248 .SIBERIA. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Topographical and teclinical features of the Great Siberian 



Railway. 



The Cheliabinsk-Obi: Obi-Irkutsk: Irkutsk-Mysuvsk; Mysovsk-Srotensk; Sretensk-Kliabarovka; 

 Khabarovka-Grafsk; Giaisk- Vladivostok; the general cost of the seven Cheliabiusk-Vladi- 



vostok sections. 



FROM Cheliabinsk the line leads to the town of Kurgan in the government of Tobolsk, 

 only diverting from the straight line in order to avoid deep valleys, lakes, marshes and 

 bogs. Further on, the railway is projected to pass through the town of Petropavlovsk to Omsk 

 with the same indispensable departures from the straight line, and at a distance of 5 versts 

 from Omsk it crosses the Irtysh on a bridge 300 sagenes long. After crossing the Irtysh the 

 line enters the Barabinsk steppe, passing through the governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk, 

 through the town of Kainsk, up to the village of Krivoschekov close to which it crosses 

 the Obi on a bridge of 400 sagenes long, at verst 1325. 



The section of the Siberian railway from the town of Cheliabinsk to the Obi, with 

 some few exceptions, runs through a fertile zone of chernoziom where climatic conditions are 

 favourable to the cultivation of cereals, especially within the borders of the Ishimsk and Bar- 

 abinsk steppes, where during the whole length of the line as far as the Obi, a distance of J, 325 

 versts, there are hardly any obstacles to interfere with the laying dov^^l of the line; and only 

 the spanning of four large rivers, the Tobol, Ishim, Irtysh and Obi, necessitates some large 

 earth works and expensive bridges. On account of the level character of the gi-ound through 

 which the line runs, the limiting gradients do not exceed 0.0074 and the radii of the curves, 

 250 sagenes on this part of the line. After crossing the Obi, the line as far as the town of 

 Achinsk, a distance of 551 versts, wends its way through a hilly country and has to cross five 

 considerable rivers, the Obi, Tom, Yaya, Kiya and Chulym; it was nevertheless found possible 

 here to limit the gradients to 0.008 and the radii of the curves to 250 sagenes, without greatly 

 increasing the amount of earth work, further on, from Achinsk to the town of Irkutsk, a 

 distance of 1,191 versts, the character of the country completely changes and assumes a 

 mountainous aspect. The line is obliged to cross two large rivers, the Chulym and Yenisei, 

 and also numerous tributaries of these rivers. Most of the Siberian streams in this part of 



