1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sakhalin
SAKHALIN (see 24.54).—The Japanese portion of the island of Sakhalin, to the S. of the parallel of 50° N. lat., known officially as Karafuto, was ceded to Japan under the treaty of peace with Russia in Oct. 1905. The area is about 13,148 sq. m. and the pop. in 1920 was 105,765. The taxes and other sources of revenue from the island, with the addition of a grant of about 700,000 yen from the national treasury, are sufficient to cover the administration, the budget balancing at about 10,000,000 yen.
The chief industry of the island, and one of the oldest, is that of the fisheries, and these are being successfully developed. The most important is the herring fishery, followed by trout and salmon, these all being relegated to specially controlled areas; cod and crab are also plentiful, the latter being canned and exported chiefly to America.
About 17,000 ac. of land were under cultivation in 1918, the chief crops raised being oats, barley, potatoes, peas and buckwheat. More than 900,000 ac., suitable for cultivation and pasturage, are still available and many settlers are engaged in agriculture, the climate and soil rendering this a profitable undertaking. There are over 8,000,000 ac. of practically untouched forest, chiefly conifer, on the island, providing in the future an almost inexhaustible supply for the manufacture of pulp for paper-making. In consequence, five pulp manufactories have already been established, each producing over 10,000 tons per annum, and five more are projected.
There are three important coal-fields in the island, producing about 136,000 tons annually. Alluvial gold is found in the river beds, iron pyrites exist in large quantities in the Notoro peninsula, and in 1907 and 1913 oil-bearing strata were discovered on the W. coast in large areas at Anshi and Notasamu. (H. Sa.)