manner far from groveling 

 or sycophantic. 



They appear more manly 

 and energetic than the Eu- 

 ropean peasants, and doubt- 

 less are so. It takes energy 

 and determination to break 

 loose from the environment 

 of a lifetime, and to build 

 a new home thousands of 

 miles away under unknown 

 conditions — this even with 

 a paternal government to 

 aid. 



From Omsk westward to 

 the Ural Mountains, about 

 800 miles, extends the Bar- 

 aba country, the great pro- 

 ducing region for foreign 

 markets. In two provinces 

 from Omsk west there are 

 estimated to be about 12 

 million head of stock, one- 

 half sheep, one-quarter cattle, and one- 

 . quarter horses, with nearly a quarter of 

 a million camels. 



65,000 TONS OF BUTTER ARE SHIPPED EACH 

 YEAR TO EUROPE 



The country is one of quiet beauty, 

 luxuriant in vegetation, interspersed with 

 groves of birches, willows, and alders, its 

 soil evidently of great fertility and appar- 

 ently equally divided between stock-rais- 

 ing, grain-growing, and dairy farming. 

 Here and there were visible the rounded 

 tents of the Khirgis, but in general the 

 region along the railway has been taken 

 up by pioneers, whose new huts and culti- 

 vated fields are much in evidence. 



There was a constant succession of 

 attractive sights : Bands of dromedaries, 

 troops of ponies, stretches of purple 

 heather, herds of cattle, scattered Khirgis 

 tents, groves of white birches, fields of 

 grain, files of carts, and miles upon miles 

 of fragrant white lilacs. 



The shipments to foreign markets 

 from the Baraba region consist almost 

 entirely of meat and butter. While the 

 greater portion of the meat goes to St. 

 Petersburg and c^hev cities of European 

 Russia, yet large and increasing ship- 

 ments are made to Germany and Eng- 

 land. 



The most wonderfully developed in- 

 dustry in west Siberia is dairy farming. 



Photo by A. W. Greely 

 PRISON CAR AND EXIEES ON THE SIBERIAN RAILWAY 



The latest methods and most improved 

 machinery are used in the production of 

 butter. The shipments to foreign mar- 

 kets are increasing year by year. More 

 than 65,000 tons of butter are shipped to 

 Europe annually. The butter is of the 

 finest quality and commands the highest 

 prices in England and in Germany, where 

 the demand is steadily increasing. 



Cheliabinsk, at the eastern foot of the 

 Ural Mountains, is the point at which 

 the western section of the Siberian Rail- 

 way bifurcates, the newer road running 

 to St. Petersburg via Ekaterinburg and 

 Perm, while the older main line, crossing 

 the Urals, continues via Samara to 

 Moscow. 



Cheliabinsk is the point from which 

 were distributed in former years the ex- 

 iles to Siberia. In these later days it has 

 been made a resting place for immi- 

 grants, of whom it is estimated that about 

 j-,ooo,ooo have passed through the city. 

 There are barracks, hospitals, laundries, 

 baths, and summer camps, where every- 

 thing essential for the health and necessi- 

 ties of the immigrant are provided. 

 Twenty-five hundred can be comfortably 

 cared for in winter and thirty-five hun- 

 dred in summer. 



Crossing the low-crested Urals at 

 1,800 feet elevation, the plains of the 

 Volga were found unattractive as com- 

 pared with Siberia, while the peasants 



io8g 



