The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-10-10

~ SOdCr AhN
many, with the aid Of Fin
land, has been trying to seize,
is a part of Russian Lapland,
being the coast of what Is known as
the Kola peninsula.
The origin of the name Thurman
is doubtful, but It is probable that
II Is a corruption of Norman a.. e.,
Norwegian) the district being adJa-
cent to Norway. The Russian custom
is to change the capital N of a bor-
rowed word into M, so that Norman"
would naturally become in RUSSIAN
"Morman' or Thurman" The NUT
man coast is Of immense Importance
To Russia, since 1t contains an excel
lent harbor which is free from Ice all
the year round-the deep inlet usually
called the Gulf of Kola, but now fire.
quently termed the Gulf of Murman.
The region has definitely belonged
to Russia for some five centuries,
and 1t Is extraordinary that no at
tempt was long made to utilize 1t for
commercial purposes. 1t was, OF course,
very remote from the then center OF
Russia at Moscow, and the difficulties
of communication in a virgin country,
even now devoid of roads, probably
deferred poverty-stricken and slowly
progressing Russia from opening a
route to 1t. 1t also lay close to the
Swedish frontier (the Swedish empire
included Finland up to 1S09), and the
district was frequently raided by
Swedish brigands and guerrillas. In
1888 the missionary Metrofan est. Try
phon) founded the famous n
terry Petchenga; but In 1890, seven
years after his death, this outpost OF
civilization was sacked by the
Swedes and its occupants massacred
to the accompaniment of fiendish tor
lures. The anarchy Of Russia during
the early seventeenth century prevent
ed ~colonizing efforts. For centuries
Russia was content with Archangel,
ieebound for half the year, as her
single outlet to the north and In the
nineteenth century large sums were
expended upon the Improvement OF
that unsatisfactory port, while the Ice
free Thurman coast was neglected.
Murmap Railway to AIexandrovsk.
This state of things lasted until
the beginning Of the twentieth century,
when a naval station was tardily In
stalled at Ekaterina harbor, q bay at
the mouth os the Gulf Of Kola. A rail-
way to connect this single ice-free
Russian port with Petrograd was pro-
jected, but, in the usual dilatory Rus
sian fashion, remained a project until
the early part of 1915. Then the
closing OF the entrances to the Baltic
and the Black sea, and the consequent
isolation Of Russia, awakened the al
lies to the necessity Of utilizing the
port, and with feverish energy the rail-
way was pushed forward across the
700 mf,ss Of wild and desolate coun-
try-forest. lake, mountain. and snowy
steppe-which lie between Petrograd
and Kola. Thousands Of workmen
were levied to construct It, and in
little more than a year communication
was established. But the mortality
among the workmen was enormous. as
was unhappiIy too frequently the case
with the gigantic engineering feats
which excited our admiration In
Russia.
The railway runs through Kola, at
the head Of the gull, and terminates
at Romanov or Murmansk, some dis
lance further on. This place was In
1914 a small fishing hamlet, but has
by now grown into a place Of some
5000 Inhabitants. In the present cha
otto state Of Russian administration
II Is governed by seven distinct coun
ellis or boards, Of which the principal
one, the regional council, exercises a
general supervision over the town and
the province. This council is stated
as being friendly In feeling towards
the allies. The place Is. indeed. p2ac-
ticaIIy dependent for food md other
necessaries upon supplies furnished
by the allies by sea; and this vital
fact doubtless Influences the govern
Ing body.
Life In this outpost Is curiously ar
tificlal. There are no shops or no
tells; the councils distribute food and
assign lodgings to new arrivals. The
cost of living Is low. but hopsefoom
e csscely ahtainahle- Wages are
enormously hfgh-1.O00 rubles q month
for locomotive drivers, 600 for ordi-
nary workmen. SO for dock laborers.