Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-21
SAKHALIN THE PRIZE
WHY BOTH RUSSIA AND JAPAN
WANT THE ISLAND.

add about 25,000 square miles of territory
to the mikado's empire. 1t is narrow IS
land. nowhere wider than the state of Mas
sachusetts is long and at certain points
not wider than Nantucket. says the Boston
Evening Transcript But this ribbonlike
island. lying northwest of Japan, stretches
along the coast OF Siberia (from which a
narrow sea separates ITO for distance or
GO miles Sakhaln has river 80 miles
long and mountains 5000 feet high. Its
by no means a vest pocket country.
Japanese enterprise. then. will have plen-
ty of room to knock about in. but square
miles aren't anything. even when you can
count them by the tens of thousands, and
unfortunately Sakhalin's climate is nothing
to boast of. To I've sure. the island ism
far north Dit lies in about the same latitude
as Franco, but the sky is almost always
clouded, and the cold currents flowing from
the Okhotsk sea keep the eastern coast
pretty well ice strewn all summer, while
on the western coast the ice from the Amur
clogs up the narrow space between the IS
land and the mainland and long remains
unmeted. Nobody is ever too warm on
Sakhalin. The climate resembles that of
Siberia and Alexandroffsky is colder in
winter than Archaagel.
Not Adapted to Farming.
Another thing equally discouraging as
far as it goes. you can't farm To advantage
on Sakhalin. Only here and there i the
soil at ali fertile. and even then you must
content yourself with raising market truck
and expect to get malaria while wedding
your garden. Such at least has been the
experience of Russian penal colonists who
have tried To NreSt a living from the soil.
Moreover. the country looks every whit as
fnhDsDitable as experiment has proved it
to be. They say that when Russian exiles
get their first glimpse of that rocky coast
and those grim. Handicapped mountains
no. nj nj
spair. When such of them are not life
prisoners have served their term and be-
come free colonists,' they are almost GER
tain TO leave Sakhaln and settle In Siberia
They call the country of their Imprisonment
The Isle of the Lost"
Cold, uutillable. but big-is that the whole
story? If 1t were then We should certain
ly be as a loss to know why the peace en-
Voys at Portsmouth are haggling over the
question of who is to own Sakhaln. But
that isn't by any means the whole story.
The Isle of the Lost is also the Isle of PO-
tential Wealth. IF it had no other claim
to Importance its dense forests would be
enough to make it worth owning. Practt-
cally untouched. they stretch from one end
of Sakhalin to the other. The Japanese
VIII know what TO do with them.
Coal in Abundance.
Besides. there is coal-not easily mined,
but abundant. At Duey the toughest GRIM
inals have worked chained to their barrows
anu cat" Se'i 'ieS spent Ill the mines mas
counted year and a half toward hast
ening their discharge. Sakhalin has long
supplied ships with fuel. Perhaps the Jap
anesa will devaInn the coal rninas to The
full extent of their possibilities, but it is
certain at all events that they will devotion
the OIL fields.
p-jons nf Sal,haIir ara ricba+ tbon +b ",s ~
America Subterranean lakes-some of
them with an area of 5000 square feet-lie
81 SiG 3 70 tiIt SUI Idtt tha' natural gushers
lend thamsaIy,es ra9dfr, a. aInfnita.in 9nr
the east coast is only from twenty to TWEEN
ty-five miles away, and there nature has
provided harbOrS that boats drawing
twenty feet of water can safely enter. For
four months of the year, 10 be sure. those
harbors are ice-locled. but the ice can be
broken by specially constructed steamers
known as ''ledUllol." The war promised to
do wonders for the oil business.
AS coal couldn't be got for love money
from England or Japan Admiral Rumgin-
whisky tas the Dogger Bank fishermen still
call him) was to supply his armada with
oil fuel from Eakhalin. Under government
auspices the Russian Sakhalin Oil Com
pany came suddenly into existence, a glo-
rous monopoly that proposed to employ
cheap Russian, Chinese and Korean labor,
turn out from 100000 to 100000 tons of oil
Il year and drive Mr.. Rockefeller out Of
business in the far east.
Meanwhile another sort of game will fall
to the Japanese-in the north a fine menag-
erie at large, composed of bear foxes
sable antelope and reindeer in the south
an occasional tiger; on the coast u remu-
nerative profusion of seal sea lions and
dolphins not to mention a species of pie
beian whale little priced by bIubber hunt
ers.
-, ,,,..s e e ,r,.,
Sloheiieo the oiiioi oouiCo VI WEALTH.
But the chief source OF wealth in the
Salha1in Of TODAY Ia tba fisheries The
-. -, tn. -, IT,, ,,.o-.,.- ,,one,
i'ei' ''i' VIZ! '"'i'-''' .N0 "-oe
the coast with herring. In single year
Sakhaln yielded 81, 500, 600 worth of fish,
and this in spite of the most discouraging
,,i.f ~ p,,,storz ,rouldn,t yiya
- - - n,o,,I5 tbay
me oapS d 80. IiJ 'h Ell ii't sihiiitias 81
The fsheries
Siberian back yard. into which exlles were were
70 20 sshi hoats 70 coe