Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-04-23
IN THE DAYS NEWS
The Saar Valley.

Ancient castles and mines, old
monasteries crowded By new factories
which sometimes -usurp historic alb
beys, wooded and jagged hills dimmed
by pail of-smoke." Such is the pre-
war picture of the Saar Valley, con-
tanned in bulletin from the Nation
al Geographic society.
Priced for its precious coal deposits,
among the richest in Europe. this val
ley which now is playing such a con-
spicuous part in the peace conference
deliberations is highly compact area
when compared to American coal
fields the bulletin continues.
The Saar Valley, strictly speaking,
extends along the Saar river from CONF
where is enpties into tile Ioselle, five
miles above Treves. southwark into
Lorrain where the river is artiticially
extended to the Rhine and Marine ca
nal, an air line distance. of less than
rs miles.
The coal fields themselves lie about
Saarbrucken. They cover about 70
square miles, and before the war some
10000, 0000 tons year We're produced.
That tonnage equals u third of the an
nual coal output in France. But the
extent seems small compared with
10000 square miles of the Pennsylvania
belt, and the yield is but one-fortieth
!! of the coal mined annually in the Unit
| ed States.
-"T,hus not all the Saar valley, it is
| evident. is "a mininS region. Toward
| the mouth OF the little river are Vine
| yards, often planted in the beds of the
| loops of the river before it carved out
/ more direct courses, from which came
a portion of the famous Moselle wines.
! "Moselle wines are older than the
| Rhine wines. Vines were planted
! turtles after the birth of Christ. A
Latin poet, Ansonius. sang their prais-
| es in M0selIa,' wherein he. also men
| toned a royal villa whose remains are
! to be seen to this day at CONF.
! Travelling up the Saar the peaceful
vineyards soon seem far away amid
| the hum of industry from many a
small manufacturing town. The val
! ley is populous but there are no large
| cities. The industries are scattered
| through many small towns, such as
| -Saarburg. Saarlouis, Serrig, Merzig and
! Taben.-
Near the Lorraine border is Saar-
| brucken. metropolis of the region with
| only 80, 600 population. Not all the
coal mined in the Saarlorucken fields
| by any means, is used in local indus
tries. Much of it went. before the war
up the Saar and through the. canals tc
Italy and Switzerland.
"Saarbrucken. but 40 miles northeast
of Metz and 40 miles from the French
border, was the Fort Sumter of the
Franco Prussian war, scene of the first
and last success of the French arms il
i 1870, and the one brief foothold the
! French gained on German soil There
Napoleon III, with his son at his side
led the unprepared French forces
against vanguard of the army O.
Prince Frederick Charles. The Ger.
mans practiced an adroit sort of cam
outage. Day by day the same soldiers
would appear in different Uniforms
and new caps, leading the French Il
believe they were opposing a mucl
greater force than was on hand at tina
point.
When the Emperors son fired tn
, first mitrailleuse the war was on. tn
Prussians retreated in a few hours
and in Faris the victory was hailed a
. a smashing initial success. Later i
: | was learned that fewer than hundre
men were killed on both Sides Fou
+ days later the Germans recapture
s Saarbrucken and proceeded towar
: Paris.
9 Nearly every town along the Saa
/ has some historic landmark At Sa
+ arburg are the ruins of the old castl
q of the electors of TreVes: at Serrig
q a chapel where Frederick William T
4 laid away the remains of King job
a of Bohemia Taben has many ancier
! abbeys; at Mettlach is an eighth cen