Altyn Tagh

The water used in irrigating the soil is led from the Chargalyk-daria, which flows from the neighbouring Altyn-tagh mountains, an elevated range south of Lob-nor.

[1879, N. Prejevalsky, chapter II, in E. Delmar Morgan, transl., From Kulja, Across the Tian Shan to Lob-nor, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 76

THIS is a personal story, with a physical background stretching from the River Don in Russia across Siberia, down through Mongolia and Northwestern China to the lofty, inhospitable Altyn Tagh, first step to the Kunlun ranges bordering Tibet.

1942 October 4, Jane Spence Southron, “Secret Army; THE GOLDEN HORDE. By La Selle Gilman. 466 pp. New York Smith & Durrell. $2.75.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2023

Tibet is awash in superlatives. It is the highest country on earth and the most mountainous, with three-quarters of the country’s territory lying at 16,000 feet or higher, a full three miles above sea level. It’s ringed by world-class mountain ranges on three sides. In the north, the Altyn Tagh range separates Tibet from China’s Xinjiang province and the Gobi desert.

2011, Stephan Talty, “An Examination of Prior Memories”, in Escape from the Land of Snows (History), New York: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12