The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-30
BAKU IS RICH
But VERY UGLY
THE OIL REGION OF RUSSIA AND
ITS FoRBIDDING DEsoLATIoN
A Place that Resembles Lunar Land
scape-Sixty Different Languages
Spoken in the Market Place-Black
Dust Foot Deep Covers the Roads
Warlike Hill Tribesmen.
London Mail.

The city OF Baku is very rich, but 1t
is very ugly. ...-s.
Approaching it by sea the whole
character Of the landscape changes as
Of the Apscheron peninsula, thirty
miles from the town. North of the point
there were vineyards and gardens run
ming down to the shore and white, two
storied houses, the summer homes Of the
rich merchants Of Baku. South of it
lies the naphtha land; and "where God
planted the naphtha He let's nothing
else grow say. the Tartars. Grey, rock
and yellow sand, white patches of salt
crop; fantastic upheavals of volcanic
mud-such is the country round Bahu.
One can imagine such a landscape in
the moon.
rounds, twist cmfw vbgkqi shrdlueta
The first impression is a dismal one ;
nor is a closer view much more inviting.
Round about and over the town hangs
before you reach it you perceive the
all-pervading smell Of oil. -
The town itself lies right in the
angle formed by the !Apscheron PENN
sula and the mainland, its suburbs
stretching away on both sides along the
coast, east and south. The brick walls
of the Old Persian citadel sin the mid
die of the town are still standing al
most intact, and below them rises the
Of brick, about $50 feet high. Accord.
ing to the legend, Tartar Khan and
his son were both enamored of the
same maiden, and being unable to de-
eide which should marry her, solved the
question by throwing her down from the
top of the tower. -.
West of the citadel lies the public
garden, where some dusty-looking trees
do their best to keep, up appearances,
india rubber in the heat. In the middle
Of the garden stands the club-pro-
nounced tEkloob ''-where fabulous
Hvi n "a species Of BRIDGE, or Of
Cramps y 4
Polyglot Market Place.
East of the citadel are the business
quarters, the shops, and the market,
where, it is said, YOU may hear Sixty
different languages spoken at once.
Further away are the refinery suburbs,
spreading along the coast of the PENN
suIa. First, and dirtiest, comes Black
Town (Tchorai Gorod).
Black dust covers everything, and
lies a, foot and a half deep in the 80,
called roads. Here and there water and
oily waste escaping from a refinery
have turned the dust into filthy
morass in which your phaeton walloWs
until the mud comes qssor tight over Fet ees
Villa Petrolia, and then White Town
(Bieli Gorod(, 50 called, presumably
to distinguish it from Black Town, and
not because of any particular superior
ity, in cleanliness. -, :,
The great bulk Of the oil wells are
situated on a plateau in the center OF
the peninsula, to the north and east
Of the town and the refinery suburbs 5
known as Balakhany, from the village
of that name; this was the earliest ex
plotted district. Further east lies Sa
bounchi. and then Romany, making uE
a total area of about four square miles
The natives sometimes call 1t the
Baku forest.' About 1900 or 20ol
derricks ATE crowded together In this
area, set SO closely sometimes as al
most to touch each other. Built OF
wood. at first white, but soon turning
brown from saturation with oil, they
| look not unlike a forest, and they burn
| like finder.
Warlike Hill Tribesmen.
Here it is that the fiercest fighting i:
taking place. The workmen employed
about the wells number from 10000 t.
! sc, 900, divided, roughly, into three
The Armenians are chiefly employed IL
superior positions. The Persians ant
Tartars are laborers. They are quie
enough as a rule, but among then
there is a spfinkling of Lesgians ant
Gruzenians, warlike tribesmen from TIT
mountains. They have more brains thai
the Persian or Tartar, but they ar
quick tempered and revengeful. Storie
are told how an unpopular oVerseeT ma
been dropped down 3 well and tn
heavy drill set going till the shaft wa
i literally bored through the corpse
Many Of these men belong to tribe
Russian yoke, and it is probably thes
i who are leading the present riots.
A Golden Valley.
i Passing westward from Balakhany
i we find that the plateau ends in
1 ridge Of hills, which runs SOUTHWARK
1 in a semi-circle behind the town an
comes down to the sea about two on m ME,
to TiAis and Batoum takes a boil
sweep to the northward after leavln
Baku in order to cross this ridge a
i its lowest point, where, nevertheless
i ii has a considerable gradient t
climb. A little south Of this point tn
/ ridge is cut by a deep gap called tn
i VOLTS Gate, thru which passes tn
principal camel road to the interior.
AS the hills come down to the coas
i south of the town they open into.
/ small valley, like an amphitheater, FAC
1 ing the sea. This is the Bibi-Eibat va
Il lev, probably the richest oil field In tn
world in proportion to its size; 1t