Directory_and_Chronicle_1908 — Page 638

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

HAKODATE

557

A railway from Otaru to Sapporo, 22 miles long, was opened to public traffic on the 28th November, 1880, and has since been carried on to Poronai, where are some large coal mines, the total length of the line being 56 miles. A branch to Ikushumbetsu, seven miles, has since been made, and another line from the coal mines to Muroran, a port on the south-east of the island, a distance of 143 miles, was opened to traffic in July, 1892. At the station of Oiwake, from which point there is a branch line to Yubari (26 miles), the Tanko Tetsudo Kaisha established ovens for the manufacture of coke. There are now about 900 miles of railway in the Hokkaido. The Hakodate Harbour Improvement works were completed in 1900, and a patent slip capable of taking vessels up to 1,500 tons was also finished. There is also under construction a dry dock to accommodate ships up to 10,000 tons at ordinary spring tides, and at highest spring tides the dock will be capable of receiving the largest battleships in the Japanese Navy. Harbour improvements are also being carried on at Otaru, where a massive breakwater, about 3,500 feet long, is under construction.

Half the city of Hakodate was destroyed by a fire which broke out on the night of the 25th August, 1907. The number of houses destroyed in the con- flagration was ascertained to be 8,977 rendering about 60,000 persons homeless. All the foreign residents with the exception of the American Consular Agent were burnt out, saving nothing, and the total loss was estimated at not less than 50,000,000 Yen.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1908 — Page 638

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