'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎282] (323/714)

PERSIA,
Shahrud
half of the ride to Shahrud is spent in winding in and out of the
lower ranges that gradually dip into the plain of Shahrud, 1,000 feet
below Armian. The snowy crown of the Shah Kuh (King Moun
tain), the highest point of the Elburz between Shahrud and Astrabad,
had been before my eyes the whole day, and at its feet, I knew,
lay Shahrud. About eleven miles before reaching the latter, the
tirst view is caught of the level plain, some ten miles in width,
on which were visible three detached green clumps. The two
nearer were unimportant villages, the farthest and largest, nestling
at the very foot of the Elburz, was Shahrud. So buried in trees
is the town, that, after riding for some time between garden-walls
and orchards, I found myself in the main street, almost unawares.
I have already, in a previous chapter, dwelt upon the strategical
importance of the position of Shahrud. The town is a great meet
ing-point of roads, from Herat to Meshed, from Tabbas and
Turshiz, from Yezd, from Astrabad and Mazanderan, and
from the capital. It is situated in a plain, of whose fertility I could
form no just estimate in the month of November, but whose
productiveness and abundant water-supply are unquestioned.
The Rud-i-Shah (or King's River) flows down the street outside
the chapar-lchaneh , but at this season of the year was little
more than a rivulet, and reflected no honour upon its name. The
defensive properties of the place struck me as contemptible, and
appeared to be limited to a ruined citadel, and to two small mud
towers, perched upon a conical hill above the town. Shahrud is
celebrated for its local manufacture of boots and shoes, which are
said to be patronised by the Shah and the Royal Family; for the
redoubtable shabgez, or gherib-gez, which attacked O'Donovan here
but spared me ; and as an entrepot both of the local products
of Mazanderan and of Russian imports via Gez and Astrabad,
through the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of Russian and Russo-Armenian traders. 1
The Russian Caucasus and Mercury Company also keep an
agent in the town. Its population is said to be 5,000. There is a
Persian Telegraph-station here, and a wire to Astrabad, whence
there is further telegraphic connection by Chikishliar with Kizil
Arvat and Transcaspia—a line which is much used by the Russian
Legation in Teheran in communicating with Ashkabad.
1 The opening-up of the new trade-route from Ashkabad, via Kucban, to
Sebzewar is reported to have already caused a considerable falling-off, or, perhaps,
I should rather say, transference, in the Russian trade with Shahrud.