South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-03-30
RUHRORT IS FAMED
AS BEING BUSIEST
INLAND RIVER PORT
Wharfage Facilities Stretch
For Moe { bau Five Miles
Along ihe Rhine.

WASHINGTON. March o.
When the su.cs marched farther
into Germany recently TO penauze
the Germans fc- failure TO gree TO
the payment 90 separations and oc-
cupied DUsse!dgr- Dulsburz and
Ruhroft, they ola no, occupy vii
lagos. SAYS a bulletin issued Jy The
National Gcogra ghic society In
stead they took possession OF thriv-
Ing e'iss which s3rIn the door 90
oori.arv5 i-ise OF industrr. .he
3uh' VALE. 20 The three sr toar
,tea -lDr.--s - Industrial and m-n-
l1s dis.rs.s .S EUROPE.
VIA. G-e spoken &c usually ~
three cites are Officially but two
for Duisburs AID Rukrort-and "a
third community besides Meiderich
grew together enC were COM
bined in 1905 into g. greater Duis-
burg. According 10 the latest sta
tisttcs this augmented Duisburg
has population not a great deal
below quarter OF a million
Busiest River Port.
"Ruhrort. the part or Duisbure
situated where the Ruhr river meets
the Rhine. far from being an unim-
portant town. takes at least one
world honor. II is the most extern
sive river port IN the world. When
the Quays OF the older part Of Duis-
burg and those Of the little town of
f Homberg across the Rhine are add
ed. the wharfage facilities of the
+ Duisburg district are fart staeger-
I ing in extent. They str N for more
/ than five miles along Ie Rhine: ana
many branChed basins have been
/ constructed leading from that river
and the Ruhr as though liant hands
I had been pressed into 1oe earth
again and again. lea ns channel
/ FOR each finger.
a constant stream OF tugs
| barses and larger vessels move i'm
: and out OF the channels under nor
NAL conditions, and the craft of
/ Ruhrort are TO be found in all parts
Z Of the Rhine. Down the Ruhr vail
/ ley come coal and some iron. though
/ the larger part OF the iron needed
IN this great industrial region was
shipped in before the war from
German Lorraine. French Lorraine.
/ Luxembourg. Sweden and Spain A
considerable part of this was
brought in on the Rhine. Others
raw materials and food products
were imported. adding TO the com
merce, and coal manufactured
products were shipped out in great
I quantities.
Near the water front i'm the Duis-
burg district are situated innume,-
/ able factories and industrial estab-
Observation-Disclosures, steel and iron
/ plants. rolling mills, blast furnaces.
/ fOundries machine shops, chemical
/ works saw mills. Shipyarjs and
various other enterprises. Because
Of its importance as an industrial
center and river port. the Duisburg
region can be looked upon as a Pitts
burg and a New Orleans rolled into
one.
"Old Duisburg dates from the dim
past, being first mentioned jim 430 a.
/ d. BY the 18th and 18th centuries
it was a thriving river port. and
was chartered as q municipality i'm
I 1897. The city was the home. for
/ the greater part of his life. of Ger
hard Mercator. who has left his
name written indeEbly on the maps
Of the world. In the Burg-Platz is
fountain concentrating this map
making genius.
Cities are strewn thickiy I'm heav-
lily populated Germany. Dusseldorf.
OF ftf d
by French. British and Belgian
troops. is only 20 miles up the Rhine
from Duisburg. and q miles down
stream from Cologne where the
British have maintained a bridge
head since the signing Of the treaty
of Versailles.
Dusseldorf means the village on
the Dussel' and when first heard OF
in 1859 this name fitted il. Now &c
ia a village OF more than 100000
population city with more inhabi-
tants that Seattle and not many
thousands less than Minneapolis. 10
is one Of the handSomeSt cities ln
western Germany will cOmmo3ias
parks and some fine Old buildings.
/ The streets Of the old nucleus Of tie
city are narrow and crooked but the
newer sections have been laid out
with wide avenues.
Promenade for TOmmieS
Ten years before the world war
railroad tracks which were along the
bank Of the Rhine We're moved ana
the space 40 obtained was made into
an imposing thOroughfare overlook
fr4r- Il
There no doubt, British Tommies.
French Poilus. and their Belgian
comrades Will take the air making
themselves as thoroughly at home as
they have in the parks and along the
boulevards Of Cologne and NIayenece.
Like Duisburg. Dusseldorf is an
important industrial center and has
capacious port facilities But its i'm
dustrial life is not so markedly dom
mated by coal and iron and il is
more than a city OF factories ana
shipping. II takes additional toll
from the thriving Ruhr region b,-
serving as its principal BANKING
channel It's textile industries are OF
great importance.
Doubtless the French do not feel
altogether Ike strangers in Duss.I-
dorf Ancestors OF some Of the pres
ent POiius were probably with the
French armies which took possession
OF the city in 1902 and IN 1888. M
po,eoH made .t a part Of the Duchy
Of Berg which he set up in 1905.
And II there are any Irish auone
the British forces they too car find
ties with the home land. Five miles