Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-09-15

eight years he had been condemned I,
live at a miserable village on the froz
en- tundra swamp some 200 miles from
Archangel-to the east OF the city lie.
limitless tundra for thousand mile,
and he was blissfully jubilant be
cause he was now allowed, by reason
of good behavior, to move into the
metropolis of the White City.
Archangel has many fine churches
with much riches in their treasurles
but it has also the poorest and yilest
of roads. 1t is a city of three streets
and interminable distances. From
the suburb of Solombala. where we
anchored, to the cathedral square of
the city. the center OF Archansel.
must be a distance of three miles OF
nothing in particular-or nothing that
is to require the length. 1t is largely
waste-a few acres here of timber. a
few acres there of rough ground, a
quarter of a mile of huts. a quarter of
a mile of ground where huts may be
built some day; long stretch with
tiny hospital in the corner of it, an
other long stretch with private house
in the corner of that and then a mile
of loose, discontinuous street, contain
ing many fine buildings and stores
Simple it all Is with a vengeance
Do you want water? A cart with a
huge barrel will go down to the doubt
full river and bring it up. We were
told that In the winter they made holes
in the ice. and in these holes they bale
up drinking water and sledge it to the
houses as Jumps of ice they also swill
and wash the clothes of the town. the
laundresses squatting on the ice, beat
ing and sousing in the dark pool the
household linen, which often becomes
sheet of ice before 1t is half clean.
But what can you expect in city
where all is frozen, and where, in the
winter, you can ride through the
streets in a sledge drawn by reindeer
and driven by little Arctic Samoyad,
who is as true a Mongol as a Tartar
and as much Polar animal as an Es.
kimo.
To the sightseeing tourist. Archan-
gel is Interestingly contains the
rough wooden hut in which Peter the
Great lived, sacred place of pilgrim
age for Russians; and it is the door
through which England first opened
commercial relations with Russia. Arc
tic navigators, seeking the Northeast
passage have perished near there. and
others have in the harbor of Solombala
found safe refuge.
Recently. SO | was informed, there
has come new awakening for Arch
angel. or Russia in the Far East and
of the Trans-Siberian railway much is
heard; of Russia in the West we hear
little, yet quietly (as is said to be her
WON'T but inexorably cher wont. tool
Russia Is building upon the rrss
wastes of tundras and swamps. ..ld
lakes. and bare granite uplands of the
Archangel province, a new state and
a fresh outlet. All nations have heard
of her great railroads in the east but
little is know of the road she has just
built connecting Moscow with the
angel AS If this We're nothing she
looked eastward and built another
great railway from the Siberian grain
fields, passing through the Ural range
and bringing to Archangel via Perm
and Vtatka, the exceeding supply of
those rich plains. Besides this, the
Moscow to Archangel railway goes
past Archangel to that wonderful new
port on the Murman coast-the port
of Ekaterina-and is essentially post
and passenger railway. But the line
to Siberia has been built to become
commercial railway. and to assist as
such in this new development of Rus
sia in the west.
Meanwhile. to protect the rapid de-
velopment OF the great natural resour-
ces-the timber, the mines. the fisher
les and the fur-fauna-the Russians
have been fortifying on this northern
coast. within four days sail of Eng
land. splendid natural harbor, largely
itself protected by the land which
locks it. And there is this fact notice
able about this northern fortified port:
that owing to beneficent wisp of the
extreme tail of the Gulf stream curling
around the coast here. this port is
open and free from ice the whole year
round, and is Russia's only port thus
free and open in the winter.
In this port of Ekaterina Russia has
a refuge where her ships, In the midst
of winter, are no longer imprisoned
and useless, but can safely harbor and
If need be, Issue forth at any moment,
when Cronstadt and Riga and all the
rest of the magnificent fortresses are
rigid and stark with ice.
Here then is the new importance of
Archangel and the great province OF
which It is the center and mother city
The new expansion of Russia in the
west, will. ere long, bring Archangel
and the regions tributary very near to
the Atlantic seaboard. Her trade has
been trebling, as it is, and now she is
tapping Siberia and its inexhaustible
grain fields, and those mineral riches
which are almost vxirgin, and undoubt
edly vast beyond belief. What with
the new ice.free port of Ekaterina. and
the re-awakened Archangel. with Its
extending wharves and increasing
mills and factories, there is at hant
new Russian influence. which will
have to be dealt with on fresh terms.
All this gives point and purpose tt
the little have said of Archangel, ant