SUBJUGATING THE DESERT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2011
• Sequence Number: 27
• Content Type: MISC

Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
L TFPC; 1E-*?L
2209615
. AT CONSTRUCT1Op1 PROxCTS Oft C =
Subjugating the Desert
1. S. SEMYONOV
hiss Winner. f nginaar, Main Turkmen Canal Proiacf
Jr YEAR AGO. on ~eMber 1 1960- fly
bistaic dadsici(n of the $ovlpt,loveram n
x pnblislsad. yro j ding. (o Lhe.pPw~rt+s:t
of M
i
T
k
l
a
n
ur
men Cana
from
.
Darya to Krasnovodsk, and for the If ga
of t e ens of I* t'arapirti b*l s I
In W~irrn TorAM nhtawi tegloh ' ar- ;
?wirer Amu Darya, add-Me western pitt of 11*
Kara Kum desert. This was a bold a std-
jestic plan for the subjugation of the sultry
deserts' of (Aifr l 41Ma: 7 3HT
For fhe 5rsf time in the history of hydre.
ehgtneeitng, Mar yfti ttnpttirnt pt fh--.
Irriigation, water sbpp , poW and ^ lima-?
port --are to be sohed rreftlv and' as
NO.
1951 60-34
Hof w-tts(arn '>rltrltia*nletan tt-ftf' eeeive
0* water *Ay need thresh tight mains,
Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
17 , Part of r L, scheme. The ' waters of the Amu
Datyya will 'iced Potntiailr, iectile vegfons
whleA nos lid +.Fchet bapegib a burning
wt; 11 avaUan thstp to its, and turn sandy
and "fine wastes Into flourishing /elda and
aocbaerdi. no pro" da iwgas tide it atloa of
I.S00100p bttirrdg of ,land. (ddely jwi
6f dot$a) and the b.i of wank
'7,100. , heefdrea of pasture land.
Ttras vlrid be azit ar aaair1y.a~0,oo0,We-
Or- -aerue as pritte0hw WIN
;Md help the sands. The industrial
I V
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1 ~ PAGE a- OF 7 PAGES
totalling One tttouuad kilolpetrep to leng014
The three hydropower plants to be built on the
canal and the river itself in eopaectios with
the dams will have an aggtegaie capadty of
100,000 kilowatts. Lastl *otor ships east
strings 61 barges wilt sail by the new water-
way through the very heart of the Kara Kwl
desert-from the Cspian Sea to the lower
reaches of the Amu Darya sad the Aral Sea.
These miracles will be w#ad by .water.
The Main Turkmen Canal- represent a
.hvu.. -broad river, 1,100 kfloattw long. It
will carry a low of 360-400 cubic meets of
water per second-as much as the Du .pet
does at Kiev in the summer months More-
over the low can be M Fatly increased
to W cubic metres pet
Where will this mass of water comae from?
1~ "VIIgs e1 Cestrai Ails"
The -Turkmen: have dreamed for centuries
of the day when the parched soil of their
country would be sated. They knew that the
waters of the Amu Darya were ample enough
to vivify and transfigure the desert.
2209615
It we were to bait down as the Kars Kim
desert teem a sufficient elevation, we should
clearly discern to the west of the Amu Darya
delta dried-up river valleys stretching to-
wards the hugit Seryksmish Depression (150
kilometres i mg. 100 Idlometres broad, and
about 100 metres leap). In some places these
valleys are choked with sand, to others they
cut deep into the soil. In the west, the Sary.
imish Depression is conneetsdi vita the
Uzboi-an old dried-up river eiatfnel excel-
lently preserved to our day with its clearly
dM shable bands, terraces of vaetOus
height, and characteristic sl iwW dapoeits.
The Usboi stretches in a sautbww tier1y direo-
item to the Caspian Sea.
It is a strange and unusual spectacle, and
one that has always attracted investigators.
The conjecture has been frequently hazarded
that in ancient times the Amu Darya lowed
through the Uzboi, and only haler turned Into
the Aral Sea. But geographical and geological
inveatIgations have show. that the Am.
Darya, like the Syr Darya and other Central
Asian rivers, emptied Into the Caspian only
In the early Quaternary period, when the Aral
--------------------------------------------------
The Amu Darya-known to the ancient Ro-
mans, Greeks, Arabs and Chinese under vari.
ous names-the Dhun, the Oxus, the
Potsu-is a powerful and peculiar river.
