El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-03-19
ArchangeI Very
Far North And
Ve7yC0H Place
Geographical Society De
scribes Place Where the
Yanks Are Fighting.

/ Washington. D. c., March 19.-Arch-
angel Russia, where a joint allied and
American expeditionary force has been
IN conflict with Bolshevik troops. is
/ described IN a bulletin OF the National
Geographic society, issued from its
Washington headquarters.
The city OF Archangel. where allied
and American troops have their head
quarters. was the capital Of the Arch
j angel province. or government, under
I the Tsar's regime. a vast. barren and
sparsely populated region, cut through
by the Arctic circle" the bulletin says.
West and east. the distance across
the Archangei district is about that
from London to Rome. from New York
to St Louis. or from Boston to
Charleston. s g. Its area. exclusive
Of interior waters. IS greater than that
Of France. italy, Belgium and Holland
combined. Yet there are not many
more people in these great stretches
than are 70 be found in Detroit, Mich,
OF san Francisco, Cal, or Washington,
D. c.
Extremely Cold.
The climate IS extremely cold. In
the northern parts the ground does
not thaW the year round The port Of
Archangel is ice bound six months Of
the year, and entirely free from ice
only three months
Arabic land in all this territory
IS less than 1900 square miles. and
three-fOurths OF that is given over TO
pasturage- The richer grazing land
supports HOlmager cattle, a breed said
to date back TO the time OF Peter the
Great, who crossed native herds with
cattle from Holland
Rocky, barren plains stretch south
- a-saH n4r-n Al saeH -H#
swamps and marshes TO the east. and
more plains and lakes to the south
west form about half the province,
while a third more is overgrown with
forests There also are tundras. COW
cred with hchens, where reindeer find
A Real Old One.
About so miles from the mouth Of
the Dvina river, which affords an out
let TO the White Sea lies the city
OF ArchangeL Norsemen came TO that
port IN the tenth century for trading
One expedition was described by Al
fred the Great But first contact with
the outside world was established in
the 18th century when Sir Richard
Chancellor, an English sailor, stopped
at the bleak haven while attempting
a northeast passage to India Ivan
the Terrible summoned him to Moscow
and made his visit the occasion for
furthering commercial relations with
langland- Thirty years after the En-
glishman's visit q town was estab- :
lished and for the next hundred years
It was the MuscOvite Kingdoms only
seaport, chief doorway for trade with
England and Holland.
when Peter the Great established
st. Petersburg as his new capital much I
trade was diverted to the Baltic. but
Archangel was compensated BY desig- l
nation as the capital OF the Archangel /
government Boris GodunOv threw /
trade open to all nations and in the /
18th century Tartar prisoners were set ]
to work building a large bazaar and 1
trading hall Despite It's isolation the 4
city thus became a cosmopolitan cen
ter and up to the time OF the world 4
war Norwegian. German. British. I
Swedish and Danish cargo vessels !
came IN large numbers
On way to Shrine.
Every June thousands OF pilgrims
would pass through Archangel on their
way TO the famous far north shrine,
monastery. situated on an
Island a little more than half a days 1
boat journey from Archangel
The city acquired its name from
he convent OF Archangel Michael. In 4
the Troitzki cathedral. with its five
ZONES. is a wooden cross, IA feet high,
carved by the versatile Peter the
Great, who learned the use of mallet
and chisel while working as a ship
wright in Holland after he assembled
the throne"