The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-05-14

these paths which Russian dreameri
hoped would some day lead their EN-.
pire still farther south.
The Russians even defled 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
legs, 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
outpost of Russia is not known to the
outside world.
Divide the Waters of Asia.
Though strictly on a basis Of aver
age altitude and highest peaks the
Pamir region may not reserve its pic
turesque second name, Roof of the
World" to the extent that Tibet
would, from one point Of view it fits
well. For just as a 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
Tarim eastward toward China to the |
Lop Nor.
While the southern end Of Fer
CANA is 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
kStan GASES before the World war
was greater than that Of India OF
Egypt and second only to that Of the
United States.
In Fergana and Its neighboring
countries of central Asia there was
very early development
Of civilization, even though they may
not have been, as some students have
asserted, the cradle of the human
race. And probably there the art OF
irrigation was practced as early as
anywhere In the world.
Like all other regions of central
Asia Fergana felt the heel of Ghengis
Kahn and Tamerlane. 1t Was overrun
too, from the Chinese Turkestan which
lies against it to the east. When
rose to power, it was
by the Arabs and its people
have since been followers of the
prophet.
Russian dominion came slowly t.
Nergana, then the Khanate of kokan
After the more western portions OF
he Transcaspian region and Turkestar c
had fallen, Russian arms finally con c
luered the warlike Tekke Turkomans f
VINO blocked the way to Fergana's Ter t
lie valleys. 1t was not until $50; I
hat the slow-moving Slavic glacte h
lad engulfed the southern territory o 7
he old Khanate. s
With the Russians came organizin. Il
lbility, development, railroads. pros
1erity, and a smatterlng at least OF
Western civilization. To the rail heat
It Andijan, aimed at the heart o,
ASIA, ran the modern expresses from
'etrograd, with their sleeping car, Z
md spotless diners. And few milel u
south began the military roads tina
ost themselves In the mysterious
'amirs.
The Bolshevists at first lost contro e
# Fergana as Of many of its neigh il
,oring regions. But by force Of ARM
md diplomacy they have won it bacl a
lfter a fashion. :,
II Russian power has a renascenc ;,
n Asia either by domination O. :,
through leadership Fergana can hard =.
v escape assuming Its old importanc, u
IS source of raw material for Mos @
ow's cotton factories and as a watcl Il
over and listening post over agains W
he Indian and Chinese frontiers