SIBERIA 



5370 



SIBERIA 



facilities and antiquated methods the mineral 

 industry has made but little progress. About 

 two-thirds of the gold produced in Russia 

 comes from the mines in Eastern Siberia. Sil- 

 ver is also mined in the same locality, and the 

 annual output of both metals amounts to about 

 $21,000,000. The opening of the Trans-Siberian 

 Railway created a demand for coal, and about 

 1,800,000 tons are mined annually. There are 

 valuable deposits of copper, iron, lead, graphite 

 and other minerals awaiting development. 



Agriculture. The agricultural region includes 

 the southern part of the country, and in the 

 west extends northward to the 55th and 60th 

 parallels. The black-earth region of South- 

 eastern Russia extends into the southwestern 

 part of Siberia, where it is devoted almost ex- 

 clusively to the raising of wheat. The western 

 part of the country constitutes the chief agri- 

 cultural region, and nine-tenths of the inhabit- 

 ants are engaged in tilling the soil. Wheat, 

 oats, rye and barley are the principal crops. 

 Of these the wheat crop is the most important. 

 Vegetables and fruits common to a cool tem- 

 perate climate are grown in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to supply the local demand. In many 

 localities raising live stock and dairying are 

 fast becoming prominent sources of revenue to 

 the farmers. 



Manufactures. Tomsk is the chief manufac- 

 turing center, and has a number of large fac- 

 tories and mills. Flour, sugar, ironware, car- 

 pets and porcelain are its most important 

 manufactures. The making of clothing, furni- 

 ture and household utensils is carried on in the 

 homes, or in small shops, although the opening 

 of the Trans-Siberian Railway lessened these 

 industries to some extent, because it provided 

 a means for the importation of manufactured 

 goods from Russia. On the other hand, the 

 railway stimulated manufactures in the larger 

 towns, because of increased facilities for trans- 

 porting machinery and raw material. Manu- 

 factures are increasing all along the line of the 

 railway and in the eastern provinces. The 

 chief hindrances are lack of fuel and scarcity 

 of skilled workmen. 



Transportation and Commerce. Siberia has 

 over 30,000 miles of navigable rivers, but they 

 are icebound nine months of the year. Never- 

 theless, some of them are important waterways 

 during the time they are open to navigation. 

 The Ob and its tributaries, which furnish 9,000 

 miles of navigable streams in the most fertile 

 district of the country, constitute the most im- 

 portant inland waterway. The Yenisei is navi- 



gable for 1,850 miles and is the connecting link 

 between Lake Baikal and the trade centers on 

 the Ob, to which it is joined by a canal. Tiu- 

 men is the most important of these centers, 

 since at this point connection is made with the 



Siberia, 4.800,000 Square Miles 



United States. 5,026,789 Square Miles 



COMPARATIVE AREAS 



Siberia is more than one and a half times the 

 size of the United States. 



railway for Petrograd and Moscow. The Lena 

 serves a local trade, and the Amur and its 

 tributaries furnish over 8,000 miles of water- 

 ways to the southeastern part of the country. 



The Trans-Siberian Railway connects Vladi- 

 vostok with Moscow and Petrograd, and is the 

 most important commercial route of. the coun- 

 try. A branch extends southward to Port Ar- 

 thur, Tientsin and other important cities in 

 China. The opening of this railway was a great 

 incentive to the agricultural and manufacturing 

 interests of the country. To it flows the traf- 

 fic of all the great rivers, and numerous com- 

 mercial and industrial centers have been de- 

 veloped along the line. Caravan routes, over 

 which goods are transported on the backs of 

 camels and horses, lead from the principal Si- 

 berian cities to the leading cities of Manchuria 

 and Mongolia. Irkutsk is an important trade 

 center because it is the meeting point of sev- 

 eral of these routes and the Trans-Siberian 

 Railway. 



Education. Education is backward, and there 

 are but few elementary schools in proportion 

 to the population. In 1916 fewer than 400,000 

 pupils were enroled in all the educational in- 

 stitutions in the country. The university at 

 Tomsk has about 1,400 students, and since 1912 

 the Tomsk House of Science, or People's Uni- 

 versity, has been open, with free instruction. 

 The opening of this institution marked an im- 

 portant step in the progress of education. 



History. Siberia became a Russian posses- 

 sion in 1581-1582, when a band of Cossacks 

 took the town of Sibir (Isker). on the Irtish 

 River. In 1618 Yeniseisk was founded, and be- 



