The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-03-14
GUARDED BY ICY WIND.
A Frigid Convict Station In the
Northeast of Siberia.
THE COOLEST SPOT ON EARTH
No Precautions Are Necessary Against
Escape at verhoyansk-When the
Wind Blows, Hall an Hour In the
Fierce, Biting Cold Means Death


Fierce, Biting Cold Means Death
The coolest place IN the world one
would naturally expect to be ei'lier
the north or the south pole. but 1t Is
not. 1t is O village in the northeast ct
Siberia named Nerhoyansk
There the average temperature or
the three wors; winter months is ~
degrees F. below zero. which means
Is degrees of frost During lahuhry
the average temperature is 81 degrees
below zero. or IS degrees of frost Oh
one occasion the thermometer regis
tered the remarka bic figure of 10 de-
grees of frost! The average January
figure for London, on the other hand,
is degrees above freezing point.
But in verhoyansk most months are
winter months. July. curiously enough.
is as hot there as in London. but the
shadow of the terrible winter hangs
over even the warrnest months.
Even in midsummer the forests
which surround the desolate plain III
the center of which VerhoyanSk
stands are withered and gray. The
grass is colorless The few flowers
are odorless The bare soil of the
plain itself refuses to produce vege-
tables of any kind The ground Is
frozen hard to an incredible depth
No farming. of course, is possible
There are no cattle nr poultry All
food is imported Why. then. does this
I little village exist: II is convict sta
ton. and its population of 400 is made
I'D of officials and exiles
No precautions against escapes are
needed. Prisoners are known to nave
gone mad with the loneliness OF the
place. But no one has ever been MAD
enough to try to escape. Verhoyansk.
strange though it sounds. is guarded
by the wind. gale when the Their
mometer stands at 80 or more below
zero will destroy every living thing
that is not under shelter.
One of the many curious facts about
cold is that intense cold Is In itself
easy to bear provided the air is still.
One traveller has declared that he has
often felt colder in Piccadilly on
damp day In November than during
his entire stay In Verhoyansk. where
the thermometer sometimes showed 50
degrees of frost.
The reason is that at Verhoyansk
the air is intensely dry. and dry cold
. does not penetrate far. With a tent
at night and warm furs In the day
time one can be quite comfortable.
however low the temperature.
But let a wind once rise and things
are different. AS Verhoyansk is the
! coolest place in the world, the few
e winds that come must bring warmth.
: But then all winds carry moisture
+ And so we have the curious fact that,
q though one may be quite comfortaDle
= with the thermometer showing W de-
grees Of frost, If Il wind springs up
a and adds 20 or 80 degrees of warmth
= TO the air one has to fly for dear
J. life to shelter.
g Half an hour in that fierce. biting
e cold means death. But the intense
Q dry cold that is Verhoyansks norma
weather is, if not so dangerous. quite
d as powerful in it's effects. In that icy
Ii stiffness an iron ak head dropped oil
n the ground smashes like glass. a
? board of unseasoned wood. on thu
le other hand, freezes hard as iron.
-e De Windt In his travels in this. re
j. gion carried his milk in solid cube
D. in a net attached to his sleigh Iii
If thermometers all burst. for at tn
Verhoyansk temperatures quicksilve
ID freezes and can be hammered lik
lg copper. It has indeed been turned int
is bullets and shot through deal boart
s, All he could find of a case OF clare
n. were few Jumps of red ice and som
splintered glass. But what trouble
d. him most was the discovery that
was impossible to smoke. At 40 d.
as grees below zero frozen nicotine BLOCK
ly the stem of the pipe, while cigarette
he or cigars freeze to the lips.
,r- 1t must be embarrassing to find,
lis one does when the thermometer reacl
he es so below. that ones very breat
no falls at ones feet in fine white po'
10. der. mustache becomes a torture
cd a heavy, solid lump of ice. To lay
OF. bare hand on metal means that tt
nd skin will stay where 1t touches.
he careless traveller once witlessly left
no shirt outside his hut to dry. When
oh picked it up again it bent and almo
fin broke. When swung through the
it made noise like theatrical thu
10 der.
III At these temperatures many usual
oar trusty articles, such as combs a
uh razors and knife handles, shrivel
RS bend or break.
,ri. verhoyansk Is a huddle of mud pli
of. tered huts along one struggling sire
nor The windows are of ice. so that CT
,de dies are needed both summer and W
nov ter Twenty miles away, across a
ST rnal plain of snow, lies a low. bla
so line of pine forests.
m On the other side is the frozen riv
from which Dense unhealthy mi
nj. roll I'D for weeks together in the