THE MURMAN COAST 



331 



such a belief, for I have never been able 

 to consult a copy of his book and I rely 

 on Wieland for my information. It is 

 true that I have not seen the entire field 

 covered by this formation, but I worked 

 faithfully inspecting and photographing 

 the cones, and I find no difficulty in agree- 

 ing with Lukas that there are more than 

 So,ooo cones. 



The cones of Cappadocia were char- 

 acteristic features of the country in the 

 third millennium before Christ. History 

 and archaeology cannot trace them further, 

 because, as yet, nothing is known about 

 periods in Asia Minor more remote than 

 that; but the spade and the archaeologist 

 may soon reveal that history to a waiting 

 world. 



THE MURMAN COAST 



Arctic Gateway for American and Allied Expeditionary 

 Forces in Northern European Russia 



THE relatives and friends of 

 American troops comprising, with 

 French and British units, an ex- 

 peditionary force operating along the 

 Archangel-Vologda Railway line in north- 

 ern Russia, have an especial interest at 

 this time in the Murman Coast, which 

 has been the gateway through which have 

 passed all the munitions and supplies of 

 food and clothing for this army during 

 the winter months, when Archangel itself 

 has been closed to the shipping world by 

 a barrier of ice. 



Murmansk, the chief port of the Mur- 

 man Coast, is more than 300 miles nearer 

 the North Pole than is Archangel, but, 

 thanks to the warm waters of the Gulf 

 Stream, which temper the winds blowing 

 over it, the Kola Inlet, on which this 

 army entrepot is situated, is open to navi- 

 gation twelve months in the year. 



• Until the closing of her Baltic ports by 

 German blockade and the sealing of her 

 channel of egress to the south through 

 the Dardanelles by the alliance of Tur- 

 key with the Teutonic Powers, imperial 

 Russia had paid small heed to the great- 

 est asset of her Arctic shores — the Kola 

 Inlet, an arm of the sea penetrating deep 

 into the Murman Coast. It is true that 

 a naval base had been established in 

 Catherine Harbor, Kola Inlet, 20 years 

 ago ; but its port of Alexandrovsk, which 

 is 20 miles north of the new port of 

 Murmansk, had lain neglected and the 

 Slavs continued to depend entirely upon 

 Archangel as a commercial gateway for 

 this part of their vast domain. 



The port of Archangel, under the most 

 favorable circumstances, is closed by ice 

 to sailing vessels for six months in the 

 year, to smaller steam craft for four 

 months out of the twelve, and to the 

 largest types of ice-breaking ships for at 

 least two of the winter months. 



This interruption to commerce, owing 

 to ice floes in the Gorlo, the neck of the 

 White Sea bottle, was of small conse- 

 quence to the Slavs in the easy-going 

 pre- 1 91 4 days ; but after the tragic rout 

 of the Tsar's forces at the battle of 

 Tannenberg, in the Mazurian Lakes re- 

 gion, and the subsequent debacle on the 

 Dunajec, Russia and her Allies knew that 

 her continuance in the struggle against 

 the Prussians would depend upon an 

 ever-increasing flow of supplies and 

 munitions to the inadequately equipped 

 armies of Brusiloff, Alexieff, and the 

 Grand Duke Nicholas. 



It became evident that any "time out" 

 for the ice blockade of Archangel was 

 unthinkable, and in this emergency the 

 Murman Coast and its ice-free port was 

 to come into its own. Until that time the 

 region was almost as little known to the 

 Russian people as to the rest of the 

 world. 



THE MURMAN NOW AIDS AMERICA 



Having served Russia when that coun- 

 try was an ally of the Entente nations, 

 the Murman region today is the short 

 link in the chain which connects the 

 forces of the Allies and America with 

 their bases of supply overseas. The 



