The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1917-06-14

wv YnHELMSHAVEN, the scene
Nv of a terrific explosion which
w is supposed to have
wrought great damage to
the imperial docks and shipyards re-
Gently, is M of the two most impor-
tant uaval 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 the
edge of a shallow inlet of the. North
sea, known as Jade Busen orsJade 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 w q single inch
of sea coast on the North sea. In or
der to acquire a foothold on the west
ern shore of Europe the 4russian 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 1855, OOO).
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
shipyards. 1t was a herculean task
and frequently months of labor would
be wiped out in a single hour by a
high tide or a violent storm. In the
end, however, the work was complet-
ed and the harbor was formally opened
by King William, afterward Emperor
William 1, in the presence of many
British naval officers who little i'm
agined what a momentous ceremony
they were witnessing, for with the ded-
,cation 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 un
friendly attitude of the kingdom (soon
thereafter to become a Prussian pro-
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 m airline northwest of Bremen, and
is only GO miles by rail from this great
commercial center.
The new harbor Of Wilhelmshaven
has an area of ITO acres and a depth
Of more than twenty-six feet.
MemeI, Germany's Northern City.
Another of Germany's important sea-
ports is Memel, in East Prussia, which
the Russians partly destroyed early in
the war.
Mcneil is lands end for the Ger
mans. 1t is the most northerly town
in the empire, lying but a few miles
from the .Itusso-German border. Be-
fore the war, Mcneil was q city Of con
siderable consequence, a city rushed
with commission business and q port
whose harbor was always filled with
sail and smoke columns. The port is
midway upon the Baltic sea, conven-
iently placed for trade with Stock
holm, Sweden, to the north; with Riga
and Petrograd, Russia, to the north
east; with Copenhagen, Denmark, to
the west, and with the many north
German ports. 1t has an excellent
harbor, we'll improved, protected by
the open water.
Menlel was the center of the Baltic
lumber trade. Great RATS of logs,
hewn in the forests of Russian Poland
and western Russia, were loated down
the Niemen river and the Koenig Will
helm canal every year, and the lumber
product Of the city's mills was distrib-
uted by the busy Memel feet to every
Baltic port, much Of it going to Rus
sia. Pole, Russian, Lett and German,
during the years of peaceful effort,
fraternized in Memel's coffee houses,
beer gardens and in the tidy, preten-
tious little inn, Nimmersatt.
Tilsit, a military and commercial
center, is So miles south-southeast of
Mcneil, while Koenigsberg, capital of
East Prussia, lies 81 miles to the south.
west. Mcneil had a well-to-do popula.
ton of about $4,000 before the wal,
A city without poor and without a mil.
lionaire, it possessed q thriving trade
In transit goods, agricultural and man.
ufactured produce in international ex'
change.