Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-17
THE WAR PRIMER
By National Geographic Society

Semenowa.-"A railroad fartherest
north, tapping the polar seas beyond
Archangel, its whole length running
through a region of intense winter
cold, is one of the most important con-
structive results of this destructive
world war;" says a statement just pre-
pared by the National Geographic So
ciety at Washington. Stimulated by
an imperative war necessity for Il port
nearer the west and the long battle
lines than VladiVostok, this new rail-
way has been driven north with the
same fierce energy as that called forth
by the dash for enemy positions.
Firms, Laps, Russians, alike, have
labored unremittingly to fasten a per-
manent way of steel between Perograd
and Semenowa, the latter city far be-
yond the arctic circle, on the northern
shore of Finland, near Norwegian
Nord Kap. Work upon the new line
began a few months after the out
break of the war, and it has been
pushed feverishly as a means of over
reaching the blockade by land and sea
that isolates Russia in the west.
The undertaking required the build
ing of more than $50 miles of railroad
through an unfavorable country. in
many places water soaked, crossed by
low banked rivers, filled with count
less lakes, large and small, and,
through a great part of the year, froz-
en- numb and buried under feet Of
snow. Construction has gone forward
from the north and from the SOUTH
but there still remains a considerable
middle section to be laid before the
completion of the project.
: The arctic railroad runs east from
Petrograd around Lake Ladoga, where
it turns poleward and whence 1t holds
a nothern course until it reaches the
harbor at its terminus upon the polar
sea. Here on the bleak Thurman coast
deadened by months of cold and
cheered by a briefest summer an up
to-date harbor is being built and the
works of a great northernmost naval
base are being rapidly carried forward.
Semenowa, kola and Alexandrowsk-
places that the world has never
thought to remember before-are now
enjoying an arctic war boom.
"Semenowa was a small collection
of fishermen's hutS before the war, ap-
parently too far out of the world ever
harbor improvements and a splendidly
1rnproVised future has surprised the
place. Senenowa tomorrow seems in
the way of becoming a thriving, much
mentioned port city. 1t may not be
the warm water port that the Musco-
vite has been steadily demanding
through all the years of his empire
but, nevertheless, it is a port on ice
free water; for navigation finds an
open way usually around Nord Hap
AOI SSN6tdl SCOIG ulll6S GOWN the nOrTn-
ern coast.
The building of this new port, Civ
ing Russia city on open, western
water, the construction of the new
railway into the heart of the north,
and the building of a naval station
here beyond the domination of any
rival power, form, together, by far the
most important constructive effort of
the whole war to date"
"Sheerness is the pivot point in the
English blockade of the North Sea and
control of all the channel waters" &C
cord1ng to war geography sketch
just given out by the National Geo
graphic Society. This port, situated
behind a powerful shelter of fortiflca-
ton on the southern shore of the
Thames estuary, is the strategic nerve
center of the great English war fleet.
as regards its campaign in West
european waters. Portsmouth, it is
true, is the first naval port and arsenal
of. Britain, and the threads directing
war upon the seas run from this port
to every quarter of the world How
ever, it is at Sheerness, and neigh
boring Chatham, that the battleships,
destroyers, scout cruisers and torpe-
90 boats have their base for the pa
trolling of channel waters, for the
closing of the seas to the north, and
for guarding the troop and munitions
communlcations from Dover and
Brighton to Calais and Boulogne.
The garrison town and seaport are
situated on the Isle of Sheppcy, where
the Midway estuary joins with the
Thames, 81 miles east of London, and
Joined with the metropolis by the
Southeastern and Chatham Railway.
Thrown around the port are a chain of
formidable modern Notifications, op-
posing such armament as would make
attack by an enemy fleet almost i'm
possible. There are also extensive
barracks here, and acres of warehouse
space piled high with naval stores.
residences for the admiral of the
home fleet and other naval officers
constitute the most important part of
the city.
THE dockyard of Sheerness, equip
ped for the carrying out of all kinds
or naval repairs, covers about go acres,
including three basins and large mod
ern docks. The harbor is a spacious
and excellent one. Sheerness is prim-
arily war harbor, with little import
ance as a place of trade. 1t has fallen
once before the attack of a hostile
fleet, but that was before the days of
formidable ordnance, when the Dutch
admiral De Ruyter captured the fort
of Charles II at Sheerness on July 10,
1857. It is unthinkable that De Ruy-
ter's achievement could be repeated to-
day in the face Of the towns mighty
up-to- date defenses."
ErOHa Aba