The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-02-13
A Square in kokand, Fergana.

these paths which Russian dreamer
hoped would some day lead their EN-
, pire still farther south.
The Russians even def1ed the gen
eral belief that permanent habitations
could not be established In the Pamirs
especially by people Of the lowlands
In one of the mountain hemmed val.
leys, in the very heart of the Pamirs,
and along their military road, they
built the fort Of Murghabi and gar
risoned 1t with several hundred SOL
dlers, mostly COssacks. During the
last twenty years Of the Russian en-
pire this highest of Russian military
posts was maintained without break.
Whether 1t constituted a practical
threat at British India Is problemati-
cal in view Of the roadless gorges and
peaks to the south but it served at
least to keep alive enmity and intrigue
between the two great empires until
they ranged themselves side by side
in the World war. Soviet Russia has
not stripped off the veil of mystery
from the Pamirs, and whether they
still garrison this far southeastern
outpost Of Russia is not known to the
outside world.
Divide the Waters of Asia.
Though strictly on basis of aver.
age altitude and highest peaks the
Parhir region may not reserve its pic
turesque second name, Roof of the
Il Al
would, from one point of view it fits
well. For just as pointed roof-peak
sends the waters that fall on it flow
ing off on every side, so the Pamirs
divide important waters Of Asia. From
the same group Of glaciers at the |
meeting point of India, Afghanistan
and China begin headstreams that |
flow through the famous Oxus west
ward to the Aral sea, the Indus south
ward to the Indian ocean, and the !!
Tarim eastward toward China to the
Lop Nor.
While the southern end of Fer
CANA is a country of rugged mountains
and plateaus, the fertile valleys of its
northern end constitute a central
Asian Eden. Snow-fed rills and rivers,
always fullest in the warm growing
season, were led out over fertile
plains until they died in the sands
but in the dying they made northern
Fergana a garden spot Of grains and
fruits, and after the Russians came,
of precious cotton. The cotton pro
duced in these and neighboring Tur
AStan GASES before the World war
was greater than that of India OF l
Egypt and second only to that Of the [
United States. {
In Fergana and its neighbcrine I
Countries of central Asia there was !
a very early development '
Of civilization, even though they may {
not have been, as some students have f
asserted, the cradle of the human T
race. And probably there the art OF
irrigation was practiced as early as
anywhere in the world.
Like all other regions Of central L
Asia Fergana felt the nee! of Gheng's
Kahn and Tamerlane. 1t Was overrun /
90, from the Chinese Turkestan which h
les against it to the east. When n
1ohammedanism rose to power, it was T
conquered by the Arabs and it's people II
AVE since been followers of the G.
,rophet. d
Russian dominion came slowly ts 1.
ergana then the Khanate Of Kokan
Ifter the more western portions OF
he Transcaspian region and Turbestar -
ad fallen, Russian arms finally con :.
uered the warlike Tekke Turkomans 6:
mo blocked the way to Fergana's Ter =,
lie valleys. 1t was not until 1885, -.
nat the slow-moving Slavic glacie =,
ad engulfed the southern territory OF ~, r
he old Khanate.
With the Russians came organizin. -
bility, development, railroads. pros
Gritty, and a smattNring at least Of
estern civilization. To the rail heat
t Andijan, aimed at the heart o. CT
STA, ran the modern expresses fron of
with their sleeping carr co
nd spotless diners. And a few miles to
,uth began the military roads tina
st themselves In the mysterious
amirs.
The Bolshevists at first lost contro es
; Fergana as Of many of its neigh IN
)ring regions. But by force of ARM
I'd diplomacy they have won it bacl -,
ter a fashion. OH
If Russian power has renascenc an
Asia either by domination O. rel
rough leadership Fergana can hard tin
escape assuming its old importance the
a source of raw material for Mos ce,
WIS cotton factories and as a waite! fee
wer and listening post over agains wo
e Indian and Chinese frontiers