Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-08-23
IRON DISCOVERED
IN RUSSIAN STATE
KurSk Attracts Attention OF
World Through Rich
Ore Deposits. -.

Discovery of rich iron ore deposits
in Kursk, Russia. may have an un-
expected political significance, dis
patches indicate.
While the soviet government
calmly announces the mines will not
be worked for two years. central Eu-
ropean nations turn a wistfui eye to-
ward a source of raw material they
sorely need. e.
1.-The fruits of Kursk. especially it's
apples. are as famous throughout Rus
STA as Florida grapefruit or Califor.
MIA oranges in the United States.
says a bulletin from the headquarters
of the National Geographic Society.
Fertile kursk lies in the famous
black earth belt, which has been the
Sranary of Europe since the days OF
Athens glory until now. when its
produce provides the soviet govern
ment another. trading argument for
establishing commercial relations
with hungry central powers.
Located. for the most part. on the
southern slope of middle Russia's GEN.
trail plateau, the government, or prov
fnce, Is SCARED by many ravines and
traversed by more than 400 streams,
none of them navigable to any val
liable extent. Though crops of wheat.
potatoes, sugar beets and fruits cover
q large percentage or its area. Its
crowded population. even in normal
times. found living hard. Many emf
grated to Siberia and some summers
100000 or more workers would go to
contiguous governments to find work.
The town of kurSk is located pic
turesquely on two hills. the sides of
which are blanketed with orchards.
One must change his mental picture
OF city or town in considering this
part of Russia, for here settlements
plifies the custom of scattering
groups of matched cottages over a
considerable area. frequently with
streets poorly defined and unpaved,
and large waste stretches intervene
among these communities.
The railroad station is nearly four
miles from the city. From the sta
ton where one alights amid a monot-
onous plain, he jounces along cob
blestone road 70 an Indifferent hotel.
On the way Is a stream where scores
of women are beating dirt out of
clothes, a portent of cleanliness not
wholly borne out in many sections
of the city.
The Russian retail custom of a
market for each commodity prevails
one for pork, another for horses a
third for vegetables-and the WISH
tors sympathy goes out. even though
he knows IT is not warranted. for the
peasant marketmen in sheepskin
coats of many patches, with the wool
inside.
Smaller villages south Of Kursk
are struggling communities, where
the barn alongside the road often is
the most conspicuous building of d
family establishment. a tiny house,
where family and domesticated ami
mails huddle about a common fire
place in winter. is set in the far cor
ner of the ramshackle group. If the
home is a pretentious one the house
has a chimney.
Where orchards do not border the
city of kursk, there are wods and
these are famous for their nightin-
gales. The city was the birthplace
of Theodosius. saint greatly ven
Grated by the Russians. 1t is the old :
est city in this region. dating back
to the eleventh century. In 1910
Mongols destroyed it, and its later
defense against the. Turks is COM
memorated in an epic of early Rus
sian literature, The Triumph of
Igor
I'm 1919 Denikin captured Kursk.
a victory which marked the apex of
his successes. 1t is $40 miles south
west of Moscow. Its name is a relic
of Cossack conquest. Their practice
of building dwellings around a court
or 'kur' led to calling the city and the
region around it. Kursk, which
maanS 'parfaininp n the court -,