Because t length -and water volume.- It
Is often called the "Votg of Central Asia.'!At
rises near the borders of `China and India. In
the summits of the Pamirs, which attain an
altitude of MOO metres. Its total length is
2,500 k1lornetres. In its first thousand, kilo-
metres it flo~-s through mountains, and Is
known as the Panj. Here It serves "as a n.ltural
boundary be the Soviet Unto, and
Afghanistan. toe, it receives the Ghuad,
Bartaag, Vak?Ish,. Kairnahan, Sur Man Darya
and a number of other tibutaries.
Below the town of Termez, the Arnq Darya
eaves the mountains for the Vast desert
waste of the Kars Kum and K zf Aunt. It
transects them without receiving a a
tributary, nor any Increment tnsn stmesphe
preclpttation. wbkh is ea~tremdy scanty here.
,In fact, It loses one4 tb of Its water, owtog to
evaporatiop, lltramm and withdrats s for
Irrigatigd. Nevertbekes, it has still *nou
left to carry and empty Into the closed bs
of the Aral Sea segue million cubic
metres of w_per in as av year..:
Sea was still-nonexistent. When that as was
formed the Amu Darya began to flow into 0,
and only sent part of its walers, through Side
charnels, he the Sahfiurmf.' Depreastoew?'
Whew the dearer was Stied to wetlto tug,
the Uzboi was o= the stre mss that bribe.
out of It, working w is a southwesterly
direction and eating out the typical river
channel that now marks its course. But cli-
mate chanpd,=?the amount of water flowing
into -the Sarykamish Depression through the
doeves 0o t Am% Darya-dmhdshed, and the
gradually Arkd- - u f. Tk
Uzbol riveir' Hhre~--iise ,NsaptpNred, dial at-
f l slugs lalres veparMd by
.t kbes of dry bed. I
So4mub ke his pert fix raa~, of cetttse, j y-
the most Important ng is that. the Usbd has-1
some down to vs trap Nnetent times to the
via or a n tibdisoly preserved. Mono
dmried u , ?ritletil-ay laid by *um It f
The idea of *rr)ag the waters d tbe,Amu
etr~ra Onto Southwestern Tvrkmeaktan and
brln~a ~1fle back to the deasc4i q agitated
the at ms .,jren+ tkaes,al old. In 1713;
+o1s >Kepa,.# , It+~rkmus Opt eagle 0
FORM No.
MAY 1951 60-3*A Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
 I FIRM NO.
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COUNTRY'., 9 i- ? "
three years literr Prtisr~ordersd the
of an cuteped~tits nadir Macs
6lienMck
husky. platter's iartiations saw to travel
to the Khan of !hive as an smbessadat.
Ms way to 1oitslu the eon rse of the rives'
study it as Q lly, *W to deride whenrer _
could be divei Into Its old chat
neL
This- ezpedltlorl met with a and fate: qt its
mm*m _ a e- i. huehsdditehY~l mw
tury and a half later when another
acp~iNou
was sent out in l878 ender General -1lukbov-
sky, and made a 6opegraphical of the
Usboi. This originated the first pro cot tar
diverting the Amu Darya into the ban and
cresting a navigable waterway through the
desert, Since then numerous other inv.stiw
time were undertaken and projects drawn up
by various individuals and orgauisatIons, tout
in barbt times they an user with tutee samsfatk
and were soon isegeltaa-
they will have the half of - the Tom'
CLASSIFICATION
?SCURCE
PAGE J OF 7 PAGES
Puler I. He Vls sot ` M 'ate the'M r M
a project of at . lhnpa toile. "Wih epee," ?lub
said,. "can be tooted %sek Into= lti _ [WNW
Only with the rise of ow sodaffst stab 1n
it beoome possible to malls tins: aoglo-sM .
dram of the peeple; The the Amu Darya v t* Capolad and utiNis-
ing vast quantities, at water, *blab are now
wasted, to irrie deserts h?is_ bet boldly
tackled by.?tihe S let peo9k.
