Evening star., 1919-04-27
ALL SAAR VALLEY
NOT MINING REGION
National Geographic Society
Bulletin Gives Pre-War
Picture of Section.


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. contained in a bulletin
from the National Geographic So
ciety.
"Prized for its precious coal depos-
its. among the richest in Europe, this
valley. which now is playing such a
conspicuous part in the peace con-
ference deliberations. Is highly COM
pact area when compared to Ameri-
can coal fields" the bulletin contin-
ues.
'"The Saar valley. strictly speaking,
| extends along the Saar river from
Conz. where it emptfes into the Mo-
selle. five miles above Treves. south
ward into Lorraine. where the river
Is artifcially extended to the Rhine
| and Marine canal, an air line distance
of less than seventy-five miles.
Description OF Coal Fields.
THE coal fields themselves lie about
Saarbrucken. They cover about sew
enty square miles. and before the war
produced some 100000 tons a year.
That tonnage equals a third of the
annual coal output in France. But the
extent seems small when compared
PENNSYLVANIA belt, and the yield is
but one-fortieth of the coal mined
annually in the United States.
Thus not all the Saar valley. it is
evident. Is a mining region. Toward
the mouth of the little river are vine
yards. often planted in the beds of
the former loops of the river before
1t carved out more direct courses,
from which came portion of the
famous Moselle wines.
"Moselle wines are older than the
Rhine wines. Vines were planted
along the Moselle less than three
centuries after the birth of Christ.
A Latin poet, Ansonius, sang their
praises in 'Mosella. wherein he also
mentioned royal villa. whose re-
mains 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 q
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. Marzig
and Taben.
Near the Lorraine border is saar-
brucken, metropolis of the region.
the coal mined in the Saarbrucken
nelds, by any means. is used in local
industries. Much of it went. before
the war. up the Saar and through the
canals to Italy and Switzerland.
"Saarbrucken a Fort Sumter"
"Saarbrucken, but forty miles north
east and Metz and forty-fiye miles
from othe French border, was the Fort
sumter OF the Franco -Prussian war.
scene OF the first and last success of
the French arms in 1870. and the one
brief foothold the French gained on
German soil. There Napoleon III
with his son at his side, led the IN
prepared French forces against a van
guard of the army of Prince Fred
erlck Charles. The Germans practiced
an adroit sort of camoufiaee. Day nv
day the same soldiers would annear
in different uniforms and new cans
reading the French to believe they
were opposing much greater force
than was on hand a. that point
hen the emperor's son fired the
nrst mltrailleuse the war was on. the
'Prussians retreated in a few hours
ana In Paris the victory was hailed
as smashing initial success. Later
II was learned that fewer than a hun
.eu AHSh were hlileQ on both sides.
-FOUR days later the Germans recan-
tured saarbrucken and proceeded to-
ward Paris.
Nearly every town along the saar
has some historic alndmark. At saar-
burg are ruins of the old castle Of the
electors of Treves; at serrie is a
chapel where Frederick William w
iald away the remains Of King John
Of Bohemia: Taben has many ancient
abbeys: at Mettlach is an eighth CEN
tury home of the Benedictines which
was utilized by an earthenware fac
.ory more than century ago; at Mer-
zig is a Roman cathedral NJ Tho
twelfth century. and Saar1ouis is the
birthplace of Marshal Ney. An old
castle at Saarbrucken saw the rule of
the counts of Ardennes. the proprie-
torship Of Nassau. the garrisons Of
France and the iron rule of Germany"