The sun., 1918-08-11
TwoRailroads Partly
Held by Entente
Bolsheviki Hostile to
Essential Occupation

meant into BolShcvlk) lands. Inc poPu-
lation of the province of Archangel Is
sparse, but has been for a year IN dire
straits US TO food, rome of which has been
forthcoming from southern Russia.
After the landing at kola German
propaganuists busted themselves with IN
terpreting it to their purposes among the
Firms Their story was that the British
designed to use Kola as a base FOR move
against Finland, and their object was to
incite the Firms TO menace the northern
ports, especially Arehangel. in the event
of that port being occupied by the Allies.
At present the railroad to Petrograd
and the munition stores at koia are Sc
cured against the Germans by the naval
forces landed.
Varied Terrain on Peninsula.
The Kola peninsula OF Lapland IS
heavily forested, with a steep and rocky
coast. Eastward from the White Sea the
coast changes character, high ground
giving place to a lttorai of tundra and
frozen marsh Still further cast, toward
the northernmoSt Urals and the Siberian
boundary, is another mountainous and
forested coastal region.
The climate of the low central region,
including the shores of the White Sea and
Archangel, is more severe than either
east or westward, although Arehangel Ii
much further south, and south of the
Arctic Circle. That part of the province
is described as q bleak and melancholy
country, where the peasants only pleas
= ures are bathing, getting drunk and
going to church. The amount of bathing
he does is surprising, and he has the con-
stitution to Withstand a primitive Russian
steam bath Immediately followed by a
snow bath.
He gets his living by fur trapping, fish
ing (including caviar fsheries} and some
crude agriculture anu unsystematic lum-
bering. The forests southwark are Rus
sia's great timber reserve, but they are
virtually untouched, although the inhabi-
tants use wood lavishly and wastefully.
The port of Archangel is free of ice
from July to September, but the use Of
powerful ice breaking steamships has ex-
tended the season considerably. A num-
Der of these were added to the equipment
of the port after the war jumped its
growth and commerce The two largest
in the world were in use there until 1917,
when one was reported destroyed, with
presumption of German agency
Open From June Until January.
Given such ice breakers, Archangel and
the White Sea have been kept open to
shipping from June well into January.
1t is said that the period from February
through April will always be one of I'M
passable Ice.
The war boom added thirty-fve new
piers and 4 hundred warehouses to the
ports commercial facilities For inland
commerce Archangei, besides the railroad
has TIE enormous natural advantage of
converglng system of waterways by which
most of the important cities Of central and
western Russia can be reached Arch
angel itself is by far the largest city of the
north; its population in 1911 was esti-
mated at 35,4l4. 1t is called the Vladivos-
tok of European Russia.
The history of the port goes back to
1853, when Chancellor, an English ex-
plorer seeking the Northwest Passage
eastward, touched there. In 1884 fort
was built there by the Russians, to which
was presently added an English trading
factory. Peter the Great worked in Arch
angels shipyards as boy. The wooden
hut where he lived is still shown to all
visitors. Archangel has fine cathedral,
begun early in the last century, mod
ern hospital and famous bazaar or
public market
The province of Archangel is bounded
on The west by'Norway and Finland, on
the east by the northern Urals and on the