Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01
ATTRACTIVE CARDIFF
With Its Population From
Every Nation of the Earth.
MARQUIS OF BUTE'S WORK
His Great Coal Mining Industry
Very Profitable.
WONDERFUL MACHINERY USED
Mount Stuart, Seat of the Butte
Family. Home of Great
Magnificence.
WONDERFUL MACHINERY USEI
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Chicago Record Herald.
CARDIFF Wales. October 81. 1905.
The preconceived impression of Cardiff
is very far from accurate. People generally
suppose it to be sooty and ugly coal town
with a thick atmosphere and grim
professions of miners passing through
the streets between the shafts and their
slate-thatched cottages. On the con-
trary. II is one of the prettiest cities in
the kingdom. 1t has wide. clean streets
lined with shade trees and rows of COM
Portable villas with flower gardens shrub
berry and clinging vines which at this
time of year are ablaZe with color.
Although Cardiff handles more coal than
any other place in the world and that
is, the chief occupation of its citizens a
stranger might live there for year with
out suspecting such thing from appear
ances There isn't mine within nine
miles Of the place. and the coal Is carried
directly from the shafts in railway
trains TO the docks which lie some dis
lance below the residence portion of the
CITY They are reached by a long street
that is inhabited by people from every
cline on earth. chiefly sailor folk who
have been stranded here at the enc OIL
VOYAGES or are keeping boarding houses
and shops for the patronage of their tel
low countrymen who come here by the
sea.
Cardiff's Population Cosmopolitan.
The coal of Cardiff goes to every port
except those of the United States. 1t
can be found at almost every factory In
the world outside of our country and
furnishes steam to move the fleets OF
nearly every nation. Hence the shipping
spending number of countries, and per-
haps no other city except 1t be Port Said. at
the entrance of the SueZ canal. or Pan
anna, or Punta Arenas. ON the straits OF
Magellan. has so many races represented
in its population. If you VIII take
can see signs in almost every language
hanging over the doors of shops, restau-
rants and boarding houses.
Six miles north of Cardiff long ridge
of hills. averaging seven or eight hundred
feet in height, runs east and west for
fifty-six miles. These hills are formed
OF coal of various grades and values.
The slopes of the ridge are covered with
coal pits and the villages of miners that
work in them. The best quality of coal
comes from Rhondda and Aberdare and
it is probably the best fuel used by men.
All the coal is brought by railways that
pass the mouths OF the mines TO the
docks of Cardiff. There the cars are
sorted on different sidings and switched
to the uuays where the vessels lie ready
for loading All kinds of vessels and all
sizes are awaiting cargoes. Experience
has taught the men VINO manage tne
business how to handle the coal with the
least labor and the least expense. The
docks belong to the Marquis of Butte, or
at least he is the principal stakeholder
holding $2I.5C0.009 of the shares OF a
$40 OCO, 900 company formed by his grand
father many years ago.
Cardiff of Roman Origin.
Cardiff is a very ancient town. 1t dates
back to the days of the Romans. who
had a strong fortress here, the remains
of which have been excavated and thor
oughIy explored by competent arch
aeologists under the direction and at the
EXPENSE of the late Marquis of Butte. The
Normans followed the Romans and held
sway for several centuries. and other
races came in turn with various stirring
events and incidents of which the old
castle was the center. Robert. Duke of
Normandy a weak and dissipated son of
William the Conqueror, was kept In prison
here nearly all his life and died at Cardiff
Castle in 1874 in the eightieth year of
his age.
In those days southern Wales was an
agricultural country. 1t was not until
the discovery at the beginning of the
smelted with mineral fuel that the coal
deposits in this neighborhood were recog-
nized as valuable.
Originally the coal was transported on
the backs of mules and horses until 1900,
when canal was built by the iron mas
tiers and then the importance of Cardiff
rapidly increased. According to docu-
mentary evidence held here, Robert
Thomas of Waun Wyllt was the first man
to use coal for generating steam. and it
is coincidence of great interest that his
granddaughter became the wife of Sir
William Thomas Lewis. general manager
of the Cardiff docks and all the other in
terests of the marquis of Butte in this
vicinity Sir Thomas William has re-
Gently resigned because of his advanced
age, having been in his present position
for more than fifty years. 1t was his
energy and genius that developed the city
of Cardiff to it's present Importance.
Marquis Of Bute's Enterprise.
1t should be said however. that the
late Marquis OF Butte, the grandfather of
the present marquis. and the owner of
the property. was the inspiring genius and
furnished the capital with which the
! work was done. Born in 1898, he sue
ceeded to the title and vast estate that
had been in his family for generations.
He was then but twenty-one years of age.
He very soon realized the enormous
range of hills | have mentioned. The
larger part of the coal area was upon
his property and he undertook at once to
develop it, lie determined first to build
a series of docks which would enable
| ocean-goinG ships to come nearer to the
canal which brought the coal down from
the mines. and in 1880 obtained an act of
parliament granting that privilege. They
were speedily constructed. proved emf
nently successful and have been extended
time
Cardiff have an area of about 160 acres
and last year handled 17.3fD1T5 tons of
coal
This was high water mark i'm the his