile parts of
South China with the trunk line from
Hankow to Pekin. of which l have al
ready spoken. This road will start
from Wuchang, the capital of the prov
ince of Hipeh. Wuchang is situated di-
rectly opposite Hankow and for that
reason the line is called the Canton
Hankow line, or in Chinese the Yueh-
nan line. MS TOdu runs lhIouSh iii &C
provinces, connecting three great capt.
tai cities, all centers of official and com
mercial life, Canton, for instance, has
a population of a million and a half
and it is the busiest city in China. 1t
is close to Hong Kong, the chief Brit
ish seaport of that part of the world.
and II is so connected by waterways
that 1t can send goods to all parts of
the province of Canton and by the West
river and It's canals into Kwangsi. In
addition to the manufacturing and ag-
ricultural possibilities of this country,
are the large mineral deposits which
are found along the line of the Cantop-
Hankow road. The land Is rich in coal,
iron, copper and anthony. Indeed, the
greater part of the anthony of the
world now comes from that locality"
when will this American road be
completely" I asked.
II think the work will be steadily
pushed" said Mr.. Ferguson. About
forty miles of track have already been
built northward from Canton. Further
construction work is now being DONE
and If this is carried on with vigor the
line should be finished within four or
five years. 1t ought to be very profit
able.
They Belong to the British.
But there are important lines furth-
err east, are there not?"