238 SIBERIA. 



CH ATT Ell XV. 



The Great Siberian Railway. 



Historical review ol' Ibe question of a Siberian railway; first proposals in reference to 



the construction of the road; the northern, middle and southern directions; the proposals of the 



engineers Ostrovsky and Sidensner; position of the question in 1890; commencement of 



the line at Vladivostok; position of the railway works on the 10th of March, 1893. 



AFTER the annexation of the extensive Amour and Littoral territories and of the Ussuri 

 region, the want was felt of good \vays of communication, on the one hand in 

 order to keep possession of them, and on the other, in order to attract settlers and form 

 new centres of population. In consequence of this a series of schemes appeared for the con- 

 struction of new roads in Siherla, and Count Mouraviev-AmourSki himself was almost the first 

 who conceived the idea of a railway in this country. Upon the occupation of the mouths of 

 the Amour in 1850, and especially after the successful expeditions of Count Mouraviev himself 

 down that river, the inconveniences of the estuary for the entry into the river began to be- 

 come evident, and accordingly there arose the idea of making use of the splendid bay 

 of De Castri in the Tartar Straits and of uniting it with Sofiisk on the Amour by a carriage 

 road with the intention of subsequently converting It into a railway. The surveys in this 

 locality and the scheme for such a road were carried out in 1857 by Colonel Romanov, but 

 the road Itself was not destined to be realized for want of means. Simultaneously with this 

 appeared the proposal of the English engineer Dull. He conceived the idea of cariTing a 

 horse tramway from Nizhni-Xovgorod through Kazan and Perm to one of the Siberian ports 

 of the Pacific Ocean, but this scheme, unsupported by any estimates, was obviously of too 

 unsubstantial a character, and the Government accordingly passed it over in silence. 



In the same year another foreigner, the American citizen Collins, petitioned the Gov- 

 ernment to authorize him to found a stock-company, to be styled the Amour Railway Com- 

 pany, to unite Irkutsk and' Chita. For the realization of this enterprise Collins wished to 

 issue shares of 100 roubles calculating upon getting all the necessary capital subscribed in 

 Siberia itself. This scheme, although likewise destitute of any solid foundation, thanks to the 

 sympathetic attitude of the then Governor-General Count Mouraviev, was examined on the very 

 shortest notice both in the Ministry of Ways of Communication and in the Siberian Com- 



