Arizona republican., 1905-01-12

this point we were frequently obliged
 to run down from the regular road-bed.
 over a rough track laid in the fields
 across a stream on a rickety wooden
 structure, then climb up a stiff grade to continue our journey on the pro-
 per 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 was all done by native coolies under quarry which furnished the limestone used for the piers and culverts and the stretches of rock-faced embank- ments.
 The road has been built by some | twenty Japanese contractors employ | ing forces of from five hundred to thousand men each. The Koreans in every case have done none of the skilled merely the coolie labor The construction work was carried on by two distinct bodies of men, under fav- orable conditions putting down as much
 as mile a day. This of course, along a roadbed already graded. The sec ond division followed the first straight
 enins tracks, regarding cuttings-the first angle having been too great with lAlG consequent ud4lStl OA ldilNtSll0CS III the rainy season. They sodded the em- banlzments, built the stone facings where the line runs along any consid-
 crable body of water, added the finish ing touches in fact, and generally 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 fifty 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, 2S locomotives. There will be 58 passenger cars. first and second class, second and third
 class and third class coaches. Of the 23O freight cars ITO are flat The bodies of the cars have been built some in America and some in Japan, seventy five pounds in weight, are English and American with a few thousand tons
 milled in Japan. Girders 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 north bound Fifteen hours is the schedule tune TOT the / t4-IllAle JOuIllCy- l4AElN 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 rice country practically all the way. Little valleys terraced with paddy-felds open into broad plains. The water trickling from highest to lowest runs off to join the sluggish streams that wind their way through wild-hower garnished meadow lands.
 There are altogether ffty-t three sta tions. Suwon. the largest town, tie Mukden of Korea, is some distance from the line. Taiku is the only other place of any size. The smaller sta tions are marked only by a lonely white building; at more important points there are clusters of houses with plaster walls and Jhatch, or, pos sibly tile, roofs. These are the homes of the engineers and contractors. Pot ted pines and plants in porcelain trays adorned their narrow gardens. shiny haired brown little women clattered about at their daily tasks. As the train slowed down the chattering group on the platform would scatter, and the men come running toward us, bearing letters, sometimes. but gener ally seeking them. The mail clerk on the train would pull out a packet, or, if the railway colony was large ore, a pouch, and give it to the local dis tributing 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.
 TananeSp Ia Va hpe.ll 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 squaIor 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 pony. or coolie carriers, or bullock l cart, to the nearest shipping point | then by junk down the innumerable little streams to the sea, and thence to | Chemulpo or Fusan, where it is finally | exported.
 The opening up of this rice country i by a general Tightening of freights will ! be one of the greatest benefits of the 1 railroad. It may take some time to overcome the Korean prejudice against j. making any change whatsoever in his; daily or annual routine, but the awak- ening is sure to come in the end. Once this trade is booming there will be an ever increasing demand for foreign ex- ports; kerosene will come more and more into general use, for not only will it be cheaper than before, but the low CT freight charges will make the ex- port of vegetable oils profitable and the native must needs find some sub stitute 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 E<ei-Fu" line has been built by civ lians The gauge is the same-the york if not thnrnneh at nEasant