The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-06


Yellow sea in the coastwise trade.
had run into the land-locked harbor Of
Lu Shun Kow. down at the extreme
southern end Of the Liaotung PENN
sula. All along the shore great gray
cliffs ran Up straight from the sea TO
n height which varied from 800 to 1000
feet. If you came close enough in you
could make out slit in the mountains
which gave entrance 10 a body OF wa
ter within. This slit was not more
than 200 or 300 yards wide. Once you
Sot through the passageway there was
wide stretch of water before you.
hemmed IN by cliffs on every side. At
nigh tide the water was deep enough
for tho anchorage Of big ship. but
when the tide went out hundreds OF
acres Of mud flats were exposed to
view.
I'm the valleys between the cliffs were
built some fifty or sixty miserable mud
huts. and in them lived 800 or 400 Chi
nese coolies. That was the situation
, up to 1860 in what is now Port Arthur.
Gave It His Name
II that year three or four ships of
the British navy came that way on a
surveying expedition. one of these
ships was the gunboat Algerine. com
manded by Lieutenant William Ar
thur. Lieutenant Arthur daringly ran
his vessel in between the cliffs which
guard the harbor, which was there
upon named Port Arthur in honor Of
his exploit
= But beyond the name, Port Arthur
2 gained no new fame for another twenty
years. In 1881 it was still merely Il
convenient harbor into which coasting
junks could run for safety when great
storms swept the seas outside. On
H.
abOuts there lived only. a few hundred
wretched Chinese coolies.
Built by French.
Then the great Celestial empire be-
gan to wake up. Foreign engineers
were sent along the coast 10 pick out
q safe harbor which might be fortified
and made the chief station for the new
and modern navy Of China. They set
tied on Port Arthur. and il was planned
10 transform the place into an i'm
mensely strong and completely fitted
naval station. Plans were drawn for
great dock yards workshops. dry
docks, rehtting basins and foundrtes,
while above them on the commanding
cliffs strong fortresses were to be
erected The contracts for all this
work were let to French contractors.
so that IL was France which first
among the nations had to do with this
Gibraltar Of the far east French con-
tractors. with the aid OF swarms OF
Chinese coolies, working like slaves fof
l. cents or 20 cents a daN, worked for
years on the works i'm and about Port
Arthur. Not until 1921 was the place
turned over to China. ready for occu-
pancy as a great naval station.
BY that time Port Arthur-its name
sake already fOrsotten-had become Il
fairly we'll built town. containing more
aT,r ~, Of
the government works. 1t then had
commercial population of 5000, to say
rothinC of the Chinese garrison OF 1000
or more soldiers. The forts were
mounted with modern guns. and Chi
uese gUnners were trained by German
and other foreign experts i'm the use Of
the artillery
Captured by Japan.
In 1894. during the month o. Novem-
Der. the victorious Japanese army
marched down one OF the two narrow
passes which lead through the sur
rounding noun aims 20 the city of Port
Arthur. captured the city and put TO
the sword many of the inhabitants,
non-com batants as well as the MEM
bers of the garrison. il was a bloody
day. though the Japanese officers
stopped the slaughter as quickly as
possible.
For time then Port Arthur was ap-
parcntly in the permanent possession
Of the japanese. until the pressure of
the allied powers forced her TO give it
back 10 the Chinese in January. 1886.
Before they marched out the Japanese
destroyed a large part of the Chinese
Notifications.
Russian Activity.
Tn 1895 Port Arthur was LEASED" 10
Russia. who Immediately began 10 for
tify il. with the intention of making it
the strongest port in the eastern seas.
It's Importance to Russia is great.
Nladivostok, the other great Russian
port on the Japan sea. is ice bound
large part OF the year. The possess IN
of Port Arthur gives the navy OF the
@zar a port which is never frozen.
Moreover. il is a port which commands
the approach to Pekin. the Chinese
capital.
Never since the Russian occupancy
has there been any cessation OF activ-
ity. i'm and about Port Arthur. In mis-
cradle novels on the hillsides swarm
thousands Of coolies. who at a word
can be hired for 20 cents a day TO do
any kind of hard aud adventuresome
work Last year Russian contractor
at Port Arthur offered to bet that
within a half hour he could hire 10000
men outside OF his regular large force
These regular forces are extremely
large and are kept steadily at work
both by land and sea. Any time within
the last five or six years one could find
in the outer harbor a fleet OF from 500
10 1000 Chinese iunks. all loaded with
railroad ties. lumber and other build
ing material. They. OF course. are all
working for the Russian government.
One important result CO the Russian
occupancy Of Port Arthur has been j
tremendous increase in the imports
from the United States. During sew
eral weeks IN 1902 American goods TO
the value Of more than 100000 week
~ were landed at Port Arthur and
the yearly commerce Of the United
states with that and the adjacent ports
has been estimated at nearly $780,
0e0.00O.
Plans For Dalny
But the Russian plan has been from
the first 10 make Port Arthur a purely
military and naval center. With that
plan in view the Russians several
years ago began the construction OF
tho wonderful city OF Dalny. thirty
gpiles north and ten miles east OF Port
arthur, which they hope 10 make the
commercial capital Of the far east.
The plan contemplates that all COM
r1ercial ships shall be barred out OF
Port Arthur and sent to Dalny and