The San Francisco call., 1908-08-16

granite as elsewhere, while TIVE
breakwater moles run short distance
out from the coast to form a protected
entrance As is true In all artificial
harbors today. at Dieppe plans for fu-
ture Improvement are In operation. The
trade In coal with England and In tim
Der with Norway has called heavily
upon its docking accommodations. On
the contrary, Cala8 has but little to
encourage development OF facilities for
handling maritime trade Neverthe-
less so fmbued are the inhabitants Of
European ports with the idea OF max
ing" harbors that just lately the ca
pacity OF that at Calais has been
doubled at an expenditure OF ti2,-
100000. Unfortunately. the Calais har-
Dor with its two fine moles Is rendered
dry at low tide. The most unique fea-
ture there is the keeping up OF an old
system of canals and sluices connected
with the harbor whereby all the sur
rounding country can be inundated and
made inaccessible to an attacking en-
envy. But the great days of Calais are
gone. the days when Dieppe sent its
largest ships with adventures 70
Florida. Canada and the East Indies.
Other European harbOrs have been
created by actual tremendous work
also Nevertheless. in the more re-
markab1e Instances there has been nat
uraI assistance arising from advan-
taceous location. Thus. Hamburg, the
most extensive continental harbor. u
situated at the confluence OF the Eloe,
Alster and Billie rivers. To form e
valuable haven for commerce It was
merely necessary for the Hamburg gov
ernraent to avail itself Of this location.
True. the work of Transforming natural
conditions to meet harbOr needs was
enormous The sum of S51,250,000 was
spent during the great periods OF con-
struction In Hamburg from 1SS3-SS anc
1S99-19O1 As a show for this outlay
there is a fully equipped harbor eapa-
BILE Of affording room for 400 seagolnS
vessels 1.4O0 craft from the upper Elbe
and 5000 river boats. Hamburg pos
sesses marvellous docks, Quays and
warehouses, whose activity is exceeded
only by those Of London and New York
Dantzic. also, opening upon the Baltic
far to the north. might deserve men,
tfon. Yet its CHIEF poipt OF interest
is not so much actual harbor con-
struction as the erection OF great grain
elevators upon the Spreicher InseI for
the controlling OF the East Prussian
and Polish wheat trade. which can hold
100000 bushels of grain Finally. a
few hours farther north is K0nigsberg,
where a small harbor has been built
29 miles from it's outlet upon the sea.
A canal capable OF floating vessels
drawing 21 feet OF wafer connects It
with the port OF Pillau- The sight OF
German men-of-war docked below the
hill OF Konigsberg IS a common one.
Large trading vessels sail inland to
this artificial harbor for heavy cargoes
Of grain 1t Is PROBABLE that docks
and further improvements will be car
ried out to make Konigsberg rival
cities possessed OF greater advantages
as ports
In fact, one hardly darss imagine
what might be undertaken IN ths way
of creating harbors after having seen
something OF the great works already
accomplished At least. considering the
untold energy that has been put into
such projects in Europe. one does be-
gin to realize how greatly America
Is blessed with its innumerable natural
harbors.