182 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 2c 



A RUSSIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD. 



The question of a rail connection of the Baltic with the Pacific 

 Ocean through Russia and Siberia has frequently been discussed, 

 and recently steps have been taken to carry out part of this great 

 enterprise. Political as well as economic reasons make the estab- 

 lishment of a better connection between Siberia and Russia appear 

 very desirable. The remoteness of the Amur Province from the 

 mother-country makes the security of this possession appear doubt- 

 ful, and the immense distance of Siberia from any market renders 

 its produce almost valueless. 



The experience of American railroads shows that there is no bet- 

 ter means of developing the productive capacity of a country than 

 by the establishment of railroads. Siberia is capable of becoming 

 a highly productive country, and the limits of its productiveness can 

 hardly be conceived. The history of the settlement of the Ameri- 

 can and Canadian North- West Territories shows that an exces- 

 sively continental climate is not a serious drawback to the develop- 

 ment of a country. Southern Siberia has great agricultural re- 

 sources ; large tracts of land are well adapted for stock-raising; 

 and its forests and mineral resources are of great value. While 

 precious metals yield even now a considerable income, its rich coal 

 and iron deposits have hardly been explored. The abundant sup- 

 ply of furs and fish needs only to be mentioned. At present a 

 large portion of the grain grown in this country is used for distilling 

 alcohol, as there is no market for it. 



The only thing needed is better means of communication. The 

 large rivers of Siberia, which flow into the Arctic Ocean, are not 

 available for this purpose, as their mouths cannot be reached regu- 

 larly from Europe, and as they are frozen during the greater part 

 of the year. Numerous attempts have been made to ascertain the 

 feasibility of a regular intercourse between the Atlantic ports and 

 the mouths of the Siberian rivers ; and, from the experience of Cap- 

 tain Wiggins, it would seem that the route is not so impracticable 

 as it appeared to be. He succeeded eleven times in making the 

 journey from England to the mouth of the Yenissei, and up to 

 Krasnoyarsk, and proved that this trade may become of some im- 

 portance, although the difficulties are so formidable that only the 

 remoteness of central Siberia makes its use practicable. Another 

 project of making the great rivers of Siberia more useful is that of 

 a railroad from the Obi to a point west of the Strait of Kara. Al- 

 though this plan might help to develop to a certain extent the re- 

 sources of western Siberia, it would hardly prove adequate to open- 

 ing the most productive parts of this vast country. 



In summer the rivers afford a good means of intercourse, and 

 plans have been made to improve them. The most important of 

 them is the connection of the Obi and Yenissei by means of a canal, 

 work on which is in progress. When this canal is completed, the 

 following line will be open to commerce, — from Tyumen, the ter- 

 minus of the Perm-Tyumen Railroad, down to Tobolsk, — and, fol- 

 lowing the Irtish, vessels will reach the Obi at Samarovsk. From 

 here they will ascend the latter to the point where it approaches 

 nearest to the Yenissei. Following the canal, they will reach the 

 Yenissei, which is descended down to the confluence of the Upper 

 Tunguska, which comes from Lake Baikal. In East Siberia the 

 Amur affords good means of communication. The route follows 

 the Chilka, and its tributary the Ingoda, as far as Chita. The dis- 

 tance between this point and Lake Baikal is not very long. 



It seems that it has been decided to build first those portions of 

 the Pacific Railroad which will supplement those sections which 

 are open to river-navigation. This requires the building of the sec- 

 tions from Vladivostok to the mouth of the Usuri, from Chita to the 

 Selenga, and from Irkutsk to Tomsk. The last is necessary, as the 

 Upper Tunguska would require very expensive regulation. Should 

 these works be completed, and reasonably fast-going steamers be 

 put upon the rivers, the development of Siberia will receive a strong 

 stimulus. 



The effect of this improved inland connection upon the develop- 

 ment of manufactures and industries will be great. At present 

 eighty per cent of the total manufactures of Siberia belong to the 

 territories Tobolsk and Tomsk. According to the reports of the 

 Bureau of Statistics, there are 2,300 factories, which employ 12,500 

 men, and produce 14,000,000 rubles' worth of goods annually. The 

 principal manufactures are those which use raw animal material : 



500 tanneries produce goods valued at 3,000,000 rubles, and 15a 

 tallow-factories have an annual output of 2,000,000 rubles in value. 

