Posted on 02/02/2013 9:35:54 AM PST by marshmallow
In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga
Siberian summers do not last long. The snows linger into May, and the cold weather returns again during September, freezing the taiga into a still life awesome in its desolation: endless miles of straggly pine and birch forests scattered with sleeping bears and hungry wolves; steep-sided mountains; white-water rivers that pour in torrents through the valleys; a hundred thousand icy bogs. This forest is the last and greatest of Earth's wildernesses. It stretches from the furthest tip of Russia's arctic regions as far south as Mongolia, and east from the Urals to the Pacific: five million square miles of nothingness, with a population, outside a handful of towns, that amounts to only a few thousand people.
When the warm days do arrive, though, the taiga blooms, and for a few short months it can seem almost welcoming. It is then that man can see most clearly into this hidden world—not on land, for the taiga can swallow whole armies of explorers, but from the air. Siberia is the source of most of Russia's oil and mineral resources, and, over the years, even its most distant parts have been overflown by oil prospectors and surveyors on their way to backwoods camps where the work of extracting wealth is carried on.
Thus it was in the remote south of the forest in the summer of 1978. A helicopter sent to find a safe spot to land a party of geologists was skimming the treeline a hundred or so miles from the Mongolian border when it dropped into the thickly wooded valley of an unnamed tributary of the Abakan, a seething ribbon of water rushing through dangerous terrain. The valley walls were narrow, with sides.......
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
I'd bet they were shocked that the USSR fell, but the USA now has an anti CHRISTIAN commie in the white house.
An amazing story.
At the same time, I can’t help but think that a little more knowledge could have made their lives a lot better. Like different ways of cooking after their pots and pans disintegrated. Or how to tan leather. A good reminder on things I need to practice before I need them.
Thank you so much for posting this. I don’t know when I’ve read anything so moving and such a powerful testimonial to the spirit of man and religious freedom.
Night time stories of their dreams and waiting for the precious rye seed to grow. I would like to hear some of those stories of their dreams.
Wonder if Glenn Beck has read of this?
“A man lives for howsoever God grants.” Dimitry
Reader comments were also fascinating especially the idiots who blame this family’s fate on their strong religious beliefs.
I guess these idiots have no knowledge of the hundred millions killed by godless communism.
One of the better responses to the commenter known as Raymond:
“@raymond: “Once again religion shows it’s ability to completely overpower rational thought and make a total mess of peoples lives. A truly sad story.” —Yes how irrational it was for those Christians to not stand still and make it easier for Stalin’s thugs to kill them. They truly messed up their lives by not letting themselves be murdered. On a more serious note, this is an amazing story, and the Lykov’s have lived incredible, amazingly different and amazingly full lives.”
it is totally rational - inherently human - to want to live free. the extent some have to go to to do so is amazing.
Them standing around guarding one shoot night and day to get 8 seeds for next year, wild stuff.
Also the part about them marking the appearance of artificial sattelites, and thinking it was something man-made.
Freegards, thanks for all the threads on FR
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.