akeves at 3tsrya} _d.tihe neppar
. 1'lia rule M tlha ~,AW -
The best route he the -MaIturhmen Canal
I. sti U . bed studied. Two vadanta- rave been
then as, being the most kasible, and are
now uaoar uc___ttaa. Moulding to No k$111.
the canal 'will start at the hs llaald of Tahla-
Task an the Amu Darya, now the . town of
:Nnkus, slept Me Sarykadab Dspsasysa, cross
the Kara Kum desalt,. ah>a l fep. through
the Uzl channel .b ?IhwsM arm*
wateph Tu k z-ass a td
proposes p~h t .
poses to uttloe P , o , N
Kuhhya ll~arlra stud Q d-uahhdan ? (indent
rah 9'e ?1e 'sue
CARD N02209615
t~1et`W- l t~rl ` t ~ikgl ai sur?
i s Me ' M along the whole
!I aao rl~i'iectla`'1A ieeoe! W 61-fhk~
Vlydl be sRolded, for It
L_ of A
' {that it would true Am
at to tt ea dot! t n
Ms s faah now sealer tut will be leaving
It to psi dawn floe eana~iq Rtasnorodd?
And 1I ldMsset, ratiant Is chosen, a dam
Iwo be built ON the Auhu Darya at TaMa-TaMi,
together with other biR-h NSTARVIX119MUNl works
ba+sr stations. locate; l tng beds, a 5F
kilometre dyne. etc.). Other dams and caps-
does reservoirs stilt be tomtit slang the whole
route of the canals together with er eta-
tions, branch trrigatkfa canals. ant water
mains--In fact, tie ~haSe colossal aggregate
Of works envisaged by ttl master plan.
At the lrtadla*d of TaMia-sash. (which
means .S1oae'Cao") the Amt Darya narrow
to a wt of 1)0 a"**.' Hem Its clsjrial will
be aw:sarMha datz fl loth raise
'tth"e water "
odV or .11* s*m abotvoep the U~Wum =move hmasbtq .~Parart of the dam will be
,bWlt 61 macabre, through which the surplw
In spite of tthe relatively low pressure, tie
w cs at Talds-Tsb will resent a shoat eem-
pUcited engineering . Outing foc j-
time, the water' lows with 't adous spy
and will lend- to wash away the fragile banks;
the river carries an nrsusually tar asnougj Pt
1gW*saad =-A silt (t7rom 3 to 12 p1
jsml
solid matte ? per treble mitred ; !ht addl
allestlog 6i"t.' tote Morks .,will have to to
The 6ilk'all via essal.llhrnuMh the sands
of Get bra. N" W111111,050 p no
0Miae ,, ten indeed will a be other era
tube , tat - alrliat 1)i' elhoarir,, list imws
of Shah-lanes
? rMeh sR Nick. 6 LOA,,
'tiortfhss fora Mnae will have
I* be a 0 a!
h
at' f!si sett, tan Uabe god
? aaa~lbeh a0 ,_ a_po~r station
.u . lea n ter ; IN IMles~
stew are sehhssa d wo t
00*1
FORM NO. 60-34A
MAY 1951 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
1-7
SOURCE PAGE OF ' PAGES
lower down. Nor abbeld It be
the Heart at the Kars 1Cao,, rer>AO~a from Mi/
railway. III the last section ,of, i% routes-4h
an artiidal' Elahnel. and hoe twWdears
.
be required. The asooed-variant will ako.1a-
vole the building of a ONNOW of d
dykes (to dtwralos~.of the wa
the sboi the Saryka De ? ter
01'r6ow of
of artif>iebt
==V"
-kin and tom.
The best idea of the agile of voek ln*lved"
they are aml p estimates, ft is tie.
hundred million cubic metroo of earth will
have to be excavated. This work of tiourm
can be performed In so short a ti am (Ive
years) only thanks to the excellent ma snes
we produce: high-power excavatorsr with
14-cubic metre shovels, sera rs, tractors,
hauWy vehicles and 10
, tl+~
two to-two, and a half million cube waves of
C X9615
ohm ISil ity to S00A10 Mectarea of land is
the kmW
600,000 S=- %Aftu blotto, and to
lan lowland in
Weslaco Tom. Amu a wateere will
al "New" network of irrlga-
dft
a
n
g
~
the ower
arefla of tiffs And
The Cas-
n region of WoftralUrkmesidan will be-
aaadZ 0e 004 *Ys V'elsd wain source of cot-
tog aroply.
