Near here are radio active wells, believed to be the only known 

 possible source of uranium in the Soviet Arctic. To the east at 

 Nordvik another rich oil field has been discovered. 



In the Kola Peninsula, titanium and vanadium are being re- 

 covered from the iron-ores. Some low-grade nickel ores have been 

 found. At Petsamo, which formerly belonged to Finland, nickel 

 deposits have been mined for many years. 



Deposits of alluvial or placer gold are found along many of the 

 rivers of the northeast. Along the Indigirka and Kolyma these 

 deposits are being worked. To provide an outlet for this produc- 

 tion a road has been built to Nagaeva on the Sea of Okhotsk. 



Vital to the agricultural development of the Soviet Union is a 

 supply of phosphates. The discovery in 1926 of a huge mountain 

 of apatite, a calcium phosphate, on the Kola Peninsula, is provid- 

 ing an abundant and continuing supply. A center of this produc- 

 tion is at Kirovsk. 



The coniferous forests support a vast timber industry. The 

 forests of the northwest are the most productive, but Siberian 

 forests are also being exploited. Together with the sawmills, 

 wood-chemical combines have been established as at Archangel. 

 These produce newsprint, wallpaper and wall board. 



The industries that have been created in the Soviet northlands 

 have made it necessary to develop agriculture in these areas to 

 provide food for the thousands of people who work in the mines, 

 quarries, mills and ports. Before the introduction of this new 

 economy, the tundra was the home of small bands of nomadic 

 people subsisting by hunting, fishing, and herding reindeer. They 

 migrated south in the winter to the edge of the forests and moved 

 north again in the summer. The Soviet Government now controls 

 the movement of these peoples and the herding of the reindeer 

 in an attempt to prevent misuse of the grazing gi'ounds and to 

 convert the people to a sedentary life. With government help, 

 settlements have been established to grow fodder crops in the river 

 valleys. At Tiksi, Norilsk, and Dudinka are grown fields of cab- 

 bage and potatoes, as well as beets, lettuce, radishes, and tobacco. 

 Some barley, oats, and spring wheat are produced and cattle, pigs, 

 rabbits, and poultry are kept. Hothouses are used to grow the 

 fresh vegetables. These, and the sheds for the animals, are elec- 

 trically heated and lighted. Electricity is also used to heat the 

 soil for the less hardy plants. Although production is small and 

 the methods are complicated, supplies of fresh vegetables and milk 

 are provided locally for each major settlement. 



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