MURMANSK, a new town in the extreme northwest of Russia, on the Kola Peninsula and the northern terminus of the Kola-Petro grad Railroad. Situated on a sheltered, ice free harbor on the Murman Coast, the town has sprung into existence and importance during the European War. In appearance it resembles a Klondike mining camp; its position, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, gives it a severe winter temperature of below zero. The population, stated to be about 7,000 (1918), live in roughly-built frame shacks and are largely composed of refugees from Finland as well as Russia. With the defection of Russia as an active participant in the war, the Allies ceased using Archangel as a port for unloading pro visions and war materials and as the only line of communication with the former Russian government. To this circumstance is due the rise of Murmansk. With the spreading anarchy
promoted by the Bolsheviki and the German en croachments on Russian territory during 1917 and 1918, the town grew in importance and value as a strategical point to the Allies. In the absence of an effective government in Rus sia, the isolated position of Murmansk and its long distance from the centres of turmoil enabled the Allies to keep in unofficial communi cation with the country. According to an American correspondent, the Murmansk Bol sheviki lived on excellent terms with the Allied naval and military men, owing to the fact that they derived nearly all their supplies from British and American vessels. Money was stated to be of little value; food, shoes, cloth ing and tobacco could purchase any local product, such as furs and live reindeer. See RUSSIA ; WAR, EUROPEAN.