Directory_and_Chronicle_1930 — Page 708

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TIENTSIN-TAKU

YU TSIN TANNERY, LTD.-64, Ex-German

Bund

S. C. Sze, general manager

YU YUEN COTTON SPINNING AND WEAVING

Co., LTD.-Siao-liu-chwang

YUE MAN YUNG, General Merchants-306,

Victoria Road

ZIMMERMAN & Co., D. I. (Representatives of W. I. Zimmerman Co., of Shanghai)- 15, Victoria Terrace; Tel. Ad: Zimme

ZIMMERMAN Co., H. J., Import, Export and Commission Merchants; Furs and Skins-45, Cours Joffre; Tel. Ad: Zim-

merman

TAKU

# *

大 Ta-ku

This village is situated at the mouth of the Pei-ho, on the southern bank of the river about 36 miles from Tientsin by water. The surrounding country is so flat and uninteresting that it is difficult for a stranger to detect the entrance to the river. Beyond the mouth of the river a large mud bank, clearly visible at low tide, stretches out to sea for some miles. It is through this bank and about 44 miles from the real mouth of the river that the bar extends with a width of 150 feet.

There are no clearly defined anchorages but steamers arriving off the bar at low tide must anchor outside the bar while steamers from Ticntsin proceeding to sea may anchor anywhere in the river clear of the shipping channel.

The village of Taku is of inconsiderable size and contains few shops and no buildings of interest. About a mile below the village in a direct line lie the Old Southern and Central Fort, while on the northern bank of the river lies the Northern Fort. All are completely demolished and now present the appearance of mounds of earth, though periodical whitewashing of the surface facing scaward makes them serve a useful modern purpose--an aid to navigation. The only foreign residents are the employees of the Customs, the Taku Tug and Lighter Co., and The Pilot Corporation, situated a short distance below Taku. The railway from the neighbouring town of Tangku, on the Northern Bank of the river, to Ticntsin was completed in 1888.

Between the signal-station and Messrs. Butterfield & Swire wharf on the northern bank is situated "Cockle Village" so called because of the comparatively large industry for the boiling and drying of shellfish such as cockles, crabs, clams, etc., that is carried on there. When dried, these shellfish are exported by steamer to Shanghai and Canton principally, whence they are scnt inland for consumption. This is Taku's greatest asset, as the country round about for some distance is covered with salt-pans and salt heaps, which render the country unfit for cultivation,

The lights and aids to navigation are under the control of the Maritime Customs, as well as the up-to-date signal station, completed in 1920, to use 8′ symbols by day and electric light by night whereby depths in the bar-channel are recorded from 8 feet up to 25 feet. The Hai-Ho Conservancy Commission maintain the navigable depth of the bar by means of a suction dredger with a self-contained hopper of 500 c.m. capacity. The navigable depth of the bar varies in accordance with the extent of the silt evacuated by the river after the freshet seasons. The existing channel has been greatly improved in recent years; but, as it will never prove entirely successful owing to the set of the current, the Hai-Ho Conservancy Commission are constructing a new bar channel in the direction of the set of the tide. The training walls of the new channel have been completed, and the first cut has been dredged. The new channel is calculated to give a primary navigable depth of 20 feet, with the possibility of increasing this depth to 25 feet later on.

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