WATER AND OVERLAND COMMUNICATION. 



225 



it which is so abounding in water. The statistics of the quantity and character of the goods 

 conveyed by the Ural Railway may therefore be taken to discribe the goods traffic on the 

 Tura and Tobol; Tura, the terminus of the Ural line, situated on the river bearing that name, 

 receives all the European goods sent to Siberia by water and also despatches freight by rail 

 from Siberia to European Russia. The following table gives these statistics from the opening 

 of the Ural Railway: 



These figures show that the goods traffic from Siberia to European Russia is rapidly 

 developing whilst that from European Russia to Siberia makes but very slow progress. This 

 proves that Siberia is capable of producing far more that she requires, and that the opening of the 

 Ural Railway was sufficient to draw goods from far distant places in the province of Semi- 

 palatinsk to European Russia. The principal freight which Tura receives by water and for- 

 wards by rail is grain; in 1891 the total amount of grain of various denominations transported was 

 3,930,805 pouds, or 80 per cent of the whole transport; this included 2,195,019 pouds of wheat, 

 571,778 pouds of rye, 345,555 pouds of oats, 48,365 of barley, 574,980 of rye flour, 

 145,835 pouds of wheat flour, et cetera; there were 1,151,913 pouds of this dehvered at Ostrovs- 

 kaya station and 1,081,995 at Ekaterinburg. Besides grain, 492,261 pouds of tea were despatched 

 from the same station, of which 480,941 pouds were directed to Perm to be sent further on. 

 Grain and tea therefore amount to more than 90 per cent of the Siberian goods. Siberia prin- 

 cipally receives 364,000 pouds of sugar, 340,000 pouds of various naphtha products, 270,000 

 pouds of manufactured goods, aliout 100,000 pouds of iron and iron wares, 140,000, of tobacco, 

 36,000 pouds of candles, or about 63 per cent of the whole amount received. 



The goods traffic along this main water way of the Tura and Tobol rivers has only ot 

 late years begun to assume a lively aspect. Before the opening of the Ural Railway the yearly 

 transport did not exceed 2-5 million pouds, and it has now risen to 16 million pouds ; in 1886 

 it amounted to 3 millions; in 1888, to 7 million, and in 1890, to 8 million pouds. This quantity 

 of 16 millidu pouds forms 75 per cent of the whole goods traffic on all the watei-s of Western 

 Siberia, as the total amount does not exceed 20 million ponds. The river Tura is the most 

 important means of communication between Siberia and European Russia. It becomes navi- 

 gable from Turinsk, bul the briskest traffic is from Tinmen to the mouth of the river, a 

 distance of 169 versts. The Tobol is iuivigal)h_' for about 600 versts, but the only part of it 



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