The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-06-16
YLHELMSHAvEN, the scene
M of a terrific explosion which
Wv is supposed to have

Is u huNe
wrought great damage to
the imperial docks and shipyards re-
Gently, is one of the two most impor-
ant naval stations of the German en-
pire, says a bulletin Of the National
Geographic society.
Only sixty-five years ago the site of
this now strongly fortified town of
$4,000 inhabitants given over chiefly
to shipyards, dry docks, fitting out har-
bors, iron %foundries, boiler foundries
and boiler factories, was a desolate,
low-lying, marshy tract of land on h
edge of a shallow inlet of the North
sea, known as Jade Busen or Jade bay,
which had been formed by foundations
In the thirteenth and sixteenth centu-
rieS.
In 1852, however, the nascent spirit
of Prussianism awoke to the fact that
the kingdom did not own a single inch
of sea coast on the North sea. In or
der to acquire q foOthold on the west
ern shore of Europe the Prussian king
purchased from the grand duke of Old
enburg the marsh, four square miles,
upon which now stands Wilhelmsha-
ven, and the purchase price was $780,
900 thalers (about $355,0O0).
Seventeen Years Building Town.
For seventeen years a large body of
workmen was engaged at great ex-
pense in building the town, dredging
the bay, and sinking piles in the peaty
soil upon which to erect the docks and
s~hipyards. It was a herculean task
and frequently months of labor would
be wiped out in a single hour by a
high tide or q violent storm. In the
end, however, the work was complet-
ed and the harbor vas formally opened
by King William, afterward Emperor
William /, in the presence Of many
British naval officers who little i'm
agined what a %momentous ceremony
they were witnessing, for with the ded-
ication of Wilhelmshaven began In
earnest the development of modern
Germany's sea power.
One of the odd difficulties with
which Prussia had to contend in the
building of Wilhelmshaven was the I'M
friendly attitude of the kingdom (soon
lHtIullGI " bCIOlbO "a phO
vince) of Hanover, which refused to al
low the construction of a railroad
across it's territory from Prussia into
Oldenburg, so that all the material for
the harbor had to be shipped from
Prussia by the long sea route.
Wilhelmshaven is less than 40 miles
In an airline northwest of Bremen, and
T.. opl,, en milaS hy roll from This great
commercial center.
The new harbor Of Wilhelmshaver
has an area of 10 acres and a depth
Of more than twenty-six feet.
MemeI, Germany's Northern City.
Another of Germany's important sea
| ports is Mcneil, in East Prussia, whicl
, the Russians partly destroyed early IL
the war.
Memel is lands end for the Ger
mans 1t is the most northerly tow
In the empire, lying but a few mile
A from the Russo-German border. BE
fore the war, Mcneil was a city of cor
o siderable consequence, a city rushe
Il with commission business and a por
whose harbor was always filed wit
sail and smoke columns. The port |
p midway upon the Baltic sea, onveI
iently placed for trade with STOCK
n holm, Sweden, to the north with Rig
n and Petrograd, Russia, to the nortt
r east; with Copenhagen, Denmark,
q the west, and with the many mort
r German ports. 1t has an excelleI
harbor, well improved, protected b
two lighthouses and by forts towar
II the open water.
Memel was the center of the Bait
# lumber trade. Great RATS of log
hewn in the forests of Russian Polan
d and western Russia, were f1Oated dow
d the NiemeR river and the koenig WI
helm canal every year, and tie lumbe
G. product of the city's mills was distril
If uted by the busy Memel fleet to ever
Baltic port, much of it going to Ru
STA. Pole, Russian, Lett and German
during the years of peaceful effor
fraternized in Memel's coffee house
beer gardens and in the tidy, prefer
It tious little inn, Nimmersatt.
Is Tilsit, a military and commerce,
4, center, is SO miles south-southeast
h Memel, while Koenigsberg, capital
IT East Prussia, lies 81 miles to the soutl
d west. Memel had a well-to-do popul
If ton of about $4,000 before the wa
Ie A city without poor and without a m
d lioDaire, it possessed a thriving traC
u. in transit goods, agricultural and ma
Is ufactured produce in international e
change.
Is Was a Growing City.
Is Memel had a growing industry-irt
3 f~oundries, shipbuilding yards, and ia
tories for the output of chemicals, m