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The National Geographic Magazine 



north it takes the form of a prodigious 

 plain, which descends gradually to the 

 Arctic. Plain and plateau are alike 

 north of the fiftieth degree north lati- 

 tude — that is to say, that its most south- 

 ern points, except along the Amur and 

 the Usuri and in west Siberia, are farther 

 north than any locality in the United 

 States. Its Cape Chelyuskin, in 77° 36' 

 north latitude, reaches nearer to the 

 Pole than anj^ other continental spur of 

 land in either hemisphere. Shut in by 

 mountains from the Pacific and the 

 south, Siberia is open and without pro- 

 tection to the winds from the Arctic. 

 So, scattered over its surface, are tracts 

 unsurpassed in intensity of cold. In 

 this regard Verhoyansk has the preem- 

 inence. Its average temperature dur- 

 ing the three winter months is — 53° 

 Fahrenheit, while sometimes an extreme 

 of — 90° is reached. Its average annual 

 temperature is only two degrees above 

 zero ; yet even there human beings cling 

 like the moss and lichens and manage to 

 exist the whole year through. The 

 trend of land gives a northern direction 

 to the masses of water— the Obi, the 

 Yenisei, the Tena, and their tributaries — 

 which we call rivers and which for 

 months through much of their course 

 are frozen rather than flowing seas. 



THE ZONES 



The 4,900,000 square miles of terri- 

 tory naturally divide into three roughly 

 parallel zones. North of an imaginary 

 line, in general coinciding with the sixty- 

 ninth parallel, is the zone of the tundra. 

 Here are comprised about 1,600,000 

 square miles. In a part of this terri- 

 tory the ground is frozen throughout 

 the year, in winter to the depth of 40 

 feet, yet something like 100,000 human 

 beings know no other home than the 

 tundra. Between the sixty-ninth and 

 sixtieth parallels is the forest zone, cov- 

 ering an extent of about 2 , 320,000 square 

 miles and containing a population of less 



than 1,000,000. The supply of timber 

 is practically exhausted. Its fur-bear- 

 ing animals render it above any other 

 part of the globe the land of the fur 

 hunter. Its broad rivers are packed 

 with fish. Its wealth of minerals and 

 metals is accessible in the very surface 

 of the ground. South of the sixtieth 

 parallel is the zone of arable land, em- 

 bracing about 900,000 square miles in 

 a belt nearly 4,000 miles long and froni 

 250 to 300 miles wide. This is the 

 Siberia which today counts the most. 

 It is the part now being brought into 

 intimate connection with the rest of the 

 world. The prime requisite for its de- 

 velopment has been inhabitants, and 

 then means of communication and trans- 

 portation. Beside unequalled capacitj^ 

 for the production of cereals, it is dotted 

 all over with great deposits of coal, iron, 

 gold, and the most useful and valuable 

 minerals and metals. The word Altai 

 means golden. 



COLONIZATION 



But in the mind of the Russian, no 

 less than of the foreigner, Siberia up to 

 a few years ago has meant only suffering 

 and exile. It seemed set apart by God 

 and the Tsar as the prison-house of the 

 outlaw and the felon. In 1899 ^ ukase 

 of Nicholas II forbade the entry here- 

 after of convicts and suspected persons, 

 and thus ended its woeful old-time mis- 

 sion forever. » 



From the dawn of creation up to the 

 present time Siberia has been waiting 

 even as North America waited through 

 the ages for the states that were to arise 

 within its boundaries. In 1888 its real 

 colonization began when 26,000 immi- 

 grants crossed its frontiers. Then 30,000 

 came in 1889, 36,000 in 1890, 60,000 in 

 1891, 100,000 each year from 1892 to 

 1896, then 150,000, 200,000, and now 

 more than 250,000 annuall5^ While ex- 

 cluding undesirable persons, the govern- 

 ment adopts generous measures toward 



