Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-12-14
CAMBRIA.

Washington-Th vast Importance
to both belligerents of tho town of
Cambria, 121 miles nor Gcoys Of Par
is, and twenty miles couthc&st of A.
ras, is due i'll very large measure o
the railways which radiatc from it m
spoke-like fashion, as from the hub
OF n wheel" says war geography
bulletin issued today from the Wash
mgton headquarters of the National
Geographic society.
"Seven railroads meet and cross
each other ut this li,,le city of 3d.
900 inhabitants which cings to slope
rising from the right bank of the
river Scheldt. Fully to appreciate
the value of this military dcpo1 one
needs only to realize the territory
which its railroads cover. IN we should
draw y north and south line Through
the town four of its railroads would
be found branching Off in an cast
erly direction. and three to t:,c west.
The two main lines on the eastern
side extend to Valincicnnes, twenty
eight miles to the northwc3tvbkgo
eight mics northeast, and TO Bus:gny
s!Xtcn miles to the southeast. The two
less important lines are those running
to LII Catcau, sixteen miles distance,
with important wooden and spinning
mills, and to Solcsmcs liren-mnn-
ufacturing town thirteen miles away.
"rhe lines of the west rn sector run
northcastwnrd to Doual sixteen miles
away, westward to the vill;.gc of Bois-
lcuX, II station on the important Arras
Amiena railway line. and southwark
to St. Quentin on the Sommc end 10
Chaulincs, this line branching cas-, and
west at Roisel.
Cambria lies to the north and
slightly east of Paris, l21 miles dis
tancc by rail, via st. Quc..tin AID Bust
gny, and 1913 miles by way of st. Just,
Chaulncs and Pcronnc.
Before the war the tom Was quite
an important manufacturing city, with
extensive soap works, sugar mills and
textile factories. OF course, its chief
distinction from an industrial stand
point is the fact it was here that B:p-
tiste Coutaing. the weaver, is sup
posed to have made the first cloth
which now bears the name of cam
brio in honor of the town, and the
fine muslin called 'batistc,' which
commentaries the achievement of the
weaver 1t was in the fifteenth cen
fury that cambria was invented.
Cambria occupies an important
place in medieval France history. 1t
was here that the famous League of
Cambria was formed in 1903, the mem
bcrs of tie League being Pope Julius
III, the Emperor MaXimiliGn |, Louis
MI of France and Ferdinand, king Of
Aragon. The primary object of the
allies was the overthrow of Venice,
which would have been fully accom-
plshcd had not jealousics defeated the
chief aim of the alliencc.
"Twenty-onc years after the forma-
ton of this famous league, an almost
equally famous peace was signed here
by Louise of Savoy, representing her
son, Frances | of France, and Mar
garct of Austria, representing her
nephew, the emperor, Charles V. This
treaty which owing TO its feminine
signatories, became known as the 'PaiX
des Danes put an end to Tie plans
or n duel between Francis and Charles.
This single-handed battle had been
proposed as a means of settling the
differences between the two monarchs
without the plunging their respective
countries into II bloody war.
ain the closing years of the sin
tecnth century Cambria passed to the
Spanish crown and it reaincd part
Of the Flemish possessions of that
royal family for nearly hundred
years, it's recession to France taking
place by treaty of Nijmwegen, dur
ing the reign of Louis XIV. In 1913
the town resisted a siege by Austrian
forces, but fell before the duke oil
Wellington's attack in 1915