miles. Also, most of these rivers are very broad. The Yenisei, 

 for example, has over 3,000 miles of navigable waterway and is 

 over 20 miles wide at the mouth. It is 4 miles across at Igarka, 

 a port just north of the Arctic Circle, 400 miles from the mouth. 

 Fair-sized river boats can navigate as far as Krasnoyarsk. The 

 rivers are vital links in the transportation system although even 

 the large rivers freeze in the winter and are icebound 6 to 8 months 

 in the subarctic and over 8 months in the Arctic. 



The Siberian rivers have been used for local traffic for as long 

 as the area has been settled, but only recently have they figured in 

 the transportation system of the whole Soviet Union. There are 

 no interconnecting canals and not much has been done to develop 

 these routes. However, the increased shipping along the northern 

 sea route has added new importance to both the Siberian rivers 

 and the arctic ports. Active interest in this route came with 

 the establishment in 1932 by the Soviet government of the North- 

 ern Sea Route Administration (Glavesmorptut). It was in this 

 year that the first vessel, the 1,400-ton Sibiriakov, made the voy- 

 age from Archangel to the Bering Strait in a little more than 2 

 months. 



The northern sea route has become an important component of 

 the Soviet trade pattern. The arctic fleet includes over 120 vessels 

 and 40 icebreakers. In the 100 days of open season a considerable 

 cargo tonnage is moved. Thousands of tons of freight now move 

 over this route rather than using the over-loaded Trans-Siberian 

 Railway. Timber, fur, and minerals are shipped from the ports 

 along the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Kolyma and Indigirka. New ports 

 have been opened such as Dikson, Dudinka, Igarka, Nordvik, Tiksi, 

 and Ambarchik. Dock facilities are being improved and mech- 

 anized. To assist in the planning and operation of this sea route, 

 over 100 polar stations and more than 50 weather stations have 

 been established, with regular flights patrolling the rout6 to pro- 

 vide ice and weather information. 



CLIMATE 



The major handicap to the northern sea route and the commerce 

 on the Siberian and western rivers is the long period when ice 

 makes traffic impossible. This, of course, reflects the cold winter 

 temperatures which prevail over most of this vast area. The 

 temperature in January almost everywhere is consistently below 

 32° F. The winter temperatures decrease from the southwest to 

 the northeast. The cold pole center of the Northern Hemisphere 



79 