 Next in importance are manufactures based on raw vegetable 

 material. The rich mineral deposits of Siberia are not yet opened 

 to any great extent. The industrial development of this region does 

 not date back farther than about fifteen years. It was only then 

 that modern machinery was introduced ; and the subsequent im- 

 provement in the quality of Siberian manufactures has secured for 

 them an extensive sale in Asia. The slow progress of these manufac- 

 tures will be greatly accelerated as soon as cheaper and more rapid 

 communication with Europe has become possible. 



One of the principal considerations which recommend the con- 

 struction of the Siberian Pacific Railroad is the remoteness and iso- 

 lation of the Amur and Coast Provinces. At present there exist 

 hardly any roads in this region. Communication is possible only on 

 rivers which are navigable in spring and autumn, while in summer 

 and winter intercourse is interrupted. In winter, sledges are used 

 for travelling, while it is impossible to transport freight. What 

 little trade there is, is almost exclusively in the hands of Americans 

 and Chinese. The whole Russian population of Transbaikalia, the 

 Amur Province, and the Coast Province, amounts at present to 

 twenty thousand, while immigration from Manchuria is of consider- 

 able importance : therefore the Russian Government attempts tO' 

 promote the Russian colonization of this region. The country is 

 rich, but it is too remote to become a Russian colony until better 

 communication with Transbaikalia has been established. 



It must not be expected, that, even after the completion of the 

 road, the settlement of Siberia will make as rapid strides as that of 

 the American North- West. It is true, the Russian peasant is in- 

 clined to leave his home, and to look for a more prosperous life 

 east of the Ural ; but it must be remembered that no foreign immi- 

 gration is possible, or would be allowed, the political aims of the 

 Russian Empire being to Russianize the whole of its territory. As. 

 European Russia is not very populous compared to its area, a 

 Siberian emigration will retard its progress in many respects, as its 

 effect will be to produce a lack of the workers necessary to develop- 

 its resources. 



The proposed railway, if completed, will be of importance not 

 only for the development of the resources of Siberia, but also for the 

 Eastern trade. At present a considerable amount of Chinese goods,, 

 among which tea is the most important, is sent overland. The 

 cost of transportation is, of course, enormous, and will be greatly 

 cheapened by the railroad. The present state of this trade may be 

 seen from the following data given by the commissioner of Chinese 

 customs at Tientsin. In 1887 this trade increased by 5,400,000' 

 pounds, or nearly half as much again as in the year before ; while 

 the quantity of brick tea carried by the same route increased 7,300- 

 000 pounds. This remarkable growth of the overland tea-trade was- 

 due to the unusual luxuriance of the Mongolian pastures, which,, 

 providing as they do the only sustenance for the enormous herds of 

 dromedaries almost exclusively used as beasts of burden in these 

 regions, exercise a very great influence on the prosperity of this- 

 branch of trade. It was owing to the failure of the grass-crop in 

 1885 that the transport of tea by that route fell so low, great num- 

 bers of dromedaries having died of starvation. The uncertainty of 

 the grass-supply, and consequently of the means of transport, has 

 led some Russian merchants to project a Decanville portable rail- 

 way across the plains of Mongolia from Kalgan to Urga. The 

 motive power would still be supplied by camels ; but, whereas fifty 

 thousand of these animals are now employed, it is calculated that 

 ten thousand only would be required to do the same work on the 

 railway, and that with these increased facilities the trade would in- 

 all probability be doubled. As in case of failure of the grass-supply 

 a sufficient quantity could easily be brought from Siberia by the re- 

 turning trains, the additional advantage would be gained of more 

 certainty in the means of transport. The carriage of the tea over 

 the mountainous district between Urga and Kiachta would still be 

 effected by camels. An alternative scheme is a railway from Stre- 

 tinsk to Veringukunsk, on the Amur. A fleet of seventy steamers 

 is running on the Amur, and goods can- be conveyed from Verin- 

 gukunsk to Kiachta by one of the affluents of the Selenga River. 

 Russian steamers would convey the tea from- Hankow to the Amur, 

 This route would be entirely under the controlof Russia. It would 



