176 SIBEKIA. 



Siberia horn 150,0/J to 2rX),<//J pouii.^ ol pyiilL'S are amuially i-^ti>"l in-n il" ^i.ipj i.tov-k 

 mine in the Altai mining region. 



Coal. 



Deposit:? of coal aiv known liironglioul tliij whole extent of Siberia, from the boniers 

 of the government of Orenburg to tlie mouths of the Lena, Kamchatka, island of Saklialiu 

 and the frontier of Corea. At tin; pn^sent time coal is only worked in Konznetsk basin, ou 

 the island of Sakhalin and on the Khirgiz steppes. It is also proposed to exploit the recently 

 discovered and explored deposits of coal in the southern portion of the Littoral province. 

 In the mean time the varied application of mineral fuel obliges one to think that the Sibe- 

 rian Railway will give rise to the exploitation of coal in various parts of Siberia, before it 

 iiiaii'rially ellects other branches of mining industry; and tlir laihvay itself will be in need 

 of mineral fuel, especially in those localities where it passes through forestless steppe regions. 

 The following data treat upon the coal deposits in different partsof Siberia. In Western 

 Sibeiia there are rich coal seams in the eastern portion of the Altai mining region 

 in the Salairsk and Alatau mountains. This is the so-called Kouznetsk coal basin. The 

 southern limit of this basin lies at about 60 versts distance to the south of the town 

 of Kouznetsk; its eastern boundary extends along the western declivity of the Alatau 

 m(»iintains; its western boundary stretches along the eastern foot of the Salairsk mountains, 

 but in places recedes from it and approaches the river Ina which falls into the Obi. The 

 river Toma divides the basin along its length into two parts, and as strata, similar to those 

 in which the coal seams lie in the neighbourhood of Kouznetsk, are also found along the 

 banks of the river Toma up to the very town of Tomsk, it may in all likelihood be supposed 

 that the coal basin extends to this town. Hence the entire basin should be 400 versts long and 

 100 versts wide, which equals an area of 40,0iX) square versts. In many parts of this basin, 

 thick seams of coal of excellent quality are found. The coal formations belong to the Jurassic 

 system. 



The Telbessk iron mine is situated on the south-eastern border of the Kouznetsk basin, 

 on the river Telbes which falls into the Kandoma. This mine is, estimated to contain a store 

 of 75 million pouds of magnetic iron ore; and close to it there is another iron mine, the 

 Soukharinsk. Such an abundance of iron ore, capable of guaranteeing a supply to 

 a large iron works for a long period, induced the local mining management to make a careful 

 survey of this south-eastern corner of the Kouznetsk basin, with a view to the discovery of 

 coal veins in the neighbourhood of these iron mines. These surveys were crowned with per- 

 fect success and gave the following results. A seam of coal one sagene thick was found on the 

 left bank of the Kandoma at a distance of 5 versts from the village of Kaltansk. This 

 seam was followed along its strike for 380 sagenes, and it was estimated to contain 8,300,' KjO pouds 

 of coal. The first Kinerkinsk seam is situated on the left side of the river Kinerka which 

 falls into the Kandoma, above the village of Kaltansk. It has been followed for a distance 

 of 163 sagenes, is 4 sagenes thick and dips at an angle of 22". The store of coal has 

 teen estimated at 16,400,000 pouds. The second seam is ou the hanging wall of the fii-st at 



