, 1917-06-14
YILHELMSHAvEN, the scene
M of u terrific explosion which
Wv is supposed to have

tant 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 n desolate,
low-lying, marshy tract of land on the
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 w a single inch
of sea coast on the North sea In or
der to acquire a 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,
600 thalers (about $685., 10000.
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 n
high tide OF a violent storm. In the
end, however, the work was complet-
ed and the harbor was 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 IN
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 its 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 al airline northwest of Bremen, and
is only 60 miles by rail from this great
commercial center.
The e harbor of Wilhelmshaven
has an area of 10 acres and a depth
of more than twenty-six feet.
Memel, eermany's Northern City.
Another of Germ9py's important sea-
ports is Memel, in East Prussia, which
the Russians partly destroyed early in
the war.
Memel is lands end for the Ger
mans. 1t is the most northerly town
in the empire, lying but "a few miles
from the Russo-German border. Be
fore the war, Memel was a city of CON
siderable consequence, a city rushed
with commission business and a 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, well improved, protected by
two lighthouses and by forts toward
the open water.
Memel was the center of the Baltic
lumber trade. Great RATS of logs,
hewn in the forests of Russian Poland
and western Russia, were fioated down
the NiemeH river and the Koenig VIII
elm canal every year, and the lumber
product of the city's mills was distrib-
uted by the busy Memel fleet to every
Baltic port, much of it going to Rus
STA. Pole, Russian, Lett and German,
during the years of peaceful effort,
fraternized in Memel's coffee houses,
beer gardens and in the tidy, preten-
dous little inn, Nimmersatt.
Tilsit, a military and commercial
center, is 5S miles south-southeast of
Memel, while Koenigsberg, capital of
East Prussia, lies 81 miles to the south
west.f Memel had a well-to-do popula
ton of about $4,000 before the war.
A city without poor and without a mil
ionaire, it possessed a thriving trade
In transit goods, agricultural and man
ufactured produce in international ex.
change.
Was a Growing City.
Mcneil had a growing in~dustry-iron
toundries, shipbuilding yards, and fac
tories for the output of chemicals, ma.