The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1930-12-11
BATTLE STAGED
ON MT. ARAFAT
Noah's Landing Place Is
Scene of Conflict Be-
tween Troops, Raiders.

Washington.-Mt. Ararat, Chris
.endom's most famous peak, where,
according to the Biblical narrative,
humanity had its second start, after
Noah landed his Ark, has become
the worlds most recent battlefield.
News dispatches tell of clashes on
the TANKS of Ararat between Turk
Ish forces and Kurdish raiders from
across the Persian border. The
mountain is the subject of bull
letin from the National Geographic
society.
Because of the wars of the past
century, Mt. Ararat has been a sort
Of fugitive mountain" says the bull
letin. ut has not moved as Mo-
BANNED would have his mountain
move, but its change of jurisdic-
lion has been just as effective by
the simple device Of shifting bound
airy lines.
Meeting Place of Three Empires.
Before 1878 Ararat was shared
by Turkey and Persia, with the
main peak, Greater Ararat, in
Turkish territory; and the smaller
eminence, Lesser Ararat, six miles
to the southeast, marking the Per-
sian-Turkish border. Then came a
further southern advance Of Russia
that made the Ararat mountain
mass three-way boundary mark.
From that time until the World war
the mountain marked the southern
boundary of Russia. During the
war the Muscovite line surged back
and forth over Ararat, only the
Persian border remaining fixed.
"The treaty of Sevres, signed in
1920, which attempted to fix the
status Of Turkey and adjoining ter
ritories, created an Armenian re-
public which included Ararat and
pushed the Turkish boundary ap-
proximately 100 miles to the south.
But the same year the Turks pushed
the boundary back even beyond the
point established in 1878, placing
Greater Ararat entirely under Turk
ish sovereignty. This has been the
status of the mountain since that
time.
"Ararat, capped with eternal
snow, has certain austere beauty
from a distance; but on close in
spection it discloses little to endear
it to beholder as mother of the
world as Armenians have called
it. Owing to its peculiar porous
structure the water from its melting
snow is swallowed up and does not
produce a rill or torrent to water
the lower slopes and nearby plains.
This is in striking contrast to other
mountains of the general region.
Once Flooded; Now Arid.
"Today the slopes of Ararat are
arid. A certain amount of heritage
exists during the rainy season up
to an altitude of 1850 feet. Be-
tween that point and the snow line
at 1890 feet the peak is bare. The
total altitude of Greater Ararat is
1890 feet, and that of Lesser Ara
rat, 1850 feet. Sheep Craze on
the lower slopes during the moist
season, but when the dry season
sets In and the sun beats down
glaringly, everything is parched and
the mountain becomes uninhabit-
able. Even the birds leave.
"Ararat is difficult to climb and
for ages the ArD1enians asserted
that it was systematically guarded
to prevent any man from gaining it's
summit. When it was first scaled
in 1929 by Parrot, the Armenians
insisted that he was lying. A num-
Der of mountain climbers have since
reached the top, and in 1850 Rus
sian engineer passed five days there
making triangulation observations.
"The mountain Is volcanic and
had an eruption Of considerable
magnitude in 1910 from an old era
ter on the side. The village Of Ar
guri with 1000 inhabitants, on the
lOWcol olOpcS, was uCoilOyCu. l. uc
Armenians looked upon Arguri as
the oldest village in the world as
serting that 1t was founded when
Noah planted a grape vine there.
Vines did not find their first rest
Ing place over-hospitable. In the VI
cinity of Ararat they must be buried
each winter to protect them from
the extreme cold.
"The name Ararat, supposedly of
Armenian origin, means 'superemi-
nence.' To the Armenians the
mountain is Masis, meaning sub
lime The Turkish name Is Agri-
dagh, or steep mountain The Per-
slams alone bear out the Hebraic
and Christian tradition. To them
the peak is Koh-i-Nuh, 'Noah's
Mount"