Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-11-28
A GREAT MILITARY ROAD.
A Trium ph of Engineering of Which the
Russians are Proud.

A Triumph of Engineering of Which the
Russians Proud.
The Georgian military road is a piece
of work of which the Russians are justly
proud, writes Tihis correspondent of
h. Icnraon Times. Vast sums of
money are Still spent yearly In keeping
it in irot-rate condition. What 1t act
ually cost to make over period Of very
many years is question like that put
to the Emperor Nicholas with regard to
the Isaac Cathedral at St. Petersburg,
and which that frankly spoken
monarch answered by saying that
only the Almighty and the
architect could positively tell. The
first Lart of the roads runs with a
gradual ascent through the gorge of
Darrell, through which flows the river
Terek. There are several excellent
iron bridges over the latter in the
course of the windings of the road I'M
der the beetling brows of the craggy
mountains on both sides of the defile.
The scenery is grand, but stern and
wild Bare, stony cliffs and granite
rocks, quite perpendicular In many
places, and dull-bro mountain slopes
with scanty vegetation, inclose and
overshadow the roadway and river as
far as Kazbek. Here the valley of the
Terek begins to open out, and the road
rises rapidly toward the pass over the
Krestovaya Mountain as it is called, at a
height OF 1898 feet above the sea.
Between Kazbek, through Cobb; up
the ascent, and the highest point where
cross marks a disused turn in the
road gives the name to the pass, there
is difference of 2, l5S feet over dis
lance of about seventeen miles. The
steep approach to the top of the pass
from Cobb is the most dangerous part
of the road. Avalanches frequently
slip down the sides of the mountains in
the spring. and not only fill up the deep
gorge cut out by the noisy, foaming
Terek, bnt hurl their masses of snow
and Ice against the opposite mountain
barrier and scoop out tons of earth and
stone. A couple of road-sheds with
slanting roofs have now been built on
this part for sheltered passage of trav-
elers during the dangerous seasons, and
an Ossentlnlan stone hut and refuge on
the very summit of the pass which is
now the highest dwelling in all the
Caucasus, has been provided with a
large bell for giving warning when the
road is dangerous. Here is the water
shed of the rivers Terek and Aragua,
the first flowing to the north, and the
other down the southern slopes, while
all around the small plateau, where the
stream which rushes in headlong fury
down either side of the range is almost
still and stagnant, are to to be seen the
snow-covered cones and white
sprinkled tops of the higher mountains.
There are no series of magnificent
snow-clad peaks as in the Swiss Alps,
and no cultivation and improvement of
natural beauty lower down along the
road. All along the northern ascent
the scenery is 'desolate, and only i'm
posing by the enormous masses Of STRAIT
lhed granite and stone piled up thou
sands of feet, with a southern slant on
both sides of the defile. The different
mountain clans inhabiting the district,
whose Wretched f1at-roofed novels of
loose stone and open fronts are seen
perched up on the topmost crags,
among the eagles and vultures, are still
as primitive and uncivilized as when
they were first driven up into these
lonely attitudes. thousands of years ago,
by the Mongolian nomads who took
possession of the lower regions and
plains. and are still represented by
their descendants.
North of the pass the road leads
through Ossetia or the country of the
Ossetins, who have been considered by
some philologists as having some affini-
ty with the Germans But the bewil-
dering babble of languages in the eau
casus, or mountain of tongues as it
was anciently called, is still a battling
study for European professors. 1t was
reckoned by abian writers that. with
the dialects and divisions of the various
distinct languages, they numbered
some three hundred or more. Pliny
speaks of $50 interpreters having been
necessary to transact business with
these numerous linguistical groups at
Dioscura, the present region of Abk-
haZia. Even at the present day good
number would be necessary to commun-
icate properly with the more isolated
mountaineers away from the main
thoroughfares where Russian is not yet
the common medium of intercourse.