Ift d e r rarl tonsiditrably
. from 4 metric
amphpir s per bectars Ip " to In the United
16 in Eggyypt, to i $ovtet Uton.
Tbp Main 'L]+rknren Carnal will help to raise
tills la'lisr hgyre by at howl 50 to: 100 per cent,
the mend being that Am Darya to s nine times as much pottim and one
and a half times as aarch phosphorw as the
famous waters of the Nile, and, what is more,
the climaate of this region is eminently puit-
able for aviten raising. The new sburae of
concrete will have is be laid (in aboltF but
years). To do so, we shall build tomatic
concrete-awaking plants, of the type which is
now so splendidly proving Its worth on the
construction of the Volga-Don Canal. The .
canal viii Involve the laying of hum 4 to;;
5 million cubic metre- o1 stone. To hall !be`.
stone frgm the +rardes by rail inn. !1Il re.
quite oovvirr 400 ysllwap hides a 4ay. Three
hundred kIlomet M raU*sy and 1,500-kilo-
metres of road1 be laid In the coal laxge-
Such will be the scale and twn~. of the
work mow p~u Rrr P*Peas of N4iparison,
we
t~ . ~~ lfolu~oerirop~oR tfik .'' ,~
PaeNSaas?a?40.
less S I I?' s'? I
Maio Tlirtrar?a ? ?! M/` +r
ma f ii0nlAl * u1 extensive of an-
tral Aai resort leaps d er aijsc-
Istivea - P
FORM NO.
MAY 1951 6O-3~A
sepply will provide Acid an additional two
million tons of first-grade cotton a year.
Frost and snow are almost unknown in
Western Turkmenistan, mad, with the water
suppled by the-Main Turkmen Anal, the con-
ditions will be created for the growing of
efives. figs; prnegrawles, petsiwnwns acid-
-h1 the southern part--dates.
-The soil will be capable yielding two
harvests a year. The paw to desert 'wi11
baporAa an N O& of bloy 4ertiLe Gelds and or-
$11001L
The *?Mn of war to another seven mi(-
I" -A desert 4WI create rjWt poes-
bndrp ft .wwl be piw%k to pastiore Mk
Deafly Ml round W to v t*"
of ImaR he =16 The herds and locks
I" %lopeg ms 1I ea cold. of sheep
The , of OWN, to industrial plants,
Vmw i swisgi 'lanole rWWn will radically
Of `biiarwer of ilk Of the penpie and
~fil~sdh. '2fe wain will be piped
naiv~eas,, with a total of
idlomNies at the rated ty
saasad, When the canal to
tkmaul~i tomb 4 jiraepovu4ak will soon
'V ;
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 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
COUNTRY
22093j5
s IPAGE_'. OF 7 PAGES
! +a
feet M theft hash wailer lad In be oo&
by steamer fray Baku on the other aide of the
Ca an.
W aeatern Turkmenistan contains pat de
posits of minerals, tcludmg o11 but their ex.
ploitation has been gravely hampered by lack.
of fresh water. Extraction of the chemical
salts contained in such huge abundance In
the waters of the Gulf of Kara-Bogaz-Gol has
also been retarded for the same reason. T!se
Main Turkuun Canal will give a fillip to the
oil and chemical industries.
Power and-" transport development will
change the face of these desert areas. Hydro-
electric stations with an aggregate capacity of
104,000 kilowatts will provide cheap power
for thk factories and farms of the Turkmen and
Kara ak Republics. Electric tractors will
be freely 4Sed, an j cotton and other Industrial
crops will be hsrwvested with the help of elec-'
trically-driven machines.
The Main Turkmen Canal will be an Im-
portant transport artery, carrying gran,
mineral fertilizers, machinery and farm equip-
ment from the Caspian, and agricultural prod-
uc-apd the products of the manufacturing in-
dustries. which cheap power will help to
develop in these parts from the lower reaches
of the Amu Darya. Tlie port of Krasnovoisk,
the "gateway to Central As!a." will become-i
great freight-redirecting cg~tre. Passengers "'=
will be able to sail from M3seow, the capital
of our country, to Tahia-Tash and Aralkk
without changing steamer. When The Main
Turkmen Canal Is completed, Moscow will be-
come a port of six seas.
