Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-05-13
RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA.
Her Advance Across the Desert aud OS,
the Oasis Of TMrkiStAn.

Her Advance Across the Desert and Over
the Oasis Of TarkistAn.
little east of the narrow tract now in
dispute between Russia and Afghanistan IS
that extensive protuberance called BY the
natives The Pamu. or The Roof Of the
World. This wonderful plateau, furrowed
by deep valleys, through which flow the
head streams of great rivers, is the loftiest
ia the world, and stretches away for some
hundreds of miles from 10000 to $1,000
feet above the sea. II is an elevated isthmus
correcting those almost impossible noun
tain systems Of Asia, the Than Shan and
Altai on the north, with the Hindoo Koosh
and Hilnalayas on the sonth. Here history
places the cradle of the European races.
Here lived our Aryan forefa;hers, who, leav-
ing the Pamir opes. followed great rivers
westward, and finally pastured their herds
in Europe. Hither are returning now their
descendants, tha Slays and Anglo -Saxons
sooner or later TO co:.tand for the suprem-
acy Of Asia upon the historic ground from
which their progsnitors are believed to have
miglated.
The Pamir sent its waters west to fertil-
ize the Tootkistan Desert, gavo the nations
passageway through mountain barriers
along its streams tina. poured eastward into
the Tarim and southwark into the Ganges
and the Indus, nurured the civilization
that Genghis Khan aud Tamerlane founded
in Tonrkis,an. and made possib the ad-
vance Of Russia into Central ASH,
Though Eeter the Great dreamed Of ex-
tending Rassias power far beyond the
Caspian. il was not the greed of conquest
or commerce, but the need OF defending
herself against barbarous neighbors across
the Ural that hrst turned Russia toward
Central Asia Ivan H. put an end to the
terrible Tartar inyas;ons that for centuries
wasted half Of Russia and laid its
chief cities in ashes. But his successors did
not free Russia from the pest of pillaging
kirghiz aud Turooman tribes until they es-
tablished tho Muscovite power in the large
territory between the Ural River and the
Aral Sea. They sank wells in the Ust Urt
plateau to facilitate the operations of their
army, marched against the turbulent Kir.
Raiz, and after SO ;eral hard campaigns they
subdued these two million nomads, who for
over twenty years have paid their CO quer-
ors without murmur their annual tax OF 8
rubles tent. &
Beyond the Kirghiz sterpes that bordcred
Rus ia stretched Tar eastward across the
desert two belts OF yerdure throa oagl which
6ow two great rivers, the a. ent Oxus and
the Jaxartes, now known as the ANU -Daria
and the Syr- Daria. The one rising on the
southern and The other On the northern
slopes Of the Pa.nir, had FOR ages dist-ibut.
ed over their banks allnvinm borne
on rapid tides from their hradwatprs,
creating long and continuous Gases In the
midst Of the mos dcsOlate desert Of the
world Here weie rich lands aud populous
and half civilized nations. Here were the
routes to inner Asia. caravan roads that led
to China. the highways over which great
camel tmins from Bokhara had for meny
years lorne 70 orenbuTg and Astrakhan
their ads OF cotton, silk, skins, and
shagreen leather to exchange for Russian
hardware, chintz. and guns. Here was .
chance for vast expansion OF Nuscovite
power and commerce. Russia's motive was
no longer elf-pro.ec ion, but the subjuga-
tion Of the khanates of Toorkistan and The
extension Of trade.
Her expedition against Kh:va in 1889
Was disastrous. The bittsr cold Of the Ust
Urt plateau rnined Perowski's . army. Rus.
sin. repulsed in htr attempt to ec-
quire the Oxus, turned to the Syr. .Dalia.
After she planted b II foot upon that river
her forward march was slow. steady,
and persistent. Her line Of forts along tke
left bank Of the river Heightened year by
year. She Mnde fhe liver her ally in her
wiifare upon the khanates. Twelve years
after the INIT Russian gun WAS leveled at
the wal Of the INST toyn in Khokand this
rich khauate, including its netropo,is.
lnshkond, became tho Russian proyinco 81
FerghanA. Then Bckhara, after 4 bitter
struggle, iost III Independence. Two of
the tErse khauataa Of Tcofiistan wese nov
GAINED, ths NJ. pArin from IL muuth to u
scrree1 NAe RnssiAn stzeam, an6 ~: