Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-01-30
SIBERIA AS SEEN BY
A MONTPELIER BOY
Dsplorable Conditions Existing IN Russia Graph
icaly Described by Forrest Stuart in Sec
ond InStaifment Of His Article.

Pacific coast. and runs north to Mix
Ulsk, "a distance of 103 versts, or 6S
miles. There the railroad branches
into two single track lines; one con-
tinues north 407 miles, to Khabar-
oslz. then turns west and follows the
i Ussure and Amur rivers to Karin
Iskaya. The other branch runs west
Ierly across Manchuria and joins the
lfffst at Karimskaya, 1853 miles from
vladivostok. From this point the
road is double tracked and runs by.
i the southern end Of Lake Baikal,
through Irkutsk, to Omsk. At Omsk
l the route again divides into two sin
4 gle track lines, one OF which leads to
Moscow and the other to Petrograd.
Many branch lines run from the main
tline'bothlnorth ana south. A branch
of the Chinese Eastern comes up
fromathe south and forms junction
with the Trans-Siberian at Harbin,
Manchuria.
The country lying between vladi-
vostok and Harbin represents parts
tof North Dakota, Montana or Cana
da, being rough and hilly, and tim
bered with scrub oak, birch and 9TH
er kinds of small, hardy trees. The
i soil appears to be fertile and through
the application of up-to-date methods
much of it, no doubt. could be made
to produce abundant crops of dry
farm wheat. Here and there are
| patches cultivated, but only in
crude, primitive way. Apparently
the natives do not care to raise more
than enough grain for their own
needs. Some of the hills between
vladivostok and Pogranichnaya at
tain heighth of about 1000 feet.
The railroad ascends these by a ser
les of sharp curves and tunnels. The
rolling stock used on this line is
mot the best in the world, most of
1t having seen better days, and most
of the engines are small, wood-burn-
ing things. When they do reach
the top and start down the other
side, weli-they go! Only one car
out of about five is equipped with
brake, SO that while coming down
one of those hills, through those tun-
nels and around those curves, about
all passenger can do is to cling
on to his seat and place his trust in
Providence. The expectation that the
whole train may at any moment jump
1.-THE rails and pile up inside tunnel
or roll down the aides of hill into
the valley below is rendered even
more poigant by the realization Of
the fact that you are travelling thru
part of the country infested with
organized bands of bandits who call
themselves Bolsheviks. At irregular
times within the past year these ban
dts have dynamited the track at diff
ferent places in this section and on
one or two occasions have blown up a
1 a train. Some OF the stunts they
pull off would make good stuff for
the movies. A few weeks ago at
a certain point up the line, guarded
by three of our doughboys and two
Russian soldiers, some strange men
lswooped down out OF the hills. Some
Zone yelled, sBolsheyiksl" The three
doughboys jumped ON a switch engine
and opened her up full speed ahead.
The two Russian soldiers who were
hardly fast enough to catch the en-
gine before 1t got away fell into the
fhands of the raiders. They were
Istripped of their caps, coats and their
underwear. Near this place some
Reds" made a raid on a station,
robbed the cashier. mussed up the
furniture. and cut the telegraph
wires. A member of my corps was
on the premises at the time. One
of the raiders walked mp to him and
said, II am going to kill you" Our
man suggested that they talk the
matter over first. The other assent
led. A few minutes later the two
parted without having any hard feel
ings toward each other.
| About thirty miles north of vlad-
ivostok two U. 8. Infantry officers
were out for load Of wood. As they
were returning to camp. rs strange
men suddenly appeared, leveled their
rifles at the Americans and said:
We're Bolsheviks-don't It shoot. The
Americans didn't shoot. They were
informed that they were prisoners,
butswere treated courteousIy. They
we're taken to headquarters, where
they dined and chatted with the chief
who could speak German, as could
one Of the officers. The chief, too,
was very friendly. To his question as
to whether America was In sympa-
thy with the BoIsheviki he received
the reply that the policy Of the Unit
ed States was one Of strict neutrality
and that our men are in Russia for
Ionly one purpose-that Of helping the
Russian people help themselves. The