All along its route, the canal will be pro-
tested from sandstorm and scotching sinds
werful green barrier of siblte ache a,
,la or, mulberry; apricot and trees of
other a dy and long-lived vatfetles. Towns
and hamlets wilt be surrounded by green belts.
'11-e very ch to w1U change.
And aft this p only vY years.
fltr. ~ ~ .walk' ~ . ,
Not so long so I har&bceafon to tram se
.a* wholle course from. TsMa.talsb to Prasno-
vodsk- Our exptatng party trail by meter
car, 4hd at that time ~we could stl1~ form tdgl
s rndgh idea of the future route of '!6e ?tana .
`ere and tberp we Saw the ruins of ancient
fee Isis= . aid $bandoned - nomad taasps. We-
made our way to the well of Yahddla by
compass, with not a trace of a road and not 's
sohl to be aeea srywlaata: ?v et- now and
agile we had to oft our eats Out of On sand.
or lay a, read for km With be$*t a at saotauk
and in some places eveit"'-cut a track through
liw high summits of the sand hills At last we
reached a precipice 30 meow deep. and below
us lay the ancient, silent and petrified channel
of the lazboi.
? et co September 12, the anniversary of the
publication Of the Soviet Government's deci-
sion to build the Main Turkmen Canal.,
V tristov, chief engineer of Central Asian
Hydropower Development, had the follow-
ing to say in an article in the newspaper
"Tbousauds of prospectors and ecienttfie
workers from the Office of Hydroengtneering.
the Ministry of Geological Survey, the Ministry
of Forestry, the Academv of Sciences of the
U.S.S.R. and the Academies of Sciences
of the Uzbek. Turkmen and Kazakh Repub.
ilca are today at work in the Kara Kam der,
art all the way train Amu Darya to Ktasao'
vixlsk and Kfsfl Arvat.. , . At the site of We
Tahia-Task dam. preyaratiaas :jot the con-
stradion wor{I" are in fail swing S ovte acad.
clay and lime'40acriea have bees located. so&
one near Hod}eiti is already in ooQQeettstion` it s
equipped with a power plant, mobile campres-
sots, excavators and Al -tracks. Blasti
operations have begun Another end mvcs
larger quarry is being apenedyie the Sultan-
uizdagh hills, 100. kifometrts from Tehia-
Tasb. The first parties ci workers. engineers
and technicians *$.it been pent then,
together with aw~lni power plants. trucks
aaegmaaaors, dadUn4 equIpsMnt and taady-
made -houses. -
Not tar Loan ,the fe4apbrary aettlcareht for
t1'~F Arst t-onw.orlmrs' h' seat
Tahiia?aett. i1 7IrMe ii spfit~ up,
Several reets are, already built. and the' of
d!y t# ti to ta!to moved into the newt
ho4se . A ten-grade K 4 cot has retie "will and ,curs of other belldh* ate te' f our .. i
canstructkoi,~ - Meat one hundred 8611111100011
ono at dot _.A____;0
r emade `llmew have
Just -ftfwd. OIMttrr~~-- roams and fl fs 19%
cltsliho e, a publf baths surd t end
age are beihe built, roads and water mains
FORM No. 60-34A
MAY 1951 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
2209615
11 z NVJ~
1laaWW, - blgttansiu: 4els boos vies'
Tbe?betldens fill have tremendous, tanks to
cope wil'b in k962 when the volume d wsrk
will focteam at least stzfoid. But it m,iy be
tales bor,19rsnhd that they will lalthfalfly hl-
III that pkdgs the Main Tudmen Canal"
this great construction project of ppeease-will
be completed' lo time, and the Stalin plan fur
the .gaticr of the Kara Kum desert will
become a fact?
FORM NO
60-94
Nov 195i Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
 Approved For Release 2011/09/16: CIA-RDP07-02247R000200200027-9
THE MAIN TURKMEN CANAL
?~~ :? ~w~~twi ? h?Nww/ t~~t?N~ul ?1?wt ~??ilcN ~..~~ ?uw
A~N?wi-, .it~tir~ lNla \~/~~ *?.yM? (~O Drfrft ? Itd, io?wr?~ , t~ui~ ~?w~?
NI ?-e?r,q ti on
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