The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-09-04
DANUBE AVAILABLE,
FOR COMMERCE.
SEVEN COUNTRIES

mountain chains, cutting tbro, s1
upianos' meandering through ,o,,
lands Ia the mighty Danube rive.
flows like great artery from ,s
heart OF Europe in its 1850 ni,s
course from the Black forrest
the Black Sea. This river. ,av, :. 20
National Geographic Society ~
second in length to the vo.
among Europe's rivers, bpt 49,
ceeds it in volume.
Fed by over 300 tribut.,;..
some Of which are tber,.,,,
mighty rivers, the Danube dr,;s'
an area larger than New cuiro,
Among the worlds dozen 1oa
rivers, it is near its sonrna seSl
creek so narrow a man NAV a.,
it in his stride, but by mid.co 'aas
1t IS over 300 yards wide. It bros s'
ems to a majestic three miles uas
the mouth. Every year more H tbsr
100 million tons of silt are sp ,ts'l
downstream, building Eurona,s
largest growing delta.
Situated near the no;r+ ,,,
Germany, France and Swjtzerl.a,
meet, the Danube's source is ~
near the headwaters of the Rb;no
that rainfall in this region is said
to have an equal chance of reacb'
ing either the North or Black sess
some LOO miles apart. Its waters
contrary to the popular waltz. ara
never blue, but chalky or cboco.
late, and are navigable for .sM
miles. Navigation is difficult for
high water may vary 80 feet in
short distance, and rocks and sand.
bars keep river captains alerted
Ocean-going freighters steam Inn
miles upstream, ships of l,5OO tons
reach Passau, on the old Austro.
German frontier, and smaller craft
carrying 100 tons can proceed 10
Ulm, about 100 miles below the
source.
In it's first 900 miles the Danube
rushes eastward through wild
rocky valleys famous in German
folklore. After passing more Sc.
dately through old Vienna, the riv,
er cleaves its way between the
Alps and the Carpathians, soon
meanders south across the wide
Hungarian plain. Reaching Yugo.
slavia, it is turned east again by
the rugged Dinaric Alps. After
boiling through the Iron Gate,
Well-known, narrow two-mile gorge
on the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS border,
it's course follows a wide eastward
arc, is showed northWard by the
/ Dobruja hills, finally gets enough
power from two large tributaries
to push its way eastward to the
sea. There it divides into three
main channels, makes a delta big.
ger than Delaware. Dredges keep
open the middle Of the three chan.
nels.
Commercially speaking, the
Danube flows the wrong way. Its
source is near highly developed
northwest Europe, but its lower
half passes through the compare.
lively undelveloped Balkan coun.
tries, lands its freight on an al.
most-closed sea far from most I'M
portant shipping lanes. More than
twice as long as the Rhine, its
volume of commerce is less than
half.
In spite of this, Danube trade
was increas ng before the war. The
river bed is mostly wide; water
supply, stable. The river connect.
ed seven preWar countries, flowed
through three capitals - Vienna
Budapest, Belgrade - and near
fourth, Bucharest. Countless river
ports were linked with a means
of cheap transportation for bulky
goods. Grain, lumber, oil, wool
Travelled westward; coal and man
ufactured goods drifted eastward
Danube" an Anglicized WORD,
is almost unknown in the rivers
native lands. Germans know the
river as Donau; Czechs, as DunaI'
Hungarians, as Duna. Partner
down the river Yugoslavs and Eul'
garians say Dunav, RomanlanS
say Dunarea, and the Russians re-
fer to it as Dunai.
From 1919 to 1889 an internatlon'
al commission regulated river 'ral,
fic, supervised maintenance u
channels. An earlier commlssloA'
started in 1856, tanned the river
dredging sandbars in the lo"Ft
course, blasting channels throosn
the mountain passes, creating lo
the first time long and lmpO''
tant commercial route.