Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1910-03-26
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--Whsn the
Wind Blows, Half 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 either
the north or the south pole. but 1t Is
not 1t is village in the northeast Of
Siberia named verhoyansk-
There the average temperature Of
the three worst winter months Is SO
degrees r. below zero. which mearS
IS degrees of frost During January
the average temperature Is SO degrees
below zero. or SO degrees of frost. Co
one occasion the thermometer regis
tered the remarkable figure Of 120 de
grees of frostl The average January
figure for London. on the other hand.
is Z 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 warmest months.
Even in midsummer the forests
which surround the desolate plain In
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 or poultry. All
food is imported. Why. then. does this
little village exist? It is convict sta
ton, and its population of 400 is made
up Of officials and exiles.
No precautions against escapes are
needed. Prisoners are known to have
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 A 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 30
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 wind once rise and things
are different AS verhoyansk is the
coolest place in the world. the few
winds that come must bring warmth
But then all winds carry moisture
And so we have the curious fact that.
though one may be quite comfortable
grees of frost If wind springs up
and adds 20 or 80 degrees of warmth
TO the air one has TO fly for dear
life to shelter
Half an hour in that fierce. biting
cold means death But the intense |
dry cold that is verhoyansk's normal |
weather is. If not so dangerous. quite !
as powerful in its effects. In that icy |
Stiffness an iron AK head dropped on
the ground smashes like glass. A
board of unseasoned wood. on the
other hand. freezes hard as iron.
De Windt In his travels III this re
gioD carried his milk in solid cubes
In net attached to his sleigh. His
all burst. for at the
Verhoyansk temperatures quicksilver
freezes and can be hammered like
copper. 1t has indeed been turned into
bullets and shot through deal board.
All he could find Of case Of claret
were few Jumps of red ice and some
splintered glass; But what troubled
him most was the discovery that it
was impossible to smoke. At 40 de-
yrees below zero frozen nicotine blocks
he stem of the pipe. while cigarettes
,r cigars freeze to the lips.
1t must be embarrassing to find. as
,ne does when the thermometer reach
IS so below, that ones very breath
'alls at ones feet in fine white pow.
Ter. A mustache becomes a tori e.
/ heavy, solid lump of ice. To lay a
pare hand on metal means that the
kin will stay where it touches. A
'areless traveller once witlessly left a
hirt outside his hut to dry. When he
licked it up again it bent and almost
,roke. When swung through the air
t made a noise like theatrical thun-
Ter.
At these temperatures many usually
rusty articles, such as combs and
azors and knife handles. shrivel or
'end or break.
verhoyansk is a huddle Of mud plas-
cred huts along one struggling street
The windows are Of ice. so that can
les are needed both summer and win
er. Twenty miles away, across a dis
nal plain Of snow, lies a low. black
me Of pine forests.
On the other side is the frozen river.
rom which dense, unhealthy mists
oil up for weeks together In the au-
1mn. There are not flowers In spring,
nd summer is dingy. Perhaps they
re right at verhoyansk In looking
onward to the long months Of winter
Tut 1t Is not cheerful place.-Pear-
pms Weekly.