Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-07-16

ports, and Sapporo, inland capital
Yezo has cities of more than 100000
population. In these and q number OF
other important towns the atmosphere
of Japan Is dominant In some rural
communities Of the island, however,
are considerable groups of Anus. The
Japanese have been indefatigable in
their efforts to hand on to these dis;
tant cousins of the European some
Of the modernism that has come to the
Islands from the West, but their sue
cess has been slight. Only some 90.
600 Of these people-masters of all the
islands before the Japanese came from
the mainland-remain, and their num-
bers are decreasing.
Saghalien, still further north than
YeZO, has had somewhat similar his
tory. 1t, too, was fishing station in
summer, deserted In winter: and to
degree this situation still holds.
The island Of Saghalien was politi-,
cal perplexity both to Russia and ia
pan for many years. Soon after the
Pilgrim Fathers landed on the east
coast Of America, a Japanese feudal
baron dispatched an agent to this far
northern island. Within twenty years
after that the Russians had landed on
Saghalien. Until the Russian revolu-
ton the majority Of the permanent In
habitants of Saghalien were Russian.
BY a treaty Of 1875 the sea-going
Japanese gave up all right In Sagha-
lien to the Russians in return for full
rights in the Kurile islands This
condition Of affairs continued until, at
the end Of the Russo-Japapese war,
the treaty Of Portsmouth gave south
ern Saghalien, up to the fiftieth paral-
lei, to Japan.
Japanese Saghalien has little agri-
cultural land, but has large forests Of
both deciduous and evergreen trees,
amounting to more than 100000
acres. Japanese paper mills are stu
ated in Ctomari and elsewhere, and an
effort is being made to develop the
papermaking industry.
saghaIien's Fish Industry.
But it is on fishing that the majority
of the Japanese inhabitants depend for
living. AS soon as the summer sea-
son Is over the fishermen migrate to
the southern islands of Japan for the
winter. Mauka, on the west coast Of
Saghalien, Is the center Of the crab
| fisheries and much of the crab fake
| consumed in the Far East comes from
this little town. A post road connects
Mauka with Toyohara, which Is the
capital of Karafuto, the name which
the japanese have given to the south
ern part Of Saghalien.
The average annual temperature Of
! Saghalien is near the freezing point,
and If the Japanese are ever to colon
| lie the island they will have to change
their methods of dressing and building.
In summer, the streets of Saghalien's
| capital swarm with japanese; the
Shinto shrine on the heights overlook
ing the Toyohara plain Is visited by
thousands; and numerous fishing boats
| ply back and forth from the ports
massing the catch which is valued at
/ about 100000 a year. But in win
! ter, the scene is different. Then the
Japanese section of the city, with its
/ light frame houses with movable par
titions, is almost deserted, and only an
occasional Japanese woman in a pad
ded kimono, but with bare ankles, can
be seen In the snowy streets.
The Kurile island group is unpleas-
| ant, on the whole, for mariners either
Of the water or the air. There are
many half-sunken rocks of shore,
while treacherous currents flow be-
tween the islands with each food and
ebb tide. Fogs are frequent and gales
may blow at any season.
The southernmost Kurile island.
Kunashiri. is just off the coast Of
Yezo and is more nearly a part of
Japan proper than the other islands
Of the chain. Gradually the develop
ment that came to Yezo crept to the
adjoining Kuriles. But 1t can hardly
creep far. for the more northern of the
islets are incapable of producing crops
of any value and viii probably never
advance beyond the fishing station
stage