The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-11

the steel girders into place. From this point We were frequently obliged to
 over Se Gowo Tough o track % laid % in the % fields. across a stream on rickety wooden structure, then climb up stin grade
 to continue our journey on the proper track.
 On the bridges the Japanese were at work. Koreans doing only the heavy tasks, pumping out the coffer-dams.
 carrying and the like. The excavation
 Japanese formen. Near Suwon was a quarry which furnished the limestone | used for the piers and culverts and the : stretches of rock-faced embankments. l twenty Japanese contractors employing | forces of from five hundred to thous- | and men each. The Koreans in every
 merely the coolie labor. The construc- | ton work was carried on by two dis tinct bodies of men, the one following the other. The first laid the track: un-
 der favorable conditions putting down | as much as a mile day. this. of course. along a roadbed already graded. The ! second division followed the first
 straightening tracks. % %regradihng h cut, ,no great with the consequent danger of l landslides in the rainy season. The sod ded the embankments, built the stone !, considerable body of water. added the finishing touches. In fact, and general | iy put the line into its final shape. In February there were five engines belonging to the Seoul-Fusan road.
 These with twelve passenger coaches and about tifty-box and open cars have all been built in America. Many were
 in use on the Chemulpo line pending the completion of their own.
 When the line Is formally opened on the first of January the company will
 have ready for service twenty-eight To- comotives. There will be ffty-eight Anak nla
 second and third class. and third class coaches. Of the 230 freight cars ITO
 are flat. The bodies of the cars have
 been built some in America and some in weight. are English and American
 with a few thousand tons milled in
 Japan. Glrders and bridge materials are also either English or American. The company will run two through
 trains a day from Seoul to Fusan and vice versa, two south and two nortb-
 bound. Fifteen hours is the schedule
 time for the ETA mile journey There will also be one train daily from Seoul to Suwan and return and to Taiku and back from Fusan. For the present, of course, there will be neither sleepers nor dining cars.
 The line runs through a rice country practically all the way. Little valleys terraced with paddy-helds open into broad plains. The water trickling from highest to lowest runs off to join the SluRRlSn StTGamS LnAL Wlnd LlclT way through wild flower garnished meadow lands.
 There are altogether ffty-three sta tions Suwan, the largest town, the from the line. Taiku is the only other place of any size. The smaller stations are marked only by lonely white building At more important points ter walls and thatch, or possibly tile roofs. These are the homes of the en- gineers and contractors. Potted pines and plants in porcelain trays adorned their narrow gardens; shiny haired, their daily tasks. As the train slowed down the chattering group on the plat form would scatter, and the men came running toward. us. bearing letters sometimes. but generally seeking them: The mall clerk on the train would pull out a packet, or If the railway colony was a large one, pouch ana give It 10 the local distributing agent. The group would cluster together again and as the train went pumping down the track the lucky ones turned away reading the letters they had just received
 The Japanese laborers have been quartered in the Korean towns. These villages are mere collections of mud and thatch huts, with an occasional brick wall and tile roof to contrast with the hopeless squalor of the sur rounding novels. In these hamlets the rice farmers live. At harvest time they carry their grain to the markets and there sell to the wholesaler who makes the circuit of all the country fairs and buys practically the entire crop of the district. They send the grain by pack poney. or coolie carriers, or bullock cart to the nearest shipping point, then by junk down the inHumera' ble little streams to the sea; and thence to Chemulpo or Fusan whence it is finally exported.
 The OnpninR Of this rice country by a general Tightening of frelghts will be one of the greatest benefits of the railroad. It may take some time to overcome the Koreans prejudice against making any change whatsoever in his daily or annual routine, but the awakening Is sure to come in the end. Once this trade is booming there will be an ever increasing demand for foreign imports; kerosine will come more and more into general use, for not the lower freight charges will make the export of vegetable oils profitable and the natives must needs find some substitute to light his home
 The Seoul-Wiju road is really part of the same line. a continuation there- of. For the present the construction is In the hands of the army. while the
 Kei-Fu" line has been built by civil ians. The gauge is the same. the work if not as thorough at present. destined to be quite as permanent. In building this line the Japanese have been fortunate in being able to use, in many cases, the road bed built by the French engineered Korean Company.
 All along the line the railway troops are at work. The results attained thus far have been most satisfactory.