A LAND OF PROMISE 



1085 



Stretensk, which is the inland center of 

 the navigable waterways of nearly 2,000 

 miles in the watershed of the Amur. 



To the westward the way is pleasant 

 and picturesque across the low Yablonoi 

 Mountains, with their many striking bits 

 of landscape, especially while descending 

 their wooded slopes, which led through 

 the beautiful Selenga Valley to the pre- 

 cipitous shores of the wondrous inland 

 sea, Lake Baikal. 



lake; BAIKAL 



For nearly 1 50 miles the railway skirts 

 the southern shores of this great lake. 

 It is one of the lacustral wonders of the 

 world, with its depth of 5,000 feet, its 

 average width of 40 miles, its length of 

 375 miles, and its great distance — nearly 

 3,000 miles — from the ocean. Frozen 

 over between four and five months each 

 year, there were at the end of May large 

 drifting ice-fields within view as the train 

 passed. The warm, balmy airs, lovely 

 scented flowers, the tuneful chorus of 

 singing birds, a luxuriant undergrowth, 

 and the spring dress of the huge forest 

 trees — all gained in sweet contrasting 

 attractiveness from the drifting ice-floes, 

 the occasional snowdrifts in sheltered 

 spots, and the white-topped peaks of 

 Chamanka and other mountains. 



Now the way stations had their quota 

 of gazing but never-rude Russian colo- 

 nists, and with them came shy peasant 

 girls in quaint costumes and bright, be- 

 coming colors, whose welcome wares of 

 wild flowers, sweet cream, soft cheeses, 

 etc., were daily proffered and purchased 

 from Transbaikalia to the Ural Moun- 

 tains. 



IRKUTSK 



Much is not expected from a subordi- 

 nate city, some 3,500 miles distant from 

 the formal center of all Russian power — 

 Saint Petersburg — especially when such 

 ■city has been cursed throughout its his- 

 tory as a selected destination for political 

 and criminal exiles. 



Every traveler is therefore surprised 

 to find Irkutsk a well-built, prosperous, 

 modern city, with a population of about 

 75,000. Among Siberian cities, Irkutsk 

 is noted for its churches, orphanages, 



hospitals, schools, observatories, and mu- 

 seums. It is a city of imposing buildings, 

 beautiful homes, and is given to lavish 

 hospitality, while its extended business 

 operations are supplemented by all mod- 

 ern municipal equipments, including tele- 

 phony and an efficient fire service. 



It must be added that it has in summer 

 nearly impassable streets, that the preva- 

 lence of unpunished crimes is notorious, 

 while it is said by free-speaking Russians 

 that the inefficiency of its police is only 

 surpassed by the corruption of its offi- 

 cials. With a steady inflow of honest 

 immigrants, conditions are believed to be 

 slowly improving and the future is more 

 promising. 



The capital of a province of nearly a 

 million people, Irkutsk on the Angara 

 is admirably located to control a very 

 large and lucrative trade. Lake Baikal, 

 with its five contributory rivers, affords 

 unusual transportation facilities inland, 

 while the Angara, the discharging stream 

 of Lake Baikal, leads to the Yenisei, with 

 its 10,000 miles of navigable waterway. 

 The government assay office at Irkutsk 

 handles the gold produced in the prov- 

 ince, which averages annually $10,000,- 

 000 in value. 



SIBERIAN IMMIGRATION 



The real creative force of a country's 

 material prosperity, and the most essen- 

 tial element of its grandeur, is its popu- 

 lation. Far-seeing statesmen have real- 

 ized that within the twentieth century 

 Siberia will be the center of Russian 

 trade and commerce. In consequence a 

 prominent feature of the empire's do- 

 mestic policy has been the economic 

 evolution of Siberia. In former years 

 hundreds of millions of dollars were 

 spent to maintain Russia's prestige and 

 power in the Orient through military 

 establishments and strategic lines of rail- 

 ways, but to scant avail.* 



Now a wiser policy is appropriating 

 millions of dollars annually for a peace- 

 ful invasion of Asia. In a single year 

 more than $5,000,000 was spent to pro- 

 mote emigration from European Russia 

 to Siberia, which is systematically and 



* In ten years, 1898-1907, Russia spent $994,- 

 500,000 on railways. 



