Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-16
Vast Cargoes of Oil.

vast VaTSOeS OIL VA.
Tank steamers and tank barges carry
vast quantities OF crude and refined
petroleum from Baku to Astrakhan, and
up the Volga river. which is navlgable as
far as Moscow. The. interior of Russia
is supplied with it's burning fluid in that
way Astrakhan is a city of 100000 in
habitants, at the mouth of the Volga.
and the center of very large trade in
wool, hides, sheep pelts and other ranch
products Millions of sheep, cattle and
the steppe of the Kalmucks. which was
formerly one of the widest sections OF
the world. is now almost entirely under
cultivation with American machinery. and
produces immense quantities OF wheat,
barley and other grains.
Derbend and Petroysk are both i'm
portant towns upon the west coast of the
Caspian, and railway passes through
them from Baku to Moscow, Odessa and
other parts of Russia. They have their
ped with docks and facilities for load
ing and unloading. l cannot find any
statistics. but the commerce of the Cas-
plan is much larger than any one would
suppose.
Once Connected With Ocean.
The Caspian sea is a strange body Of
of former oceanic areas" and show us
how it was once connected with the Arc
tic ocean by way of the Sea of Aral and
the River Obi. There seems to be no
doubt OF that geological fact. and it Is
demonstrated by several interesting Signs
In the first place the Caspian sea has
seals, herring, salmon and other marine
life which seem to be unmistakable evil
dence Of its former communication with
the ocean. At various places along tne
coast are water lines which show that it
was once much higher than it is now. and
that the depression of its surface to its
present level has been gradual through
the ages AAslight elevation would again
restore connection between the Caspian
and the Arctic seas. A iise of 15S feet
would bring the Caspian up to the level
of the Sea of Aral: further rise of %
feet, making 900 feet in all, would turn
the waters Of both into the Tobol, one OF
the tributaries of the River Obi which
flows into the polar sea. Between the
Caspian and the arctic circle is only
low steppe or prairie, with depression
which was undoubtedly once filled with
water. Indeed. Strabo and other ancient
described such communica-
ton between the Caspian basin and the
northern ocean in distinct and unmlstak-
able terms.
The Caspian mean level Is now eighty
four feet below that of the Black sea
though it varies with the winter floods
and summer droughts. 1t is gradually
subsiding. so gradually, however, that 1t
would take thousand years or more to
exhaust the water. The northern s p por-
filled up by silt brought down from the
interior of Russia by the Nolga, the Cral
and the kuma, three great muddy
streams which traverse the steppes for
thousands Of miles and deposit alluvial
converted
prairies north of the Caspian into salt
marsh, and is encroachings upon the sch
itself every year.
Sea Without an Outlet.
The distance in a straight line between
the extremes of north and south OF the
Caspian Is 74O miles. The average width
is 30 miles, but at one spot the dis
lance is 500 miles across. At one time
the Caspian was more than 200 miles
longer that at present. and the southern
part was one hundred and thirty miles
wider: There are several spots on both
coasts where signs Of the subsistence APP
pear very plainly; indeed. biologists say
that the biography of no body of water.
unless it be the Dead sea. is written in
language SO clear as that of the Caspian.
There is no outlet and the drainage area
is one of the largest of any body of
water. The Volga river, which rises in
northern Russia. alone drains an area of
more than half million square miles.
The Ural drains the mountains of that
name, an area of morel than 100000
square miles. These two rivers bring
down more water than the Danube and
the Don combined pour into the Black
sea. and on the west coast are hve great
streams. the Kuma. kur and the Terek.
which drain the Caucasus mountains; the
Arax-the Araxes of Scripture-and the
Attruk. which drains the mountains or
Armenia. pour enormous volumes of fresh
water into the Caspian, which is diluting
the original salt water to such an extent
that its specific gravity is now only a lit
tie more than one per cent. This makes
the Caspian the freshest body OF salt
water in the world For quite a distance
around the mouths of the rivers l have
named the water is only slightly brack1sh,
but on the eastern coast. which is hope
less desert, lined with bleak and barren
without living thing, the
salt deposits are enormous and the water
Is very dense.
Rapidity Of Evaporation.
You can imagine the rapidity of evap-