The Coolidge examiner., 1934-02-09

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TNREIBURG. Germany. lovely
gateway 10 the Black Forest. is
not only proud OF is rank
among the most picturesque cities
OF Europe. bot also of its more
than SO years % life. The city II
% especial Interest 20 Americans
because Martin waldseemuller. the
Eeoxrapher. who Vas the hrst 10 put
the name America on q map. was
fr,iburger.
Two centuries before the Chris
tlAn era. the Celis roamed over the
site % Freiburg They were grad
uaiiy pushed out ~ the Upper Rhine
valley. however. by German tribes
Then came The Romans In II. G.
IL Tlb.rlus crossed the Rhine. and
shortly. what With the Roman le-
Elons on one side and the Cermani
on the other. the fertile plain
known as BrelsEau and the Wild
forcs; land called the Schwnrs-
wald became what they stlll are
frontier country. In A. u. - a
military road was bull, from Whhi
f. now Sirasbourg 10 the Danube
Those we're boom days. for IN
der the protection % the Romans
trade flowed Up and down the road
that ran aionE the right hank OF the
H~s
favorable places forts and small
settlements spraug NJ II was then
that BAdcnwe.ler. slightly 10 the
south of the present Frelburg. and
Baden. 90 the north. nrsi achieved
renown as fashionable bathing re
sorts.
In about two hundred years the
Roman bubble burst. The German
tribes pousced down. took the forts.
and again became masters of the
Rhine.
Hy a curious turn of fortune In
the seventh century. the Cclts
again appeared on the scene. this
time 90 the form of Celtic Irish
missionaries.
By the end % The Eighth century
the Germans were mostly Christian
lied.
Founded BY Duke konrad.
by the beginning Of the Twelfth
century the BrelsEau. of which Frel-
burg Was the ancient capital. was
a thriving district Farmers TILED
the heavy. fruitful soil of the floor
plain. planted vineyards on the
warm south slopes. and trafiicked
with wandering peddlers from
S;raSbourg and Basel and even
from Italian cities and the Baltic.
Obviously the one thing needed
90 complete the picture was a cen.
ter % trade. a city. And In il20
Duke Konrad of Zahringen cast his
eve about FOR a suitable site.
Just where the river Dreisam
emerges from It's valley and flows
out into the Rhine plain. on a well
inclined fat of ontwash gravel. stood
a small hunting lodge. Here was
the Ideal city site.
Before II spread the fertile Rhine
plain: behind Il ranged a seml-circle
OF mountains split by the valley OF
the Dreisam- Here was ample
water supply. sufficient slope to In
sure good drainage. and protection
from inciement weather and foes.
Most important OF all. here was a
junction Of roads. the north south
road leading from Italy TO the Bal
tic. and the eaSt-west road lead
ing from France 10 Swabla and the
Danube country. The new town,
then. would be a crossroads affair.
through which travellers coming
from every direction would have to
pass.
With the hunting lodge as a cen
fral point. the duke carefully
planned the city OF Frelhurg. -Four
principal gates gave entrance TO
the town. Two principal streets
crossed the hut az right angles and
formed four large blocks. which
were cut up into smaller blocks by
narrow alleys running parallel to
the main streets.
Giving play to his imagination,
the duke devised a scheme entirely
new TO medieval city planning.
which caused n flutter among trav-
elers % the day. whereby a series
of swift-ilOwing brooks supplied
with water from the Dreisam,
were directed down all the streets
and alleys.
These brooks carried away the
sewage and insured a